Kidd-Palmer Treasure Maps SOLVED by Oliver D. Smith

[Cryptid1990]

It was common practice for publishers in the US before 1989 not to change the year on the copyright page of a book in reprints unless there were major revisions or additions to the text (hence a revised/second edition). Prior to 1989, US law strictly required a formal copyright notice inside all published books. A reprint of an existing copyrighted text, with no or very small changes (such as spelling corrections or rearrangment of illustrations) creates no new intellectual property, so there is no legal obligation to copyright the book as a "derivative work" which requires substantial changes and permits a new copyright notice. As the writer of the Facebook post correctly pointed out: the second edition of The Mystery of Cabin Island was not published until 1966, so there was no reason for the copyright page to be updated in the 1934, 1959, 1960 and 1964 reprints—since the text of the book remained virtually the same as the first impression. The Facebook poster noted that sometimes to determine when books were reprinted, you have to look at dust jackets with artwork, adverts (typically at back of the book) as well as other bits of evidence as indicators of the print year.

In the UK (unlike the US), there was never a law that required a formal copyright notice to be published in books. This explains why Rainbow Island (1903, Ward, Lock & Co.) has no copyright year printed inside it. Most reprints of Rainbow Island do not either have the year they were printed (after the first impression), although a few do (I already showed these, including a 1910 reprint). This is why I previously explained to determine when the book was published and/or reprinted, you have to look at different lines of evidence:

• Under British law (since the Copyright Act 1842), publishers up to 1973 were required to send copies of newly printed books (within one month) to the Department of Printed Books in the British Museum. The library stamped these incoming copies with the exact date they arrived to verify the legal-deposit provision of the Copyright Act 1842 and 1911. The Copyright Office of the British Museum also maintained an accession ledger by hand as a receipt. Today, publishers instead send copies directly to the British Library (under the British Library Act 1972 [which came into effect in July 1973], the British Library split from the British Museum to become an independent institution) and the accession ledger has been replaced with a computer database.
• Literary magazines and newspapers, and trade journals (such as The Publishers’ Circular) published weekly lists of new book releases and reviews. Rainbow Island began appearing in review columns and publisher advertisements in late 1903.
• The first impression of Rainbow Island had gilt lettering and decoration on its book cover (this did not appear in any reprint) and also the title page was printed in red and black writing (red writing does not appear in any reprint). This is why based on the book cover and title page, antiquarians and book specialists easily determined the first impression.

As mentioned here, I purchased a digital scan of the copy of Rainbow Island in the British Library and it is stamped:

"British Museum 3 OC 1903" (= 3 October 1903).

This is indisputably the date the British Museum recieved the copy of Rainbow Island and is the date on their accession ledger (the date the book was formally registered with the Department of Printed Books) so the book was recieved, catalogued and accessioned on 3 October 1903. The stamp inside the book also matches this period and is oval in shape. I am prevented for copyright reasons from posting it (as explained above), however, you can go to the British Library and see the book copy for yourself. I was in London a few weeks ago and visited the British Library. I have therefore seen and physically handled the book; the library staff clarified the aquisition/accession date as 3 October 1903 (the date of the stamp). The book copy held in the British Library is the first impression and contains the illustrations by Fred Pegram including the map of Rainbow Island. The map appears as a plate between pages 6 and 7. In some of the reprints, the map appears on different pages, for example, in the 1910 reprint I own (which has the print year on the title page), the map appears between pp. 16 and 17.