Antique Book Statistics
Thanks to Carnegie Mellon University's Universal Library for the Information on this page!
Book Edition Count
From OCLC
2000 B.C. - 1 B.C.
1 A.D. - 1449
1450 - 1499
1500 - 1599
1600 - 1699
1700 - 1799
1800 - 1899
1900 - 1919
1920 - 1960
 		779
2,291
11,234
100,731
240,171
537,139
2,573,101
1,651,313
5,335,059
You can find old books at abebooks on Left. Books prior to 1923 are no longer protected by U.S. Copyright and may be freely copied. Between 1923 and the 1960's, many books lost their U.S. Copyright because of failure to pay the required fees. This has to be researched currently on a book by book basis. After 35 years any U.S. author (or his descendent) has the ability to unilaterally call back his copyright. This right to rescind his contract lasts only for five years, but this means that authors can reclaim their copyright even if they previously sold their copyright.