Books from 1928 entering public domain Jan. 1 2024

[laurakgibbs]

Hello everybody! Books from 1928 will enter the public domain in the U.S. on January 1 2024, and every year in December, I do a Twitter series featuring books of special interest to me, so I thought I would share that link here for this year's books; this link will take you to the latest post, with the previous day embedded in each one so you can follow on back through the chain:
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23PublicDomainDay%20(from%3Aonlinecrslady)&src=typed_query&f=live

Maybe if your New Year's Resolution is to coordinate a LibriVox book project, you might find something of interest!

A good way to look for books published in 1928 is to use the Advanced Search option at Hathi Trust, where you can search for books published in 1928, along with other search parameters (title, authors, subject, keywords, etc.). On January 1, the good people at Hathi Trust will switch those 1928 publications from "limited view" (which is basically no-view!) to "full view," making the text available for public domain re-use, including audio recordings. Here is the Hathi Trust Advanced Search page:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?a=page&page=advanced
Just UNCHECK "Full View" as a search parameter, check "Only During" and then enter 1928 as the year, along with whatever other search you want to do.

For example, I'm most interested in folk tales and fairy tales, so a search with "tales" in the title is a very useful search for my purposes: books with "tales" in the title published in 1928:
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Search/Home?adv=1&lookfor%5B%5D=tales&type%5B%5D=title&yop=in&fqor-publishDateTrie%5B%5D=1928

Of course, if you want books already in the public domain, you can change the search parameter and look at books published in 1927 or for a range of years earlier than 1928, and those books should all be marked as full view, having already entered the public domain. So, for example, here are English-language books with folk tales in the title published before 1928:
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Search/Home?adv=1&setft=true&ft=ft&lookfor%5B%5D=folk+tales&type%5B%5D=title&yop=between&fqrange-start-publishDateTrie-1=1400&fqrange-end-publishDateTrie-1=1927&fqor-language%5B%5D=English

So many great books

[annise]

Just a reminder for everyone
None of these projects can be posted as projects until January 1st 2024. There is no "beating the gun"

Anne

[laurakgibbs]

Yes, the texts are not even avaialble for inspection at Hathi (yet) -- not until January 1.

Although some of them are available for borrowing at the Internet Archive already so people can take a look and see if the book appeals; some books are also available at local libraries no doubt. Du Bois's Dark Princess, for example, has been reissued in MANY modern editions; it will be great to have the first edition entering the public domain (in the U.S.) on January 1.

A priority for me: I have my own copy of Erick Berry's African Folk Tales, and I will start that one ASAP in 2024; it's a very notable item in the history of African folktale books for children.

[annise]

It is often possible to find another source for a text - different countries have different rules and some sites either do not know or do not care about copyright laws in the USA - but LibriVox needs to. Anne

[laurakgibbs]

Exactly, yes! Hathi Trust is very reliable in that regard. And their search options are so powerful compared to the Internet Archive; I often search Hathi Trust to locate the books that I then find and read at Internet Archive, as the reading experience at Internet Archive, while still clunky, is better than Hathi Trust.

[InTheDesert]

This list is not quite accurate but full of good suggestions.

[annise]

You got me excited with "All Quiet on the Western Front" but it seems it was published first in a German paper in December 1928, the first book version in Denember 1928, and the English translation in 1929 so there is still some time to wait even for the German version . Anne

[zachh]

I know what 1928 book I have been excitedly waiting to become PD for the last couple of years or more, but I think I am not supposed to say till January 1.

[annise]

You can talk about, just not post a project or upload files. - Anne

[TriciaG]

And from the "Text Policy: Historic & Going Into..." thread:

It is fine to make a list of books entering the PD soon, but let's not link to texts themselves until January 1.

[zachh]

Thank you, that's great to know. I don't know why I thought I wasn't supposed to yet. I'm excited to read Money For Nothing by P. G. Wodehouse. It's one of my favorite books of his, and I bought a battered but serviceable 1928 copy so I can start working on it as soon as 2024 comes and I get my current solo finished.

[InTheDesert]

Thank you, that's great to know. I don't know why I thought I wasn't supposed to yet. I'm excited to read Money For Nothing by P. G. Wodehouse. It's one of my favorite books of his, and I bought a battered but serviceable 1928 copy so I can start working on it as soon as 2024 comes and I get my current solo finished.

I love this one too.

[laurakgibbs]

Thank you, that's great to know. I don't know why I thought I wasn't supposed to yet. I'm excited to read Money For Nothing by P. G. Wodehouse. It's one of my favorite books of his, and I bought a battered but serviceable 1928 copy so I can start working on it as soon as 2024 comes and I get my current solo finished.

Yes!!! And that text will be available at Hathi Trust -- probably at other sites too, of course, but Hathi has it already scanned and ready to flip the switch on January 1; it will appear here:
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102088742
(no text there yet, just the bibliographical record)

[alanmapstone]

Orlando by Virginia Woolf and Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H.Lawrence should both be available and worth recording.

Also Journey's End by R.C.Sheriff should be available and would make a terrific DW (I might BC this one myself).
Edit: just realised I can't do this as Sheriif did not die until 1975 but someone in US could do it.

[alanmapstone]

For those of us in Death+70 countries the works of writers who died in 1953 become available (other LV rules permitting). Can't think of any off hand (except Dylan Thomas and Eugene O'Neil) but I will investigate.