Thanks for your note, Ken. The list has been quiet lately, so any discussion is welcome! Project Gutenberg has a deep but infrequently exercised relationship with The Internet Archive. But we don't really have a relationship with Google - we helped them to harvest our collection, years ago, but don't have anyone to contact there. For https://books.google.ca/books/about/The_Secret_Tomb.html?id=0NMCTgniOIsC it seems clear that the main content came from a modern reprint. In Project Gutenberg's case, we do NOT automatically assume that that type of reprint is all in the public domain. This is because there are acts of authorship that could be added to the reprint, and which might garner a new copyright. See our "copyright how-to" and "no sweat of the brow copyright how-to" at https://www.gutenberg.org for our guidance on this. BTW, this isn't in Project Gutenberg, and not in progress. If someone obtains a copy we can use (print or scans), Distributed Proofreaders would love to get the request for digitization: https://www.pgdp.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=66222 For Project Gutenberg to determine this is in the public domain in the US (via https://copy.pglaf.org) we would want title page and verso, and also some sort of assurance that the scanned book matches the 1923 print edition. For example, we would leave out modern artwork, index, footnotes, intro, etc. if the rest is in the public domain. I hope this response is helpful. I would not expect Google to instantly change status for a 2009 reprint of a 1923 publication, for the same reasons that PG would not. However, if you can find this in a library somewhere, perhaps it could be scanned - even by The Internet Archive (which takes requests and donations). Best, Greg Newby On Tue, Jan 22, 2019 at 01:47:45PM -0500, Ken Arromdee wrote:
I hope this is not *too* off-topic, since it isn't about Gutenberg but it is hopefully a topic of interest...
I want to see a book at Google Books, The Secret Tomb (https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Secret_Tomb.html?id=0NMCTgniOIsC.
This book is published in 1923 as can be seen from the first pages, so it became public domain this month. Google Books has a "Report an Issue" link which includes an option "I’d like to see the entire book, and I believe the book is in the public domain".
I reported it and got a form letter reply from someone who obviously didn't understand my request and claimed that according to the publisher, the book was produced in 2009 (maybe, but it was obviously just a scan of a book from 1923, with a generic cover tacked on by a "publisher").
The book doesn't seem to be available on archive.org or on Project Gutenberg.
Has anyone here had experience trying to escalate a request for a public domain book from Google Books?
Dr. Gregory B. Newby Chief Executive and Director Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation www.gutenberg.org A 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization with EIN 64-6221541 gbnewby@pglaf.org