FAQ: Are my editions authorised? and more…

The Original Home Education Series. Photo Credit Jeanne Grant Webb.

It has been brought to my attention that some people online have a few questions about the Home Education Series I released recently. I thought I’d answer them all here. Please feel free to share this blog post.

1. Are my editions authorised?
Charlotte Mason died in 1923, which means that all her work has been in the public domain for decades. Once a work enters the public domain it is free for anyone to release, edit, build upon or use in any way they like, therefore there is no edition able to be authorised. If someone adds annotations or footnotes then that part is covered by a new copyright, and authorisation is necessary. In this instance, though the original text written by Charlotte Mason is still public domain. An example would be editions of these books using Ambleside Online’s annotations. The parts written by Ambleside Online are covered by copyright and anyone wanting to use these parts would need authorisation from Ambleside Online.

2. Are my editions copies of the ‘pink’ books?
To make the ‘pink’ books the original series (pictured above) were photographed, cleaned and reprinted.  Because of this, their layout is the exact layout of the original Charlotte Mason books. Both of us have reproduced the original formatting of the public domain Charlotte Mason text. This was requested by a number of people for easy referencing when reading Charlotte Mason’s other articles.

3. Are your editions also photo’s of the original text?
No. Every book published by Living Book Press is a complete transcription of the original so that it can be presented in a fresh, clean font for easier reading. While this takes significantly longer I am really proud of all my books and want them to be as pleasurable to read as possible.

Please feel free to share this post if anyone is asking questions, and if there is something else you’d like to know please ask away.

Thank you so much for all the kind words and support I have received, I really appreciate it.
Follow us on Facebook for more news, and to be informed when the hardcover series is released. I’ll also be offering the full set with free shipping cheaper than Amazon to anyone in the US who would like it as soon as the rest of the series is done.