Text of a 1910 edition, printed in 1938 still in the public domain?

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  • Hello,

    I would like to make a Wiki site using the text from a book I own. The copyright notice at the beginning states:

    Copyright 1910, 1938, By Benziger Brothers
    Printed in the United States of America

    Digging deeper into why there are two copyright dates, I found on the last page of the book this information about it:

    "Reprinted from 1938 printing of 1910 edition."

    Since everything before 1923 is in the public domain, would the text of the book be in the public domain (meaning the 1938 copyright was really just copyrighting the layout/style of the text when it was printed)?

    Thank you very much,
    Andrew
  • If there is nothing original added to the publication after the 1910 printing, then this should be in the public domain. Any commentary, graphics, tables, etc. that were added later could be covered by copyright, depending on their originality. But it sounds like this work is in the public domain.

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