Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
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I'll use James Branch Cabell as a poster boy. (1879-1958) He was an American Fantasist, and a highly literate one. He was part of the Southern Literary Renaissance, which produced many Pulitzer Prize winning authors from 1910- 1930. You will find some Sinclair Lewis (Nobel Prize for Literature, 1930) but how many others post 1922? Willa Cather? Joseph Hergeheimer? Frances Newman?
Meanwhile, back to the mirror and white pigeons. . .
Everything Cabell published before Jan 1, 1923, is PD. The book he published in 1923 and there after will not start going PD until 2019. 40 years of no PD,
unlike any other nation in the world, just to protect old Hollywood movies?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
I agree that it's impossible to judge the value of any given book, for the reasons stated. I tend to disagree that in this day and age, any book remotely current will expire and be lost forever, if only because a) someone will probably try to sell a bootleg copy on Amazon or b) Gutenberg and any inheritors/successors will probably try to keep it alive, as well, but...it could happen, yes.
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Project Gutenberg does nothing until the work is in public domain. I know, I have provided books from my library for Project Gutenberg. The issue is from going from OOP to PD. You can't legally save it, but the underlying media may be disintegrating.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
Of course, I'd point out that it's happened throughout history, regardless of copyright provisions. All this angstSturms sturm und Drang is truly down to the digital age because previously, nobody thought that they'd go grab someone's now-PD book and scan it, convert it, keep it, etc. You'd just buy a copy of the book, someplace in time, and hang on to it. Like so many other things, the digital age's capabilities are driving this entire discussion.
[snip]
Hitch
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In this world of DRM? With DRM, if the gadget dies, so does the e-book. But you are right, nowadays, every person has their own printing press. And that is blowing up the power the intermediaries had over what could be sold to the public.