Your cover image must be provably in the public domain in the United States. Standard Ebooks has strict guidelines for proving that your cover art is in the public domain. There are three ways to demonstrate public domain status:
Because U.S. copyright law is complicated, one of these three methods is required in order to demonstrate that the painting you selected is in fact in the U.S. public domain, with no exceptions. Just because a painting is very old, or Wikipedia says it’s PD, or it’s PD in a country besides the U.S., doesn’t necessarily mean it actually is PD in the U.S.
The Standard Ebooks Cover Database
- Standard Ebooks maintains a database of public domain art . The art included in this database has been reviewed by at least two SE volunteers and includes links to the image and the proof of copyright.
+ Standard Ebooks maintains a database of US-public-domain art . The art included in this database has been reviewed by at least two S.E. volunteers and includes links to the image and the proof of copyright.
Choosing pre-approved art from the database is as simple as searching by artist, title, or keyword.
Please remember that even art from the database needs to be approved on the list before it is added to your repository.
- Museums with CC0 Copyright Disclaimers
+ Museums with CC0 Copyright Licenses
If there is nothing in the database that fits, you can also find public domain art in online museum collections.
- You can use a painting from an online museum collection without further proof only if the museum that holds the original work of art has released it with a CC0 deed. The CC0 deed is a legal document by which the museum waives any and all copyright in the image and the underlying work itself. SE does not accept other public domain declarations (not even other Creative Commons declarations such as CC-PDM).
+ You can use a painting from an online museum collection without further proof only if the museum that holds the original work of art has released it via the CC0 license. The CC0 deed is a legal document by which the museum waives any and all copyright in the image and the underlying work itself. S.E. does not accept other public domain declarations (not even other Creative Commons declarations such as CC-PDM).
Below you will find an extensive list of museums with CC0 collections . Please be sure to check the individual license; not every artwork at every listed museum will have the same license. Only works marked as CC0 will be approved.
Art Published in a Public Domain Book
- The final way to clear a painting for use as a cover image is to locate a reproduction of that painting in a book published before . This can be quite difficult. Proving image copyright this way can sometimes be the most time-consuming part of the ebook production process.
- Many museum online catalogs have a “bibliography” or “references” section for each painting in their collection, a list of books in which the painting was either mentioned or reproduced. This is a good shortcut, and if you’re lucky, a search for the book title in Google Books will turn up scans.
- Otherwise, you will need to search for art books in Google Books, HathiTrust, and the Internet Archive. (Note that if your IP address is not in the U.S., many book archives like Google Books and HathiTrust may disable book previews.) Remember that paintings often go by many different titles in different languages; your best bet is to search for an artist's last name instead.
+ The final way to clear a painting for use as a cover image is to locate a reproduction of that painting in a book published before . This option gives you the most freedom in finding a suitable image, but it can be difficult; proving an artwork’s public domain status this way can sometimes be the most time-consuming part of the ebook production process.
+ This process involves: (1) identifying a work of art that you think will be a suitable cover, then (2) finding book page scans with a reproduction of that artwork in a book published before at an online book archive like the Internet Archive, Google Books, or Hathi Trust. (Note that if your IP address is not in the U.S., some book archives may disable book previews.)
- Publication Proof Pitfalls
+ Public Domain Proof Tips
+
+ Many museum online catalogs have a “bibliography” or “references” section for each painting in their collection, which is a list of books in which the painting was either mentioned or reproduced. This is a good shortcut to finding page scans of a book with reproductions, and if you’re lucky, a search for the book title in Google Books will turn up scans.
Remember that paintings often go by many different titles in different languages; your best bet is to search for an artist’s last name instead.
Artists often had various spellings of their names, especially ones in non-Latin alphabets (like Ilya Repin ). Make sure to try several spelling variants to ensure you find them in art books.
+
+
+ Public Domain Proof Pitfalls
There are some things you need to be especially careful of when using this method:
- In older books it was common to have etchings of paintings. Etchings are not strict reproductions, and so we cannot count them for PD clearance. Etchings can sometimes be identified by: (1) having more clearly defined lines, or shading with more contrast; (2) having shading done with a stipple effect; (3) differences in small amorphous details like the shape of clouds, trees, or fabric compared to the original painting.
- Painters often produced several different versions of the same artwork. For PD clearance, your scan must be of the exact version you will be using. Carefully compare the two. Check for differences in small details, like the position of trees, clouds, reflections, or water. Any difference and the proof will be rejected.
- Do not rely on the date given in the catalog entry at Hathi Trust or the Internet Archive; these can be wrong. Please verify the page scan of the copyright page to ensure the book was published before .
+ In older books it was common to have etchings of paintings. Etchings are not strict reproductions, and so we cannot count them for PD clearance. Etchings can sometimes be identified by: (1) having more clearly defined lines, or shading with more contrast; (2) having shading done with a stipple effect; (3) differences in small amorphous details like the shape of clouds, trees, or fabric compared to the original painting. Etchings mostly fell out of use by around 1900.
Painters often produced several different versions of the same artwork. For PD clearance, your scan must be of the exact version you will be using. Carefully compare the two. Check for differences in small details, like the position of trees, clouds, reflections, or water. Any difference and the proof will be rejected.
Do not rely on the date given in the catalog entry at Hathi Trust or the Internet Archive; these can be wrong. Please verify the page scan of the copyright page to ensure the book was published before .
@@ -181,33 +187,29 @@
House Style. The Manual of Style states that:
- Cover art is in the “fine art oil painting” style, and in full color. Art not in this style, like ink drawings, woodcuts, medieval-style “flat” paintings, pencil sketches, modern CG art, or black-and-white scans, is not acceptable. Generally watercolor is not acceptable, though some watercolor may be acceptable if its appearance is oil-paining-like.
- AI generated art will not be approved, even if it appears to be in the correct style.
+ Cover art is in the “fine art oil painting” style, and in full color. Artworks not in this style, like ink drawings, woodcuts, medieval-style “flat” paintings, pencil sketches, modern CG art, or black-and-white scans, are not acceptable. Generally, watercolors are not acceptable, though some watercolors *may* be accepted if their appearance is oil-painting-like.
Cover art is not a very famous or easily-recognizable painting, like Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa or Van Gogh’s Starry Night .
+ Cover art is not AI-generated.
Beyond those basic requirements, there are a few more specific considerations:
- Science fiction. For works of twentieth century science fiction, more abstract or modernist cover art is preferred.
+ Science fiction. For works of twentieth century science fiction, more abstract or modernist cover art is a good bet, as for obvious reasons there are few fine art oil paintings of science fiction subjects. Starting around the 1910s dust jackets of fantasy and science fiction books began featuring oil paintings, which can be used as the S.E. cover for their respective books.
- Compilations. It can be difficult to find a single image that sums up a collection of short stories, poems, or essays. A portrait of the author can be a good choice here, if available.Compilations. It can be difficult to find a single image that sums up a collection of short stories, poems, or essays. A portrait of the author can be a good choice here, if available.
Orientation and Crop. Remember that your final cover art will have to be taller than it is wide, with a ratio of 3:2 height to width. Most art is wider than this and will need to be cropped to fit. If you start with a wide landscape painting, you may only be able to use a small slice of it.
- Also, remember that our tools add a title and author box to the bottom of the cover. If there is important detail in that area then the artwork can't be used. Sometimes creative cropping can help avoid this problem.
- You need to use image editing software to create a final cover image exactly 1400 pixels wide and 2100 pixels tall. If you don't already have one, Gimp is a free, open source image editor that is available for Mac, Windows and Linux.
+ Also, remember that our tools add a title and author box to the bottom of the cover. If there is important detail in that area then the artwork can’t be used. Sometimes creative cropping can help avoid this problem.
+ You need to use image editing software to create a final cover image exactly 1400 pixels wide and 2100 pixels tall. If you don’t already have one, Gimp is a free, open source image editor that is available for Mac, Windows and Linux.
- Duplication. Make sure your image hasn't already been used as a Standard Ebooks cover image. Eventually, the plan is to include information for all existing books in the image database. Until this is ready, you'll need to search the Standard Ebooks github account. Because picture titles can vary, it's best to search by the artist's name.
+ Duplication. Make sure your image hasn’t already been used as a Standard Ebooks cover image. You can search the S.E. Cover Art Database by artist name to check if your cover is already in use.
-
- The following query will search published ebooks for a cover artist's name and display the title of the painting: owner:standardebooks path:src/epub/text/colophon.xhtml name.visual-art.painting ARTIST_NAME
- Here’s a link to an example search for S.E. covers featuring art by Russian artist Ilya Repin
-
- Resolution. The final cover image must be exactly 2100 pixels high and 1400 pixels wide. If you don't start with a high enough resolution image, or if you crop the image too small, this can be a problem.
- It is possible to upscale an image that is smaller than 2100 x 1400. If it only needs to be upscaled a small amount, most image editors will give good results. New AI image editing tools like Gigapixel can sometimes allow you to get good results from lower resolution source images. If you're not experienced with these tools yourself, ask on the mailing list; someone there should be able to help you.
+ Resolution. The final cover image must be exactly 2100 pixels high and 1400 pixels wide. If you upscale a low-resolution image, the result can be muddy and unflattering. Therefore, finding a reproduction of a suitable resolution is important.
+ It is possible to upscale an image that is smaller than 2100 × 1400. If it only needs to be upscaled a small amount, most image editors like Gimp will give good results. New AI image editing tools like Gigapixel can also get good results from very low resolution source images. If you’re not experienced with these tools yourself, ask on the mailing list; someone there should be able to help you.
Compromise. Every producer wants to find the perfect match for their project, but remember, you also need to find a cover that is high enough resolution and, most importantly, public domain. So, be ready to compromise.
@@ -216,21 +218,21 @@
Getting Artwork Approved
- Before you add any cover image to your project, you need to have it approved on the SE list by the editor assigned to your project, or by the Editor-in-Chief. Just post in your project thread, and include:
+ Before you add any cover image to your project, you need to have it approved on the S.E. list by the editor assigned to your project, or by the Editor-in-Chief. Just post in your project thread, and include:
- A link to your proof of public domain status. This may be a link to the SE cover art database, to a museum listing with a CC0 declaration, or to the page images of a print appearance
- A mockup of your cover, including the Standard Ebooks title block.
+ A link to your proof of public domain status. This may be a link to the S.E. cover art database, to a museum listing with a CC0 declaration, or to the page images of a print appearance.
A mockup of your cover, including the Standard Ebooks title block.
Creating a mockup is simple. All you need to do is:
- Make a copy of the cover.svg file from your project's /images folder (not from src/epub/images) and move it somewhere outside of your project.
+ Make a copy of the cover.svg file from your project’s ./images folder (not from ./src/epub/images) and move it somewhere outside of your project.
- Rename your edited cover image to "cover.jpg" and copy it into the same folder.
+ Rename your edited cover image to cover.jpg and copy it into the same folder.
- Open your copy of cover.svg with any application that can read SVG files. Because cover.svg includes a link to cover.jpg, you should see a complete cover image as long as both files are in the same folder.
+ Open your copy of cover.svg with any application that can read SVG files. Because cover.svg includes a link to cover.jpg, you should see a complete cover image as long as both files are in the same folder.
Export the cover image as a PNG file to post on the mailing list.
@@ -242,7 +244,7 @@
The Standard Ebooks Art Database
- Our searchable database of public domain art .
+ Our searchable database of public domain art .
Museums with CC0 Collections
@@ -250,67 +252,67 @@
Where available, these links go directly so search results for public domain paintings.
- Met Museum (New York, USA)CC0 items have an “OA Public Domain” icon under the picture, which leads to the Met's Open Access Initiative page that clarifies a CC0 license.
- The Smithsonian (Multiple locations, USA)Met Museum CC0 items have an “OA Public Domain” icon under the picture, which leads to the Met’s Open Access Initiative page that clarifies a CC0 license.
+ The Smithsonian CC0 items say CC0 under Restrictions & Rights in the item details.
- National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C., USA)National Gallery of Art CC0 items have a “0 Public Domain” icon under the picture, which leads to an Open Access policy mentioning a CC0 license.
- Getty Museum Collection (California, USA)CC0 items have a “0 public domain” icon that links to a CC0 license. Beware, some items say “no copyright” which is not the same as CC0 and cannot be used!
- Yale Center for British Art (Connecticut, USA)Getty Museum Collection CC0 items have a “0 public domain” icon that links to a CC0 license. Beware, some items say “no copyright” which is not the same as CC0 and cannot be used!
+ Yale Center for British Art CC0 items have a “0 Public Domain” icon under the picture, which links to the CC0 license.
- Yale University Art Gallery (Connecticut, USA)Yale University Art Gallery CC0 items say “No Copyright - United States” under the “Object copyright” section, which links to a CC0 license.
- Art Institute of Chicago (Illinois, USA)Art Institute of Chicago CC0 items say CC0 in the lower left of the painting in the art detail page.
- The Walters Art Museum (Maryland, USA)The Walters Art Museum CC0 items are listed as "CC Creative Commons License" which links to a CC0 rights page.
- Grand Rapids Public Museum (Michigan, USA)Grand Rapids Public Museum CC0 items have a CC0 logo and link near the download button.
- Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minnesota, USA)Minneapolis Institute of Art Public domain items are listed as such under “Rights.”
- Cleveland Museum of Art (Ohio, USA)Cleveland Museum of Art CC0 items have the CC0 logo in the search results and near the download button.
- RISD Museum (Rhode Island, USA)RISD Museum CC0 items have a link to the CC0 license in the “Use” section.
- Rijksmuseum (The Netherlands)Rijksmuseum Open the “Object Data” section and check the “Copyright” entry under the “Acquisition and right” section. If it says "Public domain," click through to confirm CC0.
- Musea Brugge (Belgium)Musea Brugge CC0 items indicate the images are published under the CC0 license in the “Copyright” line.
National Gallery of Denmark
CC0 items have “No copyright” icon and a “Free to use” notice, and the About page states that such images are released via CC0.
- Nivaagaards Malerisamling (Denmark)Nivaagaards Malerisamling CC0 items say “Public Domain” by the picture, which leads to a license details page, which links to a CC0 license.
- Thorvaldsens Museum (Denmark)Thorvaldsens Museum CC0 items have a “0” icon under the picture, which links to the “Copyright” page, which links to the CC0 license.
Finnish National Gallery
CC0 items say “Copyright Free,” and the general rights statement in the original Finnish indicates that such images are CC0 licensed.
- Paris Musées (France)Paris Musées CC0 items have the CC0 logo near the download button.
- Lenbachhaus (Munich, Germany)Lenbachhaus CC0 items say CC0 below the picture with a link to the CC0 license.
- Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (Germany)Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe CC0 items have a CC0 icon below the picture.
- Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (The Netherlands)Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp CC0 items say “This image may be downloaded for free” in the “Copyright and legal” section, which has a link to a disclaimer stating that KMSKA releases the photo under a CC0 license.
- Lillehammer Kunstmuseum (Norway)CC0 items say “License: CC CC0 1.0” under the “License information” section. In the art metadata, “Owner of collection” must be “Lillehammer Kunstmuseum.” Any other art on digitaltmuseum.no or digitaltmuseum.se must be cleared separately.
- National Museum in Krakow (Poland)Lillehammer Kunstmuseum CC0 items say “License: CC CC0 1.0” under the “License information” section. In the art metadata, “Owner of collection” must be “Lillehammer Kunstmuseum.” Any other art on digitaltmuseum.no or digitaltmuseum.se must be cleared separately.
+ National Museum in Krakow CC0 items say "CC0 - Public Domain" under the Copyright section.
- National Museum in Warsaw (Poland)National Museum in Warsaw CC0 items say “CC0 — Public domain” under the “Copyrights’ section.
- National Museum (Sweden)National Museum in Stockholm CC-PD items have the CC-PD mark in the lower left of the item’s detail view.
- Birmingham Museums (England, UK)Birmingham Museums CC0 items say CC0 under the Usage Rights section in the item details.
- Brighton & Hove Museums (England, UK)Brighton & Hove Museums CC0 items have the URL of the CC0 license in the “License” field.
- Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums (Scotland, UK)Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums CC0 items say “Out of copyright - CC0” on the copyright line.
@@ -364,11 +366,11 @@
I still have questions!
- If you're unsure about anything, or have a question that isn't answered here, please ask on the Google Groups mailing list. The experienced producers there can answer any question you might have.
+ If you’re unsure about anything, or have a question that isn’t answered here, please ask on the Google Groups mailing list. The experienced producers there can answer any question you might have.
