No Copyright Symbol

[jrking78]

I have a book I was wanting to create an audiobook for and was talking to someone at LibriVox. She was saying I need a manuscript with a date on it, but I cannot find one. But then I realized there is a scan of the book, and it does not have the copyright symbol. I was reading somewhere that if it does not have a copyright symbol then there are different rules. Can someone tell me how that may work. Looking it up online, it says it was published in 1922. The link to the scanned book is here:

https://ia800804.us.archive.org/23/items/NJCMESSAGESBANGALORE_20170803/THE%20KNEELING%20CHRISTIAN...By%20An%20Unknown%20Christian..OLD%20BOOK.pdf

[TriciaG]

https://archive.org/details/NJCMESSAGESBANGALORE_20170803

What a horrible scan job!

The typeface in the book doesn't look that old. Where did you see it was published in 1922? (This scan is obviously a reprint, but that doesn't mean much.) The closest I've pinned down the original publication date is before the 1930s.

Our text policy is probably more strict than copyright laws themselves. I'd prefer to get some sort of answer from an authority on copyright before okaying it.

(We don't have authorities. Our best authority is Project Gutenberg.)

I'd be more comfortable waiting until 2025 to do it (95 full years after 1929), but even then, we really do need a clear statement of when the book was printed.

[jrking78]

I saw it at google books, there is a section that says originally published 1924 on right hand side if on desktop browser:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Kneeling_Christian/LS32BgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

And this site adds public domain books unless other wise noted
https://www.ccel.org/ccel/unknown/kneeling/kneeling
https://www.ccel.org/about/copyright.html

CCEL on page 4 even say that you can reuse the work if it is for non commercial purposes here:
https://www.ccel.org/ccel/u/unknown/kneeling/cache/kneeling.pdf

This site has it as 1922
https://www.amazon.com/Kneeling-Christian/dp/1640322965
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60094888-the-kneeling-christian

[jrking78]

Yes that scan job is bad, the pdf version of it is much better.

[TriciaG]

The Amazon one that says it was 1922 (how do they know it was April 4? That seems suspicious to me, that they slap an exact date on it), the text has copyright on it, probably from the current publisher.

The Google Books one has copyright on it, so it can't be used.

CCEL says one can use it for non-commercial purposes, but since we don't put any such restrictions on our audios, we aren't able to use that source.

I'm afraid this is looking worse. I as an MC would only accept an edition of this printed in the 1920s, clearly stating that it is a straight 1920s reprint, or the text copyright-cleared through Project Gutenberg.

We are careful about copyrights because we don't have the resources to fight any copyright challenges. We take the stance that it's best to be safe (use only clearly PD works) than sorry.