Asking on this list about copyright clearance for a particular item will only get you speculation in result. The only way to really know if the book you have in mind can be copyright cleared by PG is to go ahead and send in the tp&v and see what the results are. That said, I'm afraid this title does not look like it stands too good a chance. Anything published _before_ 1923 can almost certainly be cleared by PG. Anything published after 1922 will present much more of a problem, and give that Williams seems to be highly regarded as a poet, it's exceedingly likely that copyright was renewed on his titles. It appears that WIlliams' dates were (1883-1963) which means that his writings would not be PD in a life+50 country either... Andrew On Sat, 15 Jan 2005, Brad Collins wrote:
I finally managed to shlump my books from my old home in the jungle near the Mekong back to Bangkok and found an old copy of William Carlos Williams' Spring and All which was first published in 1923.
Is the cutoff date in the States the end of 1923 or *before* 1923?
WCW's Kora in Hell came out in 1920 so this is certainly clear. But I would love to get Spring and All out to the world.
The pure products of America go crazy --
was a big influence on and a precursor to Ginsberg's Howl and the Beat poets in general. Spring and All was also an important starting point for the Black Mountain poets (Charles Olson, Robert Creely and Robert Duncan).
Spring and All completely blew me away. I read the opening and was completely hooked:
If anything of moment results -- so much the better. And so much the more likely will it be no will want to see it.
There is a constant barrier between the reader and his conciousness of immediate contact with the world. If there is an ocean it is here. Or rather the whole world is in between: Yesterday, tomorrow, Europe, Asia, Africa, -- all things removed and impossible, the tower of the church at Seville, the Parthenon.
It would be wonderful to help old Doc Williams to blow away a new generation of aspiring poets.
If the book is clear I'll begin work....
Cheers,
b/