Did we ever clear up whether this was actually out of copyright? My archive of the conversation we had in 2004 doesn't have a record of this point being settled. Here's what I said at the time (and the reasons I'm still not listing it on The Online Books Page):
The question is whether the text we have matches the Grove Press 1960 edition (I'll be good money that it does, but did not do a comparison). Then, whether the Grove Press edition clears under Rule 5 (pre-1989, no copyright notice). Again, I'll bet good money, but did not check.
Unfortunately, I don't think that would suffice to clear the book. The Grove Press edition was not the first edition, but is presumably based on the first edition of 1939. Since *that* edition appears to have been first published abroad, it is probably eligible for restored copyright under the GATT copyright restorations (which covers books of non-US origin that were published without the proper formalities, such as copyright notice and renewal.) And if the 1939 book is now under copyright, so is Grove's 1960 reprint. For the 1939 book not to have been restored to copyright, at least one of these things must be true: -- The book was simultaneously (or within 30 days) published in the US (but the WorldCat entry for the first edition only says "London: J. Cape, 1939") -- There was an earlier edition published in the US (but WorldCat doesn't show a US edition prior to the 1960 Grove edition) -- The translator, Graham Rawson, died before 1926, 70 years prior to the 1996 GATT restorations, or was an American citizen and resident. (But the LC authority file equates Graham Rawson with Graham Stanhope Rawson, born 1890. A finding aid at http://www.library.rdg.ac.uk/colls/special/rawson.html notes that Ivy Marion Enthoven married dramatist Graham Stanhope Rawson in 1930, who would appear to be our man, still alive and well then. Furthermore, the short bio mentions her work in England during the 1920s and 1930s-- and doesn't mention any emigration afterwards either-- so he was likely there too. And we already know that his translation was both first performed in London-- the introduction mentions a London debut in 1937-- and was apparently first published in London in 1939.) Unless one of these propositions can be established, which doesn't look very likely to me at this point, it would appear that the Gutenberg translation is still under copyright in the US. John Mark Ockerbloom David Widger wrote:
Corrections have been made in this file and it has been updated with new header, removed from its old address in etext05, and filed under the new directory system. An html file has been provided.
The Road to Damascus, by August Strindberg 8875 [Subtitle: A Trilogy] [Commentator: Gunnar Ollén] [Translator: Esther Johanson and Graham Rawson] [Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/8/8/7/8875 ] [Updated edition of: etext05/7rddm10.txt; 8rddm10.txt; 8rddm10h.htm] [Files: 8875.txt; 8875-8.txt; 8875-h.htm]
David