When copyright ends.

Copyright is temporary. When the term expires, the work joins the commons: anyone may copy it, publish it, translate it, adapt it, sell it, or give it away. Nearly everything published before the twentieth century — and a growing part of the twentieth century itself — is now free in this sense.

Terms differ by country

• United States. Works published in or before 1930 are out of copyright as of 2026 (a 95-year term from publication for older works). Each 1 January another year’s worth of books joins them.
• United Kingdom and European Union. Copyright lasts for the author’s life plus 70 years. A translation is a separate work: the translator’s life governs it.
• Canada. Life plus 70 years for authors who died in 1972 or later; authors who died in 1971 or earlier remain free under the former life-plus-50 rule.

These differences matter. A book that is free in the United States may still be protected in Europe (or the reverse). Because Bibliomancer ships printed editions to several countries, we assess every title against each of them.

How we check

Our source texts come from authoritative digitisations, chiefly Project Gutenberg’s, whose volunteers clear works for the United States. We do not rely on that alone. For every book we record the author’s (and any translator’s) dates and the work’s first publication, apply the rules above for each territory we sell into, and store the reasoning. Anything uncertain — an unidentified translator, a missing death date, a borderline year — is held for a human editor, who must record their evidence before the book can be published. We would rather publish later than publish wrongly.

What is ours

The texts are not ours and we make no claim on them. Our typesetting, cover designs, editorial introductions and descriptions, and this site are Bibliomancer’s own work and are protected in the ordinary way. If you spot a rights concern with any title, please tell us.