Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Narrative of John Smith" [Hardback-British Library]

[Wetdogeared]

News of the release of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first novel Narrative of John Smith was announced last June, and is now available in hardback version.

Narrative of John Smith ~ British Library

Arthur Conan Doyle wrote his first novel The Narrative of John Smith in 1883 when he was just 23, living in Portsmouth and struggling to establish himself as a doctor and a writer. Never published before, it has exceptional value as a window into the mind of the creator of Sherlock Holmes, and many of the themes and tropes of Conan Doyle's later writing can clearly be seen.

Hardback Price £9.95 plus applicable taxes and shipping
Special Edition Price £100.00 (Limited quantity) plus applicable taxes and shipping
To be released soon (maybe already) at B&M retailers.
No eBook version available that I can find.

Arthur Conan Doyle's first novel hits shops ~ BBC

"My shock at its disappearance would be as nothing to my horror if it were suddenly to appear again - in print," he once joked.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by Wetdogeared

News of the release of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first novel Narrative of John Smith was announced last June, and is now available in hardback version.

Narrative of John Smith ~ British Library
Hardback Price £9.95 plus applicable taxes and shipping
Special Edition Price £100.00 (Limited quantity) plus applicable taxes and shipping
To be released soon (maybe already) at B&M retailers.
No eBook version available that I can find.

Arthur Conan Doyle's first novel hits shops ~ BBC

Copyright should be interesting on this.

[rogue_librarian]

Such posthumously published works enjoy a special 25 year protection from the date of publication in my jurisdiction. I'm pretty sure it's (at least) similar in the US.

[Hellmark]

In the US, as far as I know, it would be out of copyright.

On Life+70, that would have expired in 2000. If you go by date, you would have to use the basis of those published after '78, so that leaves 95 years from publishing or 120 years from creation, which ever is shorter. Since it was written in 1883, that bumps it to 2003, since 95 years from 2011 wouldn't be the shorter of the two.

[rogue_librarian]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

In the US, as far as I know, it would be out of copyright.

It would be over here, too, and hist other works are, but this is a special case since it hasn't been published before. The EU copyright directive grants a special 25 year protection for such works. The English term is "publication right", I believe.

American copyright is somewhat (?) more complicated, it's true. A quick search lets me believe that all works entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2003, if the following provisions are met:

(1) works were unpublished as of January 1, 1978, and had never been
registered for copyright protection,
(2) they remained unpublished through December 31, 2002,
(3) the author died on or before December 31, 1936.

ACD would fit the bill, it seems.

[luqmaninbmore]

So does that mean we could look forward to a Mobileread edition before too long?