Have you ever purchased a public-domain eBook?

[mt.msla]

Few times. Didn't realize it was once. Others they were kindle and I was all kindle-happy at the time.

Don't think I'd do it again without good reason to. I've learned how to edit ebooks with Sigil and stuff so I would be hard pressed to do it again without good reason. (Pete and repeat I know)

[jackm8]

When deciding, I'll quickly look at different sources, then more often than not, go with public domain books, or with a paper book instead.

There are reasons for buying one. New translations, quality annotations. Shakespeare benefits from annotations and fresh editing, and you practically must, or should, go with new translations of books like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, because public domain books are all based on a censored and abridged version stemming from Lewis Page Mercier's flawed translation.

Then there's extra padding to consider, like introductions and essays, some are great, but many of those are actually a reason to go with public domain sources.

I'd also love it if I could put fresh or original illustrations, and maps to this list, but they're generally in horrible low resolution and don't bring anything new or fresh. In fact, I often find much better illustrations on scans on Archive.org. It was there that I found the only version of Ninety-Two Days from Evelyn Waugh with his photographs. Scans were poor, but still better than nothing.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by issybird

That's why I said "apples and oranges". A PD translation is an imperfect substitution for a contemporary translation, but it's not irrelevant. It's still an option for reading the original text (obviously also PD) in translation and translations always have issues.

Sometimes there isn't a PD translation.

My point was simply a new Translation is never PD, no matter what else exists.

So anyone purchasing a new translation isn't purchasing a PD ebook. Or a translation in last 50 to 70 years etc.

Title:

Have you ever purchased a public-domain eBook?

Also an edition with newer illustrations is also not a PD ebook, even though the source text is.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Sometimes there isn't a PD translation.

If there's no PD translation, then the situation I'm talking about doesn't apply.

My point was simply a new Translation is never PD, no matter what else exists.

My point was that for someone approaching a book with at least one PD translation, they may simply think, "I'd like to read War and Peace" (for example). There are several free choices, but I'd recommend paying for something more modern. Of course if they think, "I'd like to read the Pevear translation of War and Peace", public domain is irrelevant. I tried to suggest this issue with "apples and oranges", assuming that people would understand what I meant.

In other words, War and Peace can be read in English for free, but I myself would pay for a non-PD translation. And have. Two, if not three; I can't remember. But someone's who read Maude or Garnett for free has read the same book I have.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I noticed Kobo had a sale for a bunch of PD eBooks which made me wonder about this.

Question is in the title. Note that if it wasn't in the PD at the time (e.g. The Great Gatsby before a few years ago), it doesn't count. Neither do physical copies.

A few years ago, I accidentally purchased an eBook and read it before realizing I could've gotten it from Project Gutenberg. It was less than a dollar so I wasn't too upset.

I've bought quite a few PD books from Amazon because, for a dollar or two, they usually clean them up and make them nicer than what you get downloading directly from Gutenberg. I figure a dollar or two is fair for this service.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I purchased several PD books when I knew the company that produced the editions had put the work in to produce a better formatted edition compared to Gutenberg. It was worth the 99¢ per book rather than editing the books myself.

That's the way I still look at it.