Expirable copyright makes giant-sized Little Nemo possible

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Glenn Fleishman says: "A wonderful man named Peter Maresca has restored 110 of Windsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland strips as they appeared in newspapers. The book is 21 by 16 inches.

"That's cool enough for BoingBoing, I know — but think about the copyright issue. The strips in this collection ran from 1905-1910 and thus are in the public domain. The artist and heirs had their protection and reward some time ago.

"Now, 100 years later, the public that granted the limited exclusivity of copyright gets to reap in the greater benefit of cultural heritage being shared more widely.

"This is a perfect case, too: the comics collector self-published this $120 book and has no idea if he'll recoup the expense, according to The New York Times.

"The poor fellow stayed awake for nearly 60 hours while the book was printed in Malaysia. He should have brought a pal to spell him–he slept through a signature (not a 'page' as the Times would have it) and obviously thinks it wasn't up to par."

The book was launched at San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum yesterday.
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