This article tells the story of a three-decade delay in the publication of Masud Khan’s personal diary, which he called his Work Books. They were meant for publication after his death in 1989, yet he neglected to name a literary executor prior to his death, and the copyright was subsequently allocated to the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA). The IPA chose to destroy their copy of the Work Books in 2019, alongside all other Khan-related materials in their possession, yet Linda Hopkins, author of an acclaimed biography of Khan, worked alongside Steven Kuchuck to obtain permission from the IPA Executive Committee to publish an edited version of an exact copy of the Work Books which Khan had given to his close friends Robert and Sybil Stoller for eventual publication. This is the story of a struggle to get permissions, after objections were raised by various psychoanalysts who mistakenly feared the contents of the Work Books would invade the privacy rights of Khan’s patients.