[IntroducingEmy]

Soon, I'm going to be illustrating a graphic novel of a short story written in 1892 and I was wondering what the legal ramifications of getting it published would be. I've only found copyright laws dealing with short stories after the turn of the century but not before. I want to make sure that I'm not violating some obscure copyright law by doing this. The original author would be getting credit along with a foreword at the beginning of the story. I would also make it very clear that I in no way hold ownership over the original text.

Is there anything else I need to do before embarking on this? I should also mention that the story is "The Yellow Wallpaper".

[JudyKayTee]

Soon, I'm going to be illustrating a graphic novel of a short story written in 1892 and I was wondering what the legal ramifications of getting it published would be. I've only found copyright laws dealing with short stories after the turn of the century but not before. I want to make sure that I'm not violating some obscure copyright law by doing this. The original author would be getting credit along with a foreword at the beginning of the story. I would also make it very clear that I in no way hold ownership over the original text.

Is there anything else I need to do before embarking on this? I should also mention that the story is "The Yellow Wallpaper".

I would not venture into this without the advice of an Attorney -

I know that's not the specific advice you wanted but when it's someone else's work, as I said, I'd get a written legal opinion.

[ScottGem]

You need to first determine whether the copyright on the story has been renewed by the author's family. Generally works that old are in the public domain, but maybe not.