Sources and public-domain status
Our rule: a work is in the public domain in the United States when it was first published before 1931 (as of January 1, 2026). For any sale outside the US we add a stricter test: the author died before 1925 and no translator is involved. During this launch, we sell to US buyers only.
| Title | Author died | First published | US | Stricter rule | Text used |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Macbeth | 1616 | 1623 (First Folio) | Yes | Yes | Project Gutenberg #1533 |
| The Great Gatsby | 1940 | 1925 | Yes | No (US only) | Project Gutenberg #64317 |
| Frankenstein (1831 text) | 1851 | 1818; revised text 1831 | Yes | Yes | Project Gutenberg #42324 |
| The Awakening | 1904 | 1899 | Yes | Yes | Project Gutenberg #160 |
| Hamlet | 1616 | 1603 (Q1); 1623 (First Folio) | Yes | Yes | Project Gutenberg #1524 |
| The Scarlet Letter | 1864 | 1850 | Yes | Yes | Project Gutenberg #25344 |
| Wuthering Heights | 1848 | 1847 | Yes | Yes | Project Gutenberg #768 |
| Jane Eyre | 1855 | 1847 | Yes | Yes | Project Gutenberg #1260 |
We work from the plain-text Project Gutenberg file of each book, with the Project Gutenberg header, licence and footer removed. We do not redistribute the texts: the checks quote short lines only. Project Gutenberg is not involved in, and does not endorse, this product.
Legal sources: the US term for works published before 1931 (Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain, Cornell University Library); life plus 70 years in the UK (CDPA s.12) and the EU.
Titles we leave out, and why
- As I Lay Dying (Faulkner, d. 1962), The Sun Also Rises (Hemingway, d. 1961), Passing (Larsen, d. 1964), The Waste Land (Eliot, d. 1965): Public domain in the US (published before 1931), not in the UK or the EU.
- 1984 and Animal Farm (Orwell, d. 1950): Public domain in the UK and the EU, not in the US (published 1949 and 1945).
- Their Eyes Were Watching God, Kindred, Ceremony, Fences, The Crucible, Of Mice and Men: In copyright.
- The Metamorphosis: Kafka is in the public domain, but the usual English translations (1933 and later) are not.
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