>PROJECT GUTENBERG OF
AUSTRALIA
================================
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER -
February 2008 [includes details of ebooks placed online during January
2008]
Dear Subscriber,
Copyright laws are changing all over the
world. Be sure to check the copyright
laws for your country before
downloading or redistributing ebooks mentioned in this
newsletter.
CONTENTS:
------------------------
* News and
Reviews
* Last month's postings
* Other Information (including details of
how to unsubscribe
NEWS AND
REVIEWS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bestsellers
------------------------
Our
Bestsellers page (http://gutenberg.net.au/bestsellers.html
)contains the titles of the top ten bestselling books in both fiction and
non-fiction categories for the years 1923 through 1953 (from Publisher's Weekly)
with links to those that are available at Project Gutenberg Australia. All works
by authors who died after 31 December, 1954 are still under copyright in
Australia.
In the fiction category, there are some some surprising
authors on the list. Zane Grey, Booth Tarkington and Lloyd C Douglas are now out
of favour, even though their books are still very readable. On the other hand,
the works of Virginia Woolf and D H Lawrence are still widely read.
The
non-fiction category has some fascinating titles which would readily find a
publisher even today, including 'Self-Mastery Through Conscious
Auto-Suggestion', 'Diet and Health', and 'You Must Relax.' No doubt the actual
content would, in many cases, be quite different.
It is difficult to find
many of the non-fiction titles in libraries today, much more difficult than
finding many of the fiction titles. One supposes that the transitory nature of
many of the non-fiction works has meant that the books date more
easily.
Why not click on the Bestsellers link and browse the list. At the
very least it provides an interesting insight into the reading taste of people
more than 50 years ago.
Copyright in
Australia
------------------------
In Australia there is no system of
registration for copyright protection. You do not need to publish your work, to
put a copyright notice on it, or to do anything else to be covered by
copyright--the protection is free and automatic. There are no forms to fill in,
and there are no fees to be paid. You do not have to send your work to the
Australian Copyright Council or to anyone else. Further, as a result of
international treaties, such as the Berne Convention, Australian copyright works
are protected in most other countries, and copyright works from most other
countries are protected in Australia.
Under Australian copyright law,
work published (anywhere in the world) in an author's lifetime are, in
Australia, protected for the life of the author plus 70 years from the end of
the year of the author's death. After the protection period, they enter the
"public domain". However, they may still be subject to copyright in other
countries. In countries where copyright protections can extend more than 70
years past an author's death, the author's estate and publishers still retain
their legal and moral rights to oversee the work in those countries.
Once
copyright has expired it cannot be revived by subsequent publication, or
otherwise. New editions cannot extend copyright, however new work (such as an
introduction) will be copyright. Translators, editors, and illustrators have
similar rights to those of the author of the work.
Amendments to the
Copyright Act were made in 2005, as a result of the Free Trade Agreement with
the United States. Those amendments extended the period of protection (for most
material that was still protected by copyright at the time) to 70 years, as
outlined in an earlier paragraph. In general, material that was previously
protected for the life of the creator plus 50 years is now protected for the
creator's life life plus 70 years, and material that was previously protected
for 50 years from first publication is protected for 70 years from the end of
the year of first publication.
The extended period of protection only
applies to material that was still protected by copyright on 1 January 2005, or
created on or after that date. There has been no revival of copyright in
material which was in the public domain as at 1 January 2005. This means
that, with regard to books, all material in the public domain as at midnight on
31 December 2004 remains in the public domain. For example, Miles Franklin died
in 1954. Her book My Brilliant Career entered the public domain at midnight on
31 December 2004. It remains in the public domain. Works published by authors
who died in or after 1955 will now remain in copyright until midnight on 31
December 2025, at the earliest.
Quotable
Quotes
------------------------
(From Doctor Widger's Library (http://www.gutenberg.net.au/widger/home.html)
The
following are from Lord Chesterfield's letters to his son. (http://www.gutenberg.net.au/widger/home.html#widger)
*
* * * *
Above all things, and upon all occasions, avoid speaking of
yourself, if it be possible. Such is the natural pride and vanity of our hearts,
that it perpetually breaks out, even in people of the best parts, in all the
various modes and figures of the egotism.
* * *
If, therefore,
you would avoid the accusation of pedantry on one hand, or the suspicion of
ignorance on the other, abstain from learned ostentation. Speak the language of
the company that you are in; speak it purely, and unlarded with any other. Never
seem wiser, nor more learned, than the people you are with. Wear your learning,
like your watch, in a private pocket: and do not pull it out and strike it;
merely to show that you have one. If you are asked what o'clock it is, tell it;
but do not proclaim it hourly and unasked, like the watchman.
* *
*
I shall go to town in four or five days, and carry back with me a
little more hearing than I brought; but yet, not half enough for common wants.
One wants ready pocket-money much oftener than one wants great sums; and to use
a very odd expression, I want to hear at sight. I love every-day senses,
every-day wit and entertainment; a man who is only good on holydays is good for
very little.
* * * * *
Australian
Poetry
------------------------
'Er name's Doreen ...Well spare me
bloomin' days!
You could er knocked me down wiv 'arf a brick!
Yes, me,
that kids meself I know their ways,
An' 'as a name for smoogin' in our
click!
I just lines up an' tips the saucy wink.
But strike! The way she
piled on dawg! Yer'd think
A bloke was givin' back-chat to the
Queen....
'Er name's Doreen.
From 'The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'
(http://gutenberg.net.au/pgaus.html#dennis)
'Google'
Ads
------------------------
Check out some of the Google ads on our
web pages. We receive revenue based on the number of 'clicks' received and that
revenue helps keep Project Gutenberg of Australia online. (http://gutenberg.net.au)
LAST
MONTH'S
POSTINGS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A
list of all the books we provide is available from http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty.html.
Check
there to see if there are other works by the authors listed below.
--
JANUARY POSTINGS --
Jan 2008 Burma and
the Karens, San C
Po
[080005xx.xxx] 1587A
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800051.txt
or .zip
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800051h.html
Jan
2008 The Karen People of Burma, Harry Ignatius Marshall[080006xx.xxx]
1588A
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800061.txt
or .zip
Jan 2008 The Karens of the Golden Chersonese, A R McMahon
[080007xx.xxx] 1589A
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800071.txt
or .zip
Jan 2008 The Karens of Burma, Harry Ignatius
Marshall [080008xx.xxx] 1590A
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800081.txt
or .zip
Jan 2008 Bindle, Herbert
Jenkins
[080004xx.xxx] 1586A
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800041.txt
or .zip
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800041h.html
Jan
2008 Scaramouche the Kingmaker, Rafael
Sabatini [080003xx.xxx] 1585A
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800031.txt
or .zip
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800031h.html
Jan 2008 The
Martyrdom of Man, Winwood
Reade
[080002xx.xxx] 1584A
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800021.txt
or .zip
Jan 2008 Mr Pottermack's Oversight, R Austin
Freeman [080001xx.xxx] 1583A
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800011.txt
or .zip
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800011h.html
OTHER
INFORMATION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsletter
Editor: Colin Choat
To visit the Project Gutenberg of Australia web site,
go to http://gutenberg.net.au.
To
contact us, go to http://gutenberg.net.au/contact.html.
To
get HELP with downloading the ebooks available from Project Gutenberg of
Australia go to http://gutenberg.net.au/help.html.
To
view past newsletters go to http://gutenberg.net.au/oldnews.html.
Tell
a friend to subscribe to this newletter at http://www.zanehost.com/?p=subscribe&id=4.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Project
Gutenberg of Australia
a treasure-trove of literature
treasure-trove n.
treasure found hidden with no evidence of
ownership.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------