So what’s on the table this year? Though copyright laws differ from country to country, on January 1st, 2023, books that were published in 1927 will enter the public domain in the United States. Here’s a selection of the most interesting:
Herbert Asbury, The Gangs of New York
Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop
Agatha Christie, The Big Four
Countee Cullen, ed., Caroling Dusk: An Anthology of Verse by Negro Poets
Franklin W. Dixon, The Tower Treasure (The Hardy Boys #1)
Franklin W. Dixon, The House on the Cliff (The Hardy Boys #2)
Franklin W. Dixon, The Secret of the Old Mill (The Hardy Boys #3)
Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger”
Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place”
E.M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel
Ernest Hemingway, Men Without Women
Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf
Franz Kafka, Amerika
Anita Loos, But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes
Edith Wharton, Twilight Sleep
Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
e-Quips 
I’ve read many of them, Pat. Time for a reread on some of them, especially the Thorton Wilder. He might be better know for his plays but he was no slouch as a writer of novels.
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Cool, Don. I’ve only heard about Wilder’s plays.
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He only wrote 8. The Bridge of San Luis Rey won the Pulitzer. The 8th Day won the National Book Club award.
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Thanks, Don. I didn’t know that. He wrote more famous books than I was aware of.
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Great list!
Thanks a lot for sharing🙏✨📚
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Thanks, Luisa. The Agatha Christie titled were a surprise to me.
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I concur with Luisa. 😁
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Thanks, Michele.
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A very good list, I’ve read some…
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Nice, Francisco.
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I’ve only read the last one :}
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Derrick, as you read the classics, that surprises me. I expected you would have read many of them.
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I’m sure you know of Project Gutenberg, Pat. It’s a great source of free books that are in the public domain. The ebooks are properly formatted too.
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I am familiar with Project Gutenberg and been reading books from it for years, Audrey. One thing that is interesting is that because the different copyright laws, some titles in Project Gutenberg are legal if copied from a different country than the United States.
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Yes, I saw a note about that when I downloaded a book recently, advising to make sure it was legal in Canada.
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Timely example, Audrey.
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Copyright and public domain laws are Labyrinth! So of course I had to look it up, again, just for giggles. Ha! Found this chart: https://www.belmont.edu/legal/pdf/Public-Domain-Chart.pdf. It’s enough to give anyone a headache.
But, I know you know this Pat, but I didn’t, under Government Words: Works prepared by an officer or employee of the US Government as part of that person’s official duties are always in the public domain.
Good to know!
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I did know that JM, as a retired fed. Some civilian companies take government provided information, repackage it, and sell it for a profit. Copyright is more complicated than one might expect.
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Day-um. It’s enough to give capitalism a bad name.
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You could say that. My husband found his 30+ old masters thesis for sale by a private individual on Amazon. He went to a Defense Department graduate school.
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The first three Hardy Boys books? I remember reading the entire series way back when!
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They were pretty good. I liked Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins also. Thanks for commenting, Lavinia
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Pat, a fascinating list and so many famous writers whose work I didn’t realise would quality already!
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Thanks, Annika. Some of the authors were a shock to me also.
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