I am looking at the copyright status of a posthumously published essay, the author ('R.D.') of which died in 1916. The book containing the collected works was published in Germany in 1932, and then 'reprinted' in abridged form in the USA in 1969 by a different publisher just after the last surviving editor died. I will give the specific question, and then give more background facts of the case, in case they are relevant.
What is the status for copyright for the editors of a collection of works by a deceased author, where they each contributed specific, discrete text that is clearly identifiable? Can individual texts (by primary author and commentary by editors) in the book have separate copyright holders/PD status? Dates as in the above paragraph.
The book (I will call here Werke) reprinted research articles and books but also included previously unpublished essays from R.D.'s Nachlass. The book, published in three volumes in 1930–1932, had three editors, R.F., E.N. and O.O. who died in 1930, 1935, and 1968 respectively. The articles and essays were in some cases accompanied by short commentary signed by specific editors. For the essay I care about, the comments are by E.N., but she included in her commentary a previously unpublished letter from the R.D. written in 1906. Shortly after the death of O.O. (the last surviving editor), Werke was reprinted in 1969 (apparently explicitly identified as a "reprinting", at least everywhere I've read about it) in an abridged form (two volumes) in the USA, leaving out one specific long text that had appeared elsewhere. R.D. did not marry nor have descendants, and neither did the editor E.N.
Importantly, I have contacted a library in Germany that has made a scan of Werke available online in a public archive, and I am told that it is in the public domain (even 'worldwide', according to the librarian). A second library has done the same with an explicit Creative Commons public domain mark in the article metadata. However, this of course does not tell us about the situation for the US copyright for the texts in Werke, or elsewhere outside (I presume) the EU, for the text in question. I have requested a copy of the book from a library so I can consult the specific printed copyright information therein (it being before 1978).
My aim is to make public a translation of the posthumously-published essay and attached commentary, and I am required to check the PD status essentially everywhere, or else guarantee I have permission from the rights holder.
I have consulted Do book editors get copyright? as well as what seems to be the relevant section of the US code here: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/304 . The book being published before 1978 and as far as I can find, never subsequently re-published, it's a fair case to be made that the copyright lasted for 28 years—assuming it wasn't renewed with the Copyright Office (this is on me to check, I know). However, the editor O.O. didn't fulfill the role of copyeditor, and the text I wish to reproduce was not, under any reasonable reading, written by him.
Given the fact the editor E.N. whose words I would like to translate had no descendants, and the 1969 reprinting was posthumously published for her, if she was presumed to be the copyright holder in her commentary, I don't see how her copyright could have been renewed (absent the copyright be owned by the publisher), since the US code refers to widower, children, executor etc.
Is there anything else that I should take into consideration?
