Public Domain Explorer

Gemstones and Precious Jewels

My soon-to-be four year-old has shown a prolonged fascination with rocks and stones, and he's collected quite a number of sparkly and shiny specimins. So, for his upcoming birthday, one of the gifts I am looking for is a rock tumbler that is easy enough, and durable enough to withstand an inquisitive four year old.

Which then led me to wonder what sorts of books might be available in the public domain. And boy, there are a LOT. I picked out a few under $30, but since this isn't going to be a work project for me, I thought I'd share the results of the search, in case you're interested in building the ultimate, comprehensive site about gemstones, precious or semi-precious stones.

So, without further ado, here's the under $30 selection with dates prior to 1923... just to be safe.

Title	Author	Year (Pre 1923)	Status	Price
The Diamond King.	Day, W. Freeman.	1894	pre 1923	$7.50
Gem-Stones and Their Distinctive Characters	Smith, G.F. Herbert	1912	pre 1923	$7.50
GEM STONES OF THE UNITED STATES	Schlegel,D.M.	1042	pre 1923	$7.50
Gems And Precious Stones In 1917	Schaller, Waldemar T.	1918	pre 1923	$9.00
A Book of Precious Stones	Julius Wodiska	1909	pre 1923	$9.99
The Geology Of The Diamond And Carbonado Washings Of Bahia, Brazil	Derby, Orville A.	1907	pre 1923	$10.00
GEM STONES OF UNITED STATES	SCHLEGEL, DOROTHY	1042	pre 1923	$11.00
A Book of Precious Stones. The Identification of Gems and Gem Minerals	Wodiska, Julius	1909	pre 1923	$12.00
Art and Gems.	Schumann, C. W.	1891	pre 1923	$12.00
Gems and Precious Stones (ANTIQUITY/GEMOLOGY)	ANONYMOUS	1862	pre 1923	$12.50
THE GEOLOGIC AND GEOGRAPHIC OCCURRENCE OF PRECIOUS STONES	Ball, Sydney H	1922	pre 1923	$12.90
THE MENTOR, December 1922, Volume 10		1922	pre 1923	$13.00
Gem Collection Of The U.S. National Museum	Kunz, George F.	1889	pre 1923	$15.00
The Production of Precious Stones in 1898	Kunz, George F.	1899	pre 1923	$15.00
The Production And Identification Of Artificial Precious Stones.	Heaton, Noel.	1912	pre 1923	$15.00
Emigrant Diamonds In America	Hobbs, William Herbert	1902	pre 1923	$15.00
THE GEOLOGIC AND GEOGRAPHIC OCCURRENCE OF PRECIOUS STONES	Ball, Sydney H	1922	pre 1923	$16.90
A Book of Precious Stones	Wodiska, Julius	1909	pre 1923	$17.00
Handbook and Descriptive Catalogue of the Collections of Gems and Precious Stones in the United States National Museum.	Merrill, George P.	1922	pre 1923	$17.50
Diamonds, Pearls & Precious Stones	Smith, Marcell N.	1913	pre 1923	$18.00
A Hand-book of Precious Stones	Rothschild, M.D.	1907	pre 1923	$18.50
Diamonds	Crookes, William	1898	pre 1923	$20.00
Diamonds and Precious Stones	Dieulafait, Louis	1874	pre 1923	$20.00
Diamonds	Crookes, William	1898	pre 1923	$20.00
The Lure Of The Pearl	Penfield, Frederic Courtland	1906	pre 1923	$20.00
GEM-STONES AND THEIR DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS	HERBERT SMITH, G.F.	1912	pre 1923	$20.00
Diamonds, Pearls and Precious Stones Where they are Found, how cut, and made ready for use in the jeweler's art, cont'd	Smith, Marcell N.	1913	pre 1923	$20.00
Brazil in 1912	Oakenfull, J. C.	1913	pre 1923	$21.00
Diamonds, Pearls and Precious Stones: Where They are Found, How Cut, and Made Ready for Use in the Jeweler's Art, Their Composition and Value (Second Editon)	Smith, Marcell N.	1914	pre 1923	$25.95
Pearls	Dakin, W. J.	1913	pre 1923	$27.51
A PIECE OF AMBER	RUDLER, F. W.	1882	pre 1923	$29.00
DIAMOND (DIAMONDS)	BREWSTER, DAVID	1832	pre 1923	$29.00
A PIECE OF AMBER	RUDLER, F. W.	1882	pre 1923	$29.00
A BOOK OF PRECIOUS STONES: The Identification of Gems and Gem Minerals, and an Account of Their Scientific, Commercial, Artistic, and Historical Aspects	Wodiska, Julius	1909	pre 1923	$30.00

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Using the public domain to add uniqueness to private label articles

A few weeks ago I picked up a psychology/ self-help public domain book that had some content I wanted to add to a particular e-course I'm selling.

At the end of the book I found an added bonus -- a dozen pages of quotations on the subject that were really amazing.

In addition to adding the collection to my course package, I also added a quotation to each of the private label articles I posted on the content/adsense site I'm using to feed traffic to my sales page, which (along with a spin through WhiteSmoke to change the wording and grammar), make my content unique to the search engines.

And I used a freely available quotations script to rotate the various quotations on the sales page as an illustration of the insight they'll receive from the course package.

But, back to my thought on quotations .. if you're looking for extra snippets to add to your purchased private label articles for uniqueness, why not do a search through Project Gutenberg or the Online Books site, or even books in your personal library, to find related quotations to add instead of the generic intro and conclusion snippets that so many other people are using on their sites?

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Got an exclusive public domain etext online?

Here's an interesting tip to get a GREAT link from an authority site instantly: Go to Wikipedia and search for 1) the author and 2) the subject of your etext. Get a Wikipedia account and add your online book link to both (if they exist) under "External Links" Generally, this link will give you a lift in the SERPS for the keyword and author name the next time Google does it's dance. I did this with a brand new etext recently and seem to have bumped my site right out of the Google sandbox with the Wikipedia incoming link.
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Crocheting and Tatting

"Crocheting Tatting". That's the exact quote I used in Public Domain Explorer tonight, even though I can't crochet at all, and I don't have a clue what tatting is.

It just came to me to search for it since someone on a book publishing list mentioned tatting as a micro niche, and I thought, I wonder what the heck tatting is, and whether there are public domain books on the subject.

And then I noticed that one of the most popular Wordpress.com blogs is entitled "What Not To Crochet." And thats what the blog posts are about too, so I thought I'd throw crochet into the mix just for fun, since I was pretty sure the two were somewhat related.

I still don't have an answer to question one, but I found no shortage of books for my search terms in the public domain. There's a huge list even before the 1923-1949 section. Here's everything $25 and under on the list:

Title	Author	Year (Pre 1923)	Price
Mary Fitch #15 - Latest Yokes, Collars and Cuffs Sets in Filet Crochet & Tatting	Mary Fitch	1919	$6.95
Anna Valeire #7 - Dainty Yokes Made From Medallions	Anna Valerie	1912	$7.95
ABC #2 - Book of Crocheted Edges and Corners	ABC - Asmus Bradley Company	1912	$7.95
Mary Fitch #4 - Crocheted Yokes and Tatting	Mary Fitch	1915	$7.95
Mary Fitch #8 - Crocheted and Tatted Yokes and Collars	Mary Fitch	1917	$7.95
Anna Valerie #1 - Crochet & Tatting Craft: Edgings, Medallions & Insertions	Anna Valerie	1912	$7.95
ABC #1 - Book of Crocheted Edges and Corners	ABC - Asmus Bradley Company	1912	$7.95
ABC #4 - Book of Crocheted Edges and Corners	ABC - Asmus Bradley Company	1912	$7.95
Anna Valerie #2 - Tatting Craft: A Real Sampler of Over 100 Designs	Anna Valerie	1912	$7.95
ABC #3 - Book of Crocheted Edges and Corners	ABC - Asmus Bradley Company	1912	$7.95
Anna Valeire #6 - Finished Yokes of Beauty	Anna Valerie	1912	$7.95
Anna Valeire #4 - My Trousseau, Crochet for Lingerie and Linens	Anna Valerie	1912	$7.95
Home Needlework Magazine: April 1914		1914	$8.00
Richardson's Complete Crochet Book #2	Richardson's Silk Company	1916	$8.95
STAR YOKE BOOK BOOK NUMBER 1	American Thread	1921	$15.00
Royal Society Tatting and Crochet Lessons #5	Royal Society	1915	$15.95
Corticelli Lessons in Crochet #13	Nonotuck Silk Company	1920	$16.95
Priscilla Yoke Book - Tatting & Crochet	Priscilla Publishing Co.	1916	$16.95
Priscilla Tatting Book #2	Julia E. Sanders	1915	$16.95
Priscilla Tatting Book #1	Jesse M. De Witt	1909	$16.95
Young Ladies' Journal Complete Guide to the Work Table	E. Harrison	1895	$24.95
PLAIN AND FANCY NEEDLEWORK A MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO NEEDLEWORK, DRESSMAKING, MILLINERY, DECORATION AND OTHER HOUSEHOLD INTERESTS SEPTEMBER 1917		1917	$25.00
How to Use Florence Knitting Silk	Nonotuck Silk Co.	1885	$25.00
PLAIN AND FANCY NEEDLEWORK A MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO NEEDLEWORK, DRESSMAKING, MILLINERY, DECORATION AND OTHER HOUSEHOLD INTERESTS JULY 1917		1917	$25.00

I know it's an excruciatingly long list, but since I don't know anything at all about the subject, I'm not up to making a fool of myself by offering commentary on the available titles. After all, you don't want to hear that "Finished Yokes of Beauty" doesn't actually sound appealing. Nor does wearing crocheted lingerie. But what the heck... enjoy!

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The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker Part 3, Candles

Pickings are slim, it seems, for books about candle making.

The only book I could find that might fit the bill is The Candle Book; How to Make Decorate, Decorate With and Sell Candles by Laklan, Carli

In Google Print, I found An Outline of the Sciences of Heat and Electricity, which looks like it might have some relevant material.

At Project Gutenberg, an interesting series of lectures by Michael Faraday called The Chemical History of a Candle should also provide some good material.

Not too much to go on, so I thought I'd check the Library of Congress to see if there are many books that might eventually come available on candlemaking. And, as it turns out, there are not. It seems that there were very, very few books in English written about the subject prior to 1970.

A more likely place to find information on the subject, then, would be in books about homemaking and home economics from those earlier years.

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A free halloween image

Adapted from a cartoon in the Indianapolis Star, October 30, 1910, this graphic shows a police officer looking with dread at a calendar with October 31 circled, and the word BEWARE scrawled across the month.

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The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker, Part 2: The Baker

Cookbooks and Recipes are a unique case in copyright law, since lists of ingredients can't be copyrighted. So, any recipe is fair game as long as you completely re-write the directions.

However, a quick recipe for content might contain Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes and Sweetmeats, by Miss Leslie , Ice Creams, Water Ices, Frozen Puddings Together with Refreshments for all Social Affairs and Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes and Home Made Candy Recipes from Project Gutenberg.

Also on Gutenberg are a few volumes from "The Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences", namely Essentials of Cookery; Cereals; Bread; Hot Breads and Salads and Sandwiches; Cold and Frozen Desserts; Cakes, Cookies and Puddings; Pastries and Pies

You'll find many, many cookbooks in the public domain in bookstores as well, It appears that few cookbooks had their copyrights renewed.

For a few sure things, check out the Royal Baker and Pastry Cook (1911), Cakes for Bakers (1922) and The Modern Baker, Confectioner and Caterer (1908).

Old cookbooks can get pricey, as cookbook collectors drive up the prices. On the up side, that also means that once you've made your scans, if you're careful not to do any damage to the book, you can probably make a profit by selling the original on Ebay.

If you have any gaps you want to fill in your recipe collection, a FANTASTIC source is old newspaper archives. The largest searchable collection online is at NewspaperArchive.com. There is a fee for access, but it's very reasonable for such a huge and wonderful resource that can serve so many purposes.

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Public Domain Photos

The Public Domain Clipart Blog offers a sample of royalty-free, copyright-free, high res images from various sources.

The current post is a great vintage thanksgiving photo. I'm off to peruse the other great stuff there now.

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The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker, Part 1: Meat Cutting

Yup, I'm going out for a three part book search post. Why? I don't know. It just came to me while I was reading a book of rhymes to my son.

So, here are some books for the butcher in you.

There's not much this week in the pre-1923 section, but there are some GREAT finds with later dates published by various departments of the U.S. Government, so here are my picks:

1. Technical Manual - Cutting Of Beef (1943) from the U.S. War Department. 70 pages, includes photos, and is $3.00
   
2. Technical Manual - Cutting And Preparing Lamb (1943) again from the US War Department. This one's a little shorter -- 32 pages -- I suppose because lambs are smaller.
3. The Meat Handbook of the United States Navy (1945): From the foreword, "The Meat Handbook of the United States Navy,published for the training and use of commissary personnel, comprehensively covers the subject of meat utilization at naval activities. The detailed instructions for cutting meat, supported by photographic illustrations, will give practical 'on-the-job' help to personnel in the commissary branch who are charged with stowing, issuing, cutting, and cooking meat for messes ashore and afloat"
4. Beef On the Farm: Slaughtering, Cutting, Curing (1950) U. S. Department of Agriculture - a small booklet for under $20 bucks. The description of this one states: "Laid in is a 5-page mimeographed report by T. O. Meyer, Department of Animal Husbandry State College of Washington entitled, Selection, Packaging and Freezing of Meat."

Elsewhere, you can grab some freebie diagrams showing cuts of beef, veal, mutton, venison and pork from The White House Cookbook from Project Gutenberg. You might also find The Book of Household Management has some useful information. In fact, depending on where you want to take your topic, the entire Home Economics section of Project Gutenberg should be one of your top bookmarks to see what's new each week or month.

Searching for information on meat cutting at US Government sources might also produce some results. The first item I found on the Google search was this article on Food Processing Occupations.

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The Lost Files -- A Review

I've been a member of Russell Brunson's "The Lost Files" for several months, and have gotten a feel for the quality and types of ebooks offered there.

With the site about to be re-launched, I thought I'd pass along some thoughts about the site for those who are hoping to get in the 'second wave' of memberships.

Ratio of Pre-1923 to Renewal Eligible Books:

Of all the books offered to date, only two of them were published after January 1, 1923... the date before which no research is necessary to determine the copyright status of the work.

The ratio 6:1

Niche Diversity:

1 sports/fitness

1 health/nutrition

1 love/romance

1 art/design

10 self help/self-mastery

Usability of Books Offered

There are a number of people on the membership forum currently discussing the distinct lack of sales of the products when they sell them 'as is'

I have not tried to sell any of these books, so I can't say if that's because of poor sales technique, or merely because they aren't saleable in their original form.

I can relate the AdSense earning potential of the books. And the answer to that is... it depends.

Many of the older works are difficult for contextual advertising systems like AdSense to deal with because of the arcane language. With a little effort -- some searching and replacing of words with more modern keywords and phrases, keyword strong page names, AND if you already have a site in the same niche, then it is possible to generate a semi-respectable Adsense commission from the book pages. Not huge, but almost worthwhile.

Setting up an AdSense site specifically from these books -- especially the self-help ones -- is less promising.

Best use, I'd wager, is as a bonus for another offer, or as an offering in a membership site.

Overall:

I am barely, just barely, making enough from my Lost Files purchases to make it worth while. And the only reason I'm succeeding that much is that I have a few popular sites that are related enough to some of the topics that I could get the content spidered and ranked before anyone else putting the files online, and Adsense ads that lean toward my site's topics, even if the content is a little off.

The Verdict:

If you're confident in your ability to utilize old, old books in the self-help/self-mastery genre, sign up when the site begins to accept memberships again.

If you're not sure, it's probably best to head elsewhere, like EasyNicheProduct.com or NichePD.com.

The former is not public domain, but is very niche oriented, offering three different 'themed' offerings each month. The books are in desperate need of editing as-is, but the niches are ones that have far more potential than the ones from The Lost Files.

The second, NichePD.com, I have not tried yet, but I will join and offer a summary once I get a good feel for what's being offered.

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