Editorial Note for the Electronic Edition of “Koborebanashi”

This paper explains the editorial and copyright considerations undertaken in digitizing One Hundred Episodes on Electrolysis. The editorial board verified reproduction rights for reprinted figures, tables, and literary quotations, particularly those from A. J. de Bethune’s 1964 booklet Standard Aqueous Electrode Potentials and Temperature Coefficients at 25 °C and related literature. The process involved confirming the original edition through international library holdings, reassessing its copyright under U.S. and Japanese law, and determining that its use constituted transformative quotation. The article also recounts the permission obtained to reproduce Arthur Binard’s 2006 Asahi Shimbun essay “Sen wo hiku (Drawing the lines),” contextualizing the “Plimsoll mark” symbol (⦵) in chemical notation and emphasizing ethical citation in scholarly electronic publishing.