Is a 19th Century facsimile in the PD?

[Peter Why]

I've been reading "Dirty Old London - the Victorian Fight Against Filth" (Lee Jackson, pub 2014). To quote a fragment:

"John Hollingshead conducted a lengthy exploration of 'underground London' in 1860, before the completion of Bazalgette's project. He made inquiries of the [Metropolitan Board of Works], hoping to see sewer flushers at work, and was given his pick of locations: They had 'blood sewers' (a delicate article) running underneath meat markets, like Newport Market, where you could wade in the vital fluid of sheep and oxen; they had 'boiling sewers', which were largely used by sugar bakeries, where the steam forced its way through the gratings in the roadway, like the vapour from the hot springs in Iceland, and where the sewer-cleansers get something very like a Turkish bath at the expense of the rate payers ... they had sewers of different degrees of repulsiveness, such as those where manufacturing chemists and soap and candle makers most do congregate."

John Hollingshead's book was "Underground London", published 1862.

It's available through Amazon as ... "This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work."

I'm going to order a copy anyway, but does this facsimile count as PD?

Peter

[TriciaG]

Facsimile, as in faithful scans/pictures of the pages reproduced and put into the new binding? Yes, that should be fine.

Like any work read from a hard copy, we would need a photo or scan of the cover page and copyright page. And if there were any additions (commentaries or prefaces, etc.) that are more recent, they couldn't be recorded.

[Peter Why]

Thanks, Tricia, I'll upload a photo of the title page and reverse when I get the book.

Peter

[Kazbek]

The 1862 edition is also available through Google Books for free download:

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Underground_London/ghIHAAAAQAAJ

I'm not sure if it's accessible outside the US. Let me know if you'd like me to send you the PDF.

Michael

[annise]

great find - I can read it in Australia so Peter should be able to also.

Anne

[m8b1]

If an Amazon listing says this:

"This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work."

That generally means they are just taking it from a freely available scan online - and printing it from the scan only when you order it. So just search around the usual spots, and you will most likely find the scan.

[Peter Why]

Thanks, everyone; I may go for the google document instead of buying the facsimile if the book is not as interesting as I'd hoped.
I do like to have a paper copy of books I enjoy. We'll see.

I coudn't find a scan on archive.org.

Peter