Novels of Charles Williams [NOT PD]

[kmerline]

British novelist Charles WILLIAMS (1886-1945) wrote 7 short novels:

Many Dimensions (1930)
War in Heaven (1930)
The Place of the Lion (1931)
The Great Trumps (1932)
Shadows of Ecstasy (1932)
Descent into Hell (1937)
All Hallows' Eve (1945)

They appeal on Gutenberg Australia - Descent into Hell is here:
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300341.txt
but not on gutenberg US.

Does that mean they are PD in Australia, but not in the U.S.?

[knotyouraveragejo]

That is most likely the case since they were all published after 1922. In Australia if the author died before 1954, the work is under copyright for 50 years after the author's death.

[Starlite]

Does that mean they are PD in Australia, but not in the U.S.?

AND in Canada!

[hugh]

which for our purposes, means likely not eligible...

[thistlechick]

.... but.... there is a slim possibility that they are .... give me 24 hours and I'll see what I can figure out for you =)

[kmerline]

Thank you, Thistlechick! I promise your effort won't be wasted. These short novels (which do have a subtle Christian orientation) are above all, very appealing stories! If they are OK in the US, I will surely post the first one, and if it goes well . . .

[Caeristhiona]

Thank you, Thistlechick! I promise your effort won't be wasted. These short novels (which do have a subtle Christian orientation) are above all, very appealing stories! If they are OK in the US, I will surely post the first one, and if it goes well . . .

Ohhhh, my goodness, Karen, you're my favorite person in the world. I have all Williams' books on my shelf at home -- so I am definitely in if you find out any of these are OK.

[kmerline]

Back in the dark ages, before Amazon.com, I got 6 of them by mail from Eerdmans, a Christian publishing house in Michigan. I found out somehow that there was a 7th one, and located it in the Library of Nashota House Seminary here in Wisconsin. I put hundreds of nickels in a copy machine, and xeorxed the whole book, because that was the only way I knew to own it.

I love these books, and think they would appeal to people of all persuasions.

The Eerdmans copies show each novel has a different publishing history.
I have "The Place of the Lion" in front of me:

Copyright 1933 by Charles Williams
Copyright 1950 Pellegrini & Cudahy
Reprinted November 1991

I've been wondering whether "reprinted . ." meant they might by public domain, maybe copyright expired . . and now, I found them on line in Gutenberg Australia.

Thistlechick said she would do a little further checking, and maybe the additional info will help.

I would be glad to provide scans of the copyright pages to anyone if that would help.

[thistlechick]

Ok... I did a preliminary search on a few of the titles and only found concrete evidence that All Hallows Eve was renewed so that one is off-limits (see below)

So, here is how we proceed...
1. Select the one you want to begin with.
2. Send me scans of the title page, the back of the title page, and any other pages that include publication information.
3. I'll submit the copyright clearance request through Project Gutenberg.
4. As soon as we get a response from them that it is clear, then you can start recording. (They are generally pretty quick to reply)

There is also the off chance that there are other circumstances regarding this author that are not known to us that will prevent the copyright from clearing. So, keep that in mind as well.

I hope that these work out for us ... it always feels good when we can bring more public domain works into the light =)


Copyright renewal:
All Hallows' eve. © 19Jan45,
AI-28770; 18Oct48, A26836 (entered
under British Proclamation of
10Mar44). Florence Williams (W);
14Dec72; R541465

[kmerline]

Thank you, thistlechick. (I noticed that my Eerdmans edition of "All Hallows Eve" has an introduction by T.S. Eliot, just fyi if that makes it a special case.)

Please try Gutenberg with "War in Heaven". Here are scans of the publication data. (I don't scan very often, hope they are OK.)

http://librivox.earthcallingdavid.com/kmerline/warinheaven1.jpg

http://librivox.earthcallingdavid.com/kmerline/warinheaven2.jpg

This one and Many Dimensions, Place of the Lion, and Descent into Hell all seem to have a similar publishing history, except for the Williams date and the Pelegrini date being a year or two later.

The Greater Trumps has an entirely different printing history according to its Eerdmans edition, if we get that far.

I just discovered I must have lost my photocopied "Shadows of Ecstasy" in my recent house move - but it's on Amazon now, and when it comes, I'll have the publishing info on that one too, if needed.

Since these novels are already on Gutenberg Australia, it may not be as much work for them - and thank you again!

[SirQueezle]

Hi all, I was wondering if I might be able to reopen this post?
I've been looking for an audio version of Charles Williams books for a while now when I stumbled on this post in a google search.
As of this current post, Charles Williams' works are not in Gutenberg US, but i was wondering if they may be added now?
I would love to read The Place of the Lion once its PD.

S.Q.

[knotyouraveragejo]

According to Wikipedia, The Place of the Lion was first published in 1931 so it won't be PD in the U.S. until January 2027.

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

[SirQueezle]

first published in 1931 so it won't be PD in the U.S. until January 2027.

Ah well... Guess I'll be back in 7 years.