legamus.eu

Hello, I was directed by a LV admin to this site since I'm wanting to read from an old book my father left me. The book is "Song of A Boy" by John Holland. It has been privately published in 1939 in the UK, I think.

No copyright is found anywhere, so am wondering if I could get some help here to find if it is indeed in the Public Domain. It is mainly a book of poems.

Here is a link to this rare book.

http://www.elysiumpress.com/pages/books ... g-of-a-boy

I would appreciate it if you could give me the OK to go ahead and read some of these poems on Legamus.
Thanks

gri buongiorne

Hello and welcome to Legamus,
I moved this post into a new thread and sent you a PM (Private Message).

This becomes a Book Suggestion

Viktor,
So what does a book suggestion mean then. ? Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Griselda

Welcome to Legamus!
Viktor only moved your thread into a fitting top subject of the forum. Don't worry, it only means, that your message is now posted where anybody can find it and can start to discuss, if the book is "creative common" for this project.
If I understand it right, then your book is a collection of poems by a very young artist, John Holland, who died in 1936. That means, he is dead for over 70 years, which makes it okay for Legamus.
It is a private print (published 1939), which makes it very rare. Congratulation for owning it!
Let's ask some more experts, if they agree to my opinion.
There is just one problem left ... in which country do you live? Is there any conflict with your local copyrights? That might not cause any trouble for Legamus, but for yourself if you read something, that your local laws forbid ...

crowwings wrote:It is a private print (published 1939)

which means it was published posthumously... there are different rules for work published posthumously... I think copyright extends to 50 years after first publication... though, in this case it doesn't matter (both 50 and 70 years have long passed)... but if it had been published, e.g. in 1970 that would have made a difference

Thanks for clearing that, Julia.
If Griselda lives in the USA, would she be allowed to read from the book by locale law?
Librivox rejected her book.
Regards
Ramona

It's safer not to record it if you are from the US... US copyright law at the moment is completely bonkers... anything published before 1923 is in the public domain. Anyhting published 1978 onwards follows the death+70 rule (unless author is unknown than it's 95 after first publication or 120 years after creation [whichever comes first, I think]).... and anything in between those dates is subject to many different possibilities... it's really quite a minefield...

There is a chance it's PD in the US as well, but it could also be under the publication +95 years rule which would make it still copyright protected... and since it's difficult to prove either way - better not risk it

[and btw. I am by no means a specialist in law... I find the topic highly interesting and have only read up on it]

Oh deary me...it does look like a minefield and totally out of my depth. Maybe I will just read it to my grand kids!
However, if you experts find an answer within my life span (20+) let me know

griselda

btw: thanks to all for your insightful comments.

Hi Griselda,

I've been rummaging, and found the information below on this website. http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm

1923 through 1963 ... Published with notice but copyright was not renewed ... None. In the public domain due to copyright expiration
1923 through 1963 ... Published with notice and the copyright was renewed ... 95 years after publication date

If in doubt you could contact Cornell University, where someone will advise you.

Good luck

Carol

Crol,
Thanks for rummaging around...will keep digging as well...now my interest has been piqued!