When I was nearing the end of my work on my book on Smith (Ashgate 2003), I wrote to OUP and requested copyright clearance.  I did include a fairly precise word count of quotations from the Glasgow edition of "The Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith" and the total words quoted from the various volumes was a little over 16,000 words.

OUP gave me approval to use the quotations subject to 1) precise acknowledgement of the OUP and the Glasgow edition in the acknowledgment pages and 2) the payment of what I took to be an extraordinary fee (985 pounds sterling).  I later requested a reconsideration of the fee on two grounds: the poor pay of academics and the limited expected sales of my book.  The reply indicated that the fee would remain unchanged because the funds were to be paid to the beneficiary of the estate of Smith.  I then dropped the matter and paid the fee out of my own savings.

James Alvey