Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
The copyright holder has the right to make changes. The rest of us don't.
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That is not true. When a work is in the public domain, anyone has the right to do with it as they wish. Earlier, you objected to the copyright holder making changes to the Nancy Drew books. Those changes were far more sweeping, because they didn't create an alternative version alongside the original, the edited version replaced the original. You could only find the original if you could get an old copy. You couldn't buy it in stores, because the only version available was the version edited by the copyright holder. The copyright holder is under no obligation to tell you what changes were made or to tell you that changes were made at all.
With public domain works, if there is a problem, it is clearly less of a problem than edited books under copyright, because the original version remains dominant. Project Gutenberg isn't going to carry an edited version, and at the book outlets, the original has a major advantage in being free. I have paid for public domain books, I haven't paid much, but I have paid. I have paid when the version has added value. I bought the complete set of Baum's Oz books, for the convenience in having them in one volume, and having an interactive table of contents. If people think that this edited book has value, they will buy it. If they don't, they will go with the original, which they can get for free.