[solved] Could a project I'm working on not be PD?

linny · Post by **linny** » August 21st, 2018, 5:38 pm

I have one for our volunteers with the heart of a researcher.

I opened an abandoned solo to a group and we have made good progress on it. After I got it started I discovered it's one of seven books. <sigh> I was trying to find text sources for the others stories and came up empty handed. PG and Archive are of no help this time. I did general searches outside of them but honestly after these two major sources I'm out of my league. Any suggestions?

• Doctor Syn: A Tale of the Romney Marsh (1915) viewtopic.php?f=2&t=58174
• Doctor Syn on the High Seas (1935)
• Doctor Syn Returns (1935)
• Further Adventures of Doctor Syn (1936)
• Courageous Exploits of Doctor Syn (1938)
• Amazing Quest of Doctor Syn (1939)
• Shadow of Doctor Syn (1944)

Russell Thorndike (1885-1972) - Wait a minute! 1972? How is this PD?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Thorndike

Post by **Availle** » August 21st, 2018, 5:51 pm

It is public domain IN THE US because the US copyright (as we are using it) doesn't care about author's death dates.
US copyright cares about publication dates - everything published before 1923 is automatic public domain.
In the US.

So, since you are in the US, you're fine with the first book in the series - and I see that there's a copyright disclaimer for potential readers outside of the US in the first page of the thread.
The other books won't be PD for a while though.

linny · Post by **linny** » August 21st, 2018, 6:24 pm

Thank you for the clarification. Great news that I won’t need to woory about the next text.