#publicdomaindaycountdown Timeline

20d

“You must sometime fight it out or perish”

Dr. Luella Axtell, a Marinette physician and civic advocate, promoted public health, the environment, and women’s rights. Her book Grow Thin on Good Food offered sensible diet-and-exercise advice ahead of its time.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

https://everybodyslibraries.com/2025/11/27/you-must-sometime-fight-it-out-or-perish/

#books #PublicDomainDayCountdown

Cover image of the book Grow Thin on Good Food by Luella E. Axtell, M.D.

he book cover shown is a plain, deep red hardback with a textured surface. Centered near the top, the title “GROW THIN ON GOOD FOOD” is printed in bold, gold uppercase lettering. Beneath it, also in gold, is the author’s name: “LUELLA E. AXTELL, M.D.”

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3d

A cat called Good Fortune

The Cat Who Went to Heaven is among the early Newbery medalists that have aged the best over nearly a century

By John Mark Ockerbloom

https://everybodyslibraries.com/2025/12/14/a-cat-called-good-fortune/

#books #publicDomainDayCountdown

Elizabeth Coatsworth & Lynd Ward (illustrator), “The Cat Who Went to Heaven

The 1930 Newbery Medal winner features distinctive artwork depicting a Japanese-inspired scene, characteristic of Ward's celebrated illustration style for this touching tale about a poor artist, his cat, and Buddha.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cat_Who_Went_to_Heaven#/media/File:The_Cat_Who_Went_to_Heaven.jpg

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21d

“No-one in the room but the corpse”

Charles Williams, a lesser-known Inkling who influenced Lewis, Tolkien, and Eliot, debuted with War in Heaven, a supernatural thriller mixing mystery, Christian themes, and a mystical quest for a powerful artifact.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

https://everybodyslibraries.com/2025/11/26/no-one-in-the-room-but-the-corpse/

#books #publicDomainDayCountdown

Charles Walter Stansby Williams

Williams is shown from the chest up, seated and facing slightly to his right while looking toward the camera with a thoughtful expression. He wears round spectacles, a dark suit, and a neatly knotted tie. His hair is combed back, slightly tousled on top.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Williams_(British_writer)#/media/File:Charles_Walter_Stansby_Williams.jpg

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18d

“From the chintz-covered drawing-rooms… straight into hell”

Evadne Price's "Not So Quiet...Stepdaughters of War," inspired by a real ambulance driver's diary, powerfully depicts war's horrors. Lucy Scholes calls it "a shattering denunciation of the jingoism that kept the war machine turning."

By John Mark Ockerbloom

https://everybodyslibraries.com/2025/11/29/from-the-chintz-covered-drawing-rooms-straight-into-hell/

More about it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_So_Quiet:_Stepdaughters_of_War

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Cover of the book Not So Quiet: Stepdaughters of War is a 1930 novel by British author Evadne Price writing under the pseudonym "Helen Zenna Smith".

The image shows the cover of the novel Not So Quiet… by Helen Zenna Smith. The design uses a stark, graphic style in black and red on a cream background. At the top, the title is printed in large, bold, uneven lettering: “NOT SO QUIET…”, with quotation marks placed dramatically before and after.

The central illustration is abstract and wartime-themed: a silhouetted rifle hangs from the left, and concentric red arcs radiate outward like shock waves or explosions. Near the bottom right, small black silhouettes suggest figures or shapes caught in the blast zone. The landscape at the bottom is a jagged black horizon, evoking a battlefield.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_So_Quiet:_Stepdaughters_of_War#/media/File:Not_So_Quiet.jpg

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17d

Betty Boop has her moment

Fleischer Studios' Bimbo cartoons succeeded in 1930, but Betty Boop stole the show debuting in "Dizzy Dishes" singing "I Have to Have You." She starred in 100+ cartoons, undergoing makeovers due to censorship, per Emily Wishingrad.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

https://everybodyslibraries.com/2025/11/30/betty-boop-has-her-moment/

#cartoon #publicDomainDayCountdown

The caption claims that Betty Boop was indeed based on Helen Kane. This was published before the lawsuit in May.

Photoplay, April 1932

This is an image from Photoplay magazine showing a side-by-side comparison. On the left is a black and white photograph of Helen Kane, a performer dressed in an elaborate ruffled costume with tiered skirts and decorative trim, posing against a curtained background. On the right is a drawing of Betty Boop in her iconic cartoon style - with her characteristic large round eyes, short curly black hair with a spit curl, and a short black dress showing her distinctive garter.

The caption below reads: "Folks, meet Betty Boop (right). You'll be seeing a lot of her because she is the new animated cartoon character who is trying to cut in on Mickey Mouse's popularity. Does she look familiar to you? Now look at little boop-a-dooper Helen Kane. Helen was the cartoonist's inspiration for Betty, the first time a real life character has been used for the popular jumping comics"

This is significant because it was published in April 1932, before Helen Kane filed her famous lawsuit against Fleischer Studios in May 1932, claiming that Betty Boop was an unauthorized use of her likeness and persona. The magazine's straightforward acknowledgment that Kane was the inspiration for Betty Boop provides important historical documentation of how the character's origins were publicly understood at the time.

https://archive.org/details/photo42chic/page/n491/mode/2up

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2d

Kafka becomes more accessible

Soon the first English Kafka books will enter the US public domain. The Castle, one of several Kafka works translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, gets there in 17 days.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

https://everybodyslibraries.com/2025/12/15/kafka-becomes-more-accessible/

At PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1735

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First English translation of the book The Castle, the last novel by Franz Kafka.

The dust jacket of the first English translation of Franz Kafka's "The Castle" (1930), featuring minimalist typography and design characteristic of early 20th-century book covers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Castle_(novel)#/media/File:CastleKafka.jpg

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16d

“It takes two people to make you, and one people to die”

Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying," set in Yoknapatawpha County, enters US public soon. Despite 15 stream-of-consciousness narrators making it challenging, Holly at Nut Free Nerd explains why it's worth reading.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

https://everybodyslibraries.com/2025/12/01/it-takes-two-people-to-make-you-and-one-people-to-die/

#books #publicDomainDayCountdown

First-edition dust jacket cover of As I Lay Dying (1930) by the American author William Faulkner.

Published in New York by Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_I_Lay_Dying#/media/File:As_I_Lay_Dying_(1930_1st_ed_jacket_cover).jpg

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15d

Destry’s long ride to the public domain

Max Brand's Destry became a symbol of Western clichés through multiple adaptations since 1930, though the famous versions strayed far from his original revenge-and-redemption tale of wrongful conviction.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

https://everybodyslibraries.com/2025/12/02/destrys-long-ride-to-the-public-domain/

#books #publicDomainDayCountdown

This is the front cover art for the book Destry Rides Again (novel). The book cover art copyright is believed to belong to the publisher or the cover artist.

Destry Rides Again was first published in 1930, in a series of installments under the title "Twelve Peers" in Frank Blackwell's Western Story Magazine. It was republished, as a paperback, later that year under the title Destry Rides Again. The word "again" in the title refers to Destry's renewed freedom to ride after being let out of prison, not to any previous story; this novel was the Destry character's fiction debut.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destry_Rides_Again_(novel)#/media/File:Destry_Rides_Again_(novel).jpg

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14d

Ogden Nash makes a splash

Ogden Nash found success after The New Yorker hired him in 1930, launching a long career of humorous, playful verse. His earliest published poems enter public domain pretty soon.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

https://everybodyslibraries.com/2025/12/03/ogden-nash-makes-a-splash/

#books #poetry #publicDomainDayCountdown