Everybody's Libraries

“By… effecting the purposes of governmental supervision by its own internal machinery, the New York Stock Exchange has justified its existence, earned and retained the confidence of the public, and proved itself the most reliable and efficient market place in the world.” So said Robert Irving Warshaw’s The Story of Wall Street, published days before a historic market crash. It goes public domain in 13 days, maybe just in time for a new round of deregulation. #PublicDomainDayCountdown

When George Burns first teamed up with Gracie Allen, he wanted to be the comic while she played the straight part. They soon found they got more laughs the other way around. Their first film, Lambchops (now watchable online) adapts one of their vaudeville routines in a fourth-wall-breaking short that’s now in the National Film Registry. The couple enjoyed a long career in film, radio, and TV. With this film, they’ll be together again in the public domain in 14 days. #PublicDomainDayCountdown

In 1929 a Belgian reporter began a series of global adventures in the pages of Le Petit Vingtième. In 16 days Tintin starts a new journey into the public domain. But those wanting to meet him there must brave pitfalls around issues like where he’s public domain (only in the US for now), what’s reusable (only what’s in the 1929 French-language strips), and even whether a controversial precedent might keep him copyrighted in parts of the US. Great snakes- er, Sapristi! #PublicDomainDayCountdown

Three people unsatisfied with their lives leave home, meet a falling-apart performing troupe, and reinvent themselves as The Good Companions. J.B. Priestley’s long comic story of a now-bygone Yorkshire has had devoted British fans for many years, and inspired film, radio, TV, and theatrical adaptations in the UK.

The book has made less of a mark in the US. That could change in 17 days, when it joins the public domain here, years before it does most anywhere else. #PublicDomainDayCountdown

Duke Ellington led jazz bands and orchestras for over 50 years, and wrote or had a hand in writing over 1000 pieces of music. His began making records in 1924, and many other musicians have also recorded his work since. Van and Shenck sang his “Choo Choo (Gotta Hurry Home)” as a novelty song on a record released in 1924. Later that year, Ellington’s Washingtonians released a jazz instrumental version. Both records finally come home to the public domain in 18 days. #PublicDomainDayCountdown

William Faulkner struggled going into 1929. His sprawling novel on fading southern aristocrats had been rejected by eleven publishers, and his novel in progress, a nonlinear streams-of-consciousness narrative, would be hard to sell. After severe cuts, the first novel became Sartoris, launching his Yoknapatawpha County saga. The second, The Sound and the Fury, was cited as his “breakthrough” in the award of his Nobel Prize. Both books reach the public domain in 19 days. #PublicDomainDayCountdown

Alfred Hitchcock started making Blackmail as a silent film, but after getting access to the new movie sound technology, he ended up releasing two versions. The sound version was one of the first “talkies” released in Britain. Some film aficionados prefer the silent version, which often uses different footage.

Blackmail‘s US copyright, once lost here due to formalities requirements, was restored in the 1990s. The film returns to the public domain here in 20 days. #PublicDomainDayCountdown

Margery Allingham’s detective Albert Campion may be easy to miss at first sight. He’s not as familiar to American readers as sleuths like Lord Peter Wimsey (who he resembles in some respects). In The Crime at Black Dudley (1929), he’s one of several mysterious secondary characters, and not the one who solves the murder.

Campion takes over the lead in later books, including 18 more by Allingham. Mike Ripley continues his adventures today. In 21 days, maybe you can too. #PublicDomainDayCountdown

Laughing Boy, by white anthropologist Oliver La Farge, is about a troubled relationship between two Navajos, one raised traditionally and one sent to a white-run boarding school. The first Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about native Americans, it was later banned by a Long Island school district, in a case that students took all the way to a divided Supreme Court in 1982. Laughing Boy will be free to read without censorship or copyright restrictions in 22 days. #PublicDomainDayCountdown