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File:Roots The Saga of an American Family (1976 1st ed dust jacket cover).jpg

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Summary

Description
English: First-edition dust jacket cover of Roots: The Saga of an American Family, the 1976 historical novel by Alex Haley.
Date
Source
English: Scan via Heritage Auctions. Cropped from the original image by uploader.
Author
English: Jacket design by Al Nagy. Published by Doubleday.
Permission
(Reusing this file)
English: No permission is required for two reasons:
  1. First, the book cover design is too simple to meet the threshold of originality under US copyright law. The design consists of basic text elements and a simple gradient combination of colors. See also: Commons:Threshold of originality § Partial copying or cropping of copyrighted works.
  2. Second, the dust jacket was first published prior to 1978 without a valid copyright notice and is ineligible for copyright protection anyway, regardless of the design's simplicity.

Roots was first published in 1976. The hardback book itself carried a valid copyright notice, and 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.

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 is not eligible for copyright protection. Neither the year of publication nor a copyright symbol (or any acceptable variant) appear anywhere on the dust jacket. The mere identifications of the publisher, author, or jacket designer do not meet these requirements. The lack of notice on the dust jacket can be verified by examining scans at the following two sites: themodernfirst.com (providing almost the entire jacket except for the lower portion of the front flap) and invaluable.com (providing the entire front flap).

Licensing

This work is ineligible for copyright and therefore in the public domain because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship.
This image is in the public domain because it is a mere mechanical scan or photocopy of a public domain original, or – from the available evidence – is so similar to such a scan or photocopy that no copyright protection can be expected to arise. The original itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in the United States between 1929 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice. For further explanation, see Commons:Hirtle chart as well as a detailed definition of "publication" for public art.

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This tag is designed for use where there may be a need to assert that any enhancements (eg brightness, contrast, colour-matching, sharpening) are in themselves insufficiently creative to generate a new copyright. It can be used where it is unknown whether any enhancements have been made, as well as when the enhancements are clear but insufficient. For known raw unenhanced scans you can use an appropriate {{PD-old}} tag instead. For usage, see Commons:When to use the PD-scan tag.


Note: This tag applies to scans and photocopies only. For photographs of public domain originals taken from afar, {{PD-Art}} may be applicable. See Commons:When to use the PD-Art tag.

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Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current23:08, 1 September 2020Thumbnail for version as of 23:08, 1 September 20201,476 × 2,149 (893 KB)Blz 2049== {{int:filedesc}} == {{Information |Description={{en|1=First-edition dust jacket cover of ''Roots: The Saga of an American Family'', the 1976 historical novel by Alex Haley.}} |Source={{en|1=Scan via [https://historical.ha.com/itm/books/literature-1900-up/alex-haley-roots-doubleday-1976-first-edition-inscribed-from-a-private-collection-in-north/a/6108-37000.s Heritage Auctions]. Cropped from the original image by uploader.}} |Date...

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