I have been collecting antique children's books since the early 1980's. Wanting to share the delightful illustrations with others, I started putting these images online in 1996. I believe all of these images are in the public domain or that the original owner no longer holds the copyright to them. If you hold a legitimate claim to the images on this site, please email me, explaining your proof of ownership and contact information and I will remove the images.
I have been investigating copyright information since 1996 and the following represents my understanding of the issues as of January 2005.
1. Works published before 1923 in the US are in the public domain.
- Andersen's Fairy Tales (Harry Clarke Illustrator) - 1916
- Aunt Louisa's Book of Nursery Rhymes - No date - 1900?
- Jolly Kris Kringle - 1901
- Little One's Annual - 1889 & 1890
- Picture Puzzles Bible - 1903
- Shining Hours - 1905
- The Chummy Book - No date - 1900?
- The Metropolitan Mother Goose - No date - 1910?
2. Works published between 1923 and 1978 in the US without a copyright notice are in the public domain.
- Faust (Harry Clarke Illustrator) - No date - 1925? (Three Siren's Press)
- Tales for Teeny Wee - No date - 1920? (Whitman Publishing Company)
3. Works published between 1923 and 1963 in the US and the copyright was not renewed.
- Anne Andersons's Fairy Tales and Pictures - 1935 (Whitman Publishing Company)
- Anne Andersons's Old, Old Fairy Tales - 1935 (Whitman Publishing Company)
- Awake and Away - 1947 (Lyons and Carnahan)
- Elson Basic Readers - 1930 (Scott Foresman and Co.)
- Friends A Primer - Date page missing - 1930's? (Ginn and Co.)
- Junior Arithmetic Grade Three - 1950 (W. J. Gage and Co.)
- Storyland: Stories in Music Appreciation - 1939 (The University Publishing Company)
Often the original publisher is no longer in existence. Web searches have been done but there appears to be no successor to the original company. If you hold a legitimate claim to the images on this site, please email me, explaining your proof of ownership and contact information and I will remove the images.
4. Works published in the UK: 70 years after the death of the author.
- Children's Wonder Book - 1933 (Odham's Press Ltd.)
- Golden Wonder Book - 1934 (Odham's Press Ltd.)
- Mammoth Wonder Book - 1935 (Odham's Press Ltd.)
These are similar to #3 above in that there appears to be no successor to the original publisher. Again, if you hold a legitimate claim to the images on this site, please email me, explaining your proof of ownership and contact information and I will remove the images.