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The book In His Steps was published in 1896, by the Chicago Advance, a religious weekly. The publisher erred and he filed only one copy of the Advance each week, instead of two, which the law of the time required. This meant the copyright was defective, and In His Steps fell into the public domain. Any one was free to use the work with out payment of royalties. 16 America publishers and 50 publishers in Europe and Australia took advantage of the situation.
Even if the correct steps had been taken to secure the copyright, it would have lapsed by now. In the USA, all works published before 1923 are out of copyright. In Canada and the UK the rule is 50 years after the death of the author. Which means 1996 in the case of Charles Monroe Sheldon. For works not yet out of copyright, these rules have been undergoing revision, so don’t apply these guidelines to other authors or countries.
The design of this Website and the text I have laboured over for so long are copyright © Leonard Jones 2004 and 2005. However, please help yourself to small chunks, just don’t take huge sections, and please give credit.