Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2019 February 1

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February 1

Phlegon of Tralles` Book of Marvels

Dear All

I am looking for the online version of the book "Book of Marvels" by the ancient Greek author Phlegon of Tralles. The translation can be English, German or French, I speak most of these languages at least rudimentary. If you have links to the translations of ancient or medieval ghost stories, I would also be very pleased to read them!

Thank you very much for your answers--2A02:1205:505D:1BB0:98D8:48B0:9FDD:D8CD (talk) 21:22, 1 February 2019 (UTC)

Re your second question: Ghost_story#Early_examples lists several ancient (Roman) and medieval (Arabic and Japanese) examples. If you follow the wikilinks to the individual stories mentioned there, there is often a translation in the “External Links” section. 70.67.193.176 (talk) 22:57, 1 February 2019 (UTC)

List of which books, movies, music and video games are in the public domain

Dear All

I require a list which lists most books, movies and video games which are in the public domain. I am asking for the list because I was (for example) wondering if "World of A-Null" by A. E. Van Vogt and "Galactic Patrol" by E. E. "Doc" Smith were in the public domain. A list would simplify my ongoing search. I am asking this question here instead of the entertainment thread because the question seems more a question for historians than for pop culture aficionados.

Thank you!--2A02:1205:505D:1BB0:98D8:48B0:9FDD:D8CD (talk) 21:27, 1 February 2019 (UTC): See List of countries' copyright lengths

See List of countries' copyright lengths. In general, whether something is still in copyright depends on the country where you are (not where the author was) and the date of death of the author. 70.67.193.176 (talk) 22:28, 1 February 2019 (UTC)

You can search in the Internet Archive. If it is there, it may be in the public domain. If not, it may be because it is not. Beware that people has uploaded copyrighted material. Use heuristics such as if the uploader is a library, it is more probable that they checked the book status. --Error (talk) 00:38, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

A list would be impractically long and, as noted, country-dependent. Clarityfiend (talk) 00:50, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

Both of those books you mention are almost certainly still in copyright, at least in the US. They were written in the 1940s by well known authors, the type who would have had literary agents staying on top of the renewal dates that would have come up in the 1970s give or take. It's very hard to say for sure that a copyright was allowed to lapse, too. Even if no renewal record can be found, something but come out of the woodwork later. See some of the publications about orphan work for issues related to this. 173.228.123.166 (talk) 08:27, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

FWIW, the Sphere Books 1971 edition of The World of Null-A gives the copyright as

"© 1948 by Street & Smith Publications Inc.

Introduction © A. E. Van Vogt 1970":

it had originally been serialised in Astounding Stories magazine (then published by Street & Smith) in 1945, and appeared in book form from Simon & Schuster in 1948.

The Panther 1972 edition of Galactic Patrol gives

"Copyright Street & Smith Publications Inc. 1937

Copyright Edward E Smith PhD 1950".

1937 marked its first magazine publication, in Astounding, while 1950 was its first book publication, by Fantasy Press. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.217.251.247 (talk) 22:09, 3 February 2019 (UTC)