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File:"All That Is Solid Melts Into Air", by Marshall Berman.jpg

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Original file (2,162 × 3,347 pixels, file size: 1.41 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Captions

Captions

First edition cover of All That Is Solid Melts Into Air by Marshall Berman.

Summary

[edit]
Description
English: First edition cover of All That Is Solid Melts Into Air by Marshall Berman.
Date
Source Scan via Bookculture.com
Author Jacket design by John and Mary Condon
Permission
(Reusing this file)

No permission is required.

  1. First, the photo is a mechanical scan/photocopy from the original cover and does not qualify for independent copyright protection.
  2. Second, the dust jacket was first published between 1978 and 1989 without a valid copyright notice and copyright was not subsequently registered with the copyright office. All That Is Solid Melts Into Air was first published in 1982; the hardcover book itself carried a copyright notice, so its contents remain copyrighted. However, the first-edition dust jacket did not carry a separate copyright notice. According to The Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices: Chapter 2200, § 2207.1(C) at p. 15:  :"A notice of copyright on the dust jacket of a book is not an acceptable notice for the book, because the dust jacket is not permanently attached to the book. Likewise, a notice appearing in a book is not an acceptable notice for the dust jacket or any material appearing on that dust jacket, even if the book refers to the jacket or material appearing on the jacket."

At least one sources can be used to verify the dust jacket's lack of a copyright notice: An EBay listing that contains the dust jacket. Keep in mind that the pre-1989 requirements for copyright notice were highly formalistic and, other than a few enumerated exceptions, required these three elements:

  1. "The symbol © or the word 'Copyright' or the abbreviation 'Copr.' or an acceptable variant such as "(c)";
  2. "The year of first publication for the work"; and
  3. "The name of the copyright owner, or an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally known alternative designation of the owner."

If just one of these elements is omitted, the work is deemed to be published without notice and will have to be registered to be eligible for copyright protection. Neither the year "1982" nor a copyright symbol (or any acceptable variant) appear anywhere in a part of the dust jacket. Credits like the numerous included do not meet the requirements, nor do the identifications of the publisher and author.
Subsequently, the dust jacket was not registered with the copyright office. A search was made for "All That Is Solid Melts Into Air" and only one registration was found that could reasonably be connected to the novel. This registration is for the text of the novel, not for the dust jacket. Thus, the dust jacket was plunged irreparably into the public domain.

Adapted from File:"The Great Shark Hunt", by Hunter S. Thompson.jpg, and, by extension, File:To Kill a Mockingbird (first edition cover).jpg

Licensing

[edit]
This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:


Public domain book jacket
This image is in the public domain because it is of a book dust jacket first or simultaneously published in the United States between 1930 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice, or between 1978 and 28 February 1989, inclusive, without a notice and subsequent registration with the Copyright Office within 5 years.

Per the 1973 Compendium of US Copyright Office Practices 4.3.1.II.d and 4.4.3.IV, removable dust jackets are treated as separate works from the books they cover. The same is said in the 2014 Compendium.[1]

For further explanation, see Commons:Hirtle chart. Note that it may still be copyrighted in jurisdictions that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works (depending on the date of the author's death),[2] and those that do but do not interpret a failure to comply with formalities as an expiration of a work's term of protection.[3]


  1. See Chapter 2200, § 2207.1(C) at p. 15:
    "A notice of copyright on the dust jacket of a book is not an acceptable notice for the book, because the dust jacket is not permanently attached to the book. Likewise, a notice appearing in a book is not an acceptable notice for the dust jacket or any material appearing on that dust jacket, even if the book refers to the jacket or material appearing on the jacket."
  2. These include Canada (70 p.m.a.), Mainland China (50 p.m.a., not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany (70 p.m.a.), Mexico (100 p.m.a.), Switzerland (70 p.m.a.), and other countries with individual treaties.
  3. France is one such example. See 17 December 2009 - Cour de cassation - Pourvoi n° 07-21.115.
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".
This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details.

File history

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Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current14:33, 30 August 2025Thumbnail for version as of 14:33, 30 August 20252,162 × 3,347 (1.41 MB)Star Manatee (talk | contribs)Cropped 29 % horizontally, 17 % vertically, 41 % areawise using CropTool with precise mode.
14:31, 30 August 2025Thumbnail for version as of 14:31, 30 August 20253,024 × 4,032 (1.64 MB)Star Manatee (talk | contribs)Uploaded a work by Jacket design by [https://www.ebay.com/itm/127076949012 John and Mary Condon] from Scan via [https://web.archive.org/web/20240617225118/https://www.bookculture.com/collectible/all-solid-melts-air-signed-first-edition Bookculture.com] with UploadWizard

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