PD Status of collections

raezel · Post by **raezel** » November 20th, 2006, 12:11 am

I loaned The Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction from my local library. The book states the copyright status of the works, and a few of them say [story title] is in the Public Domain. So, is it possible for me to read these from this story collection for Librivox, or are they copyrighted "inside" the collection?

Caeristhiona · Post by **Caeristhiona** » November 20th, 2006, 12:58 am

As long as they are listed as Public Domain, you can read them from anywhere -- hard copy or e-text. The only things in the book that would be considered under copyright are the post-1922 stories and any introductions, annotations, etc which were added to the stories after their original publication.

Post by **hugh** » November 20th, 2006, 5:14 am

in practice tho, if they are not in gutenberg, we need some way to verify that they are indeed public domain ... [oh, betsie....?]

raezel · Post by **raezel** » November 20th, 2006, 5:40 am

hugh wrote:in practice tho, if they are not in gutenberg, we need some way to verify that they are indeed public domain ... [oh, betsie....?]

Would a photo of the copyright notice from the book suffice?

thistlechick · Post by **thistlechick** » November 20th, 2006, 8:49 am

The answer is Yes..... cite your source like you would if you were writing a paper for school (Title, author, publisher, original publication date)

... it falls under the same guideline as html versions: Info Here

... in otherwords, what Caeristhiona said =)

kri · Post by **kri** » November 20th, 2006, 7:21 pm

Also, if you're positive (having double checked the two texts) that the work you have is exactly the same as a Gutenberg version, then read from it with no worries.

raezel · Post by **raezel** » November 20th, 2006, 11:40 pm

kri wrote:Also, if you're positive (having double checked the two texts) that the work you have is exactly the same as a Gutenberg version, then read from it with no worries.

The problem is that the story I'm interested in (Scarlet Plague by Jack London) is not in Gutenberg. I know it is published prior 1923 and it clearly is stated in the book that it is PD.

Caeristhiona · Post by **Caeristhiona** » November 21st, 2006, 12:38 am

raezel wrote:The problem is that the story I'm interested in (Scarlet Plague by Jack London) is not in Gutenberg. I know it is published prior 1923 and it clearly is stated in the book that it is PD.

Then you should be fine. If the book says it is public domain, then it is public domain.

thistlechick · Post by **thistlechick** » November 21st, 2006, 10:24 am

Razel, if you want to submit it to Project Gutenberg's copyright clearence process that would be great too... Here is the: How-to

... or, scan the title page and the publication information and I'll submit it for you =)