“Digital Library from the Meiji Era” in the NDL website enables you to see the images of books published in the Meiji and Taisho eras (1868-1926) on your computer screen.
Before putting a book into the Digital Library, we investigate the date of the author’s death. If the copyright has not expired, we ask the copyright holder to permit us to use the book, and in cases where the copyright holders cannot be identified, we ask for a compulsory license to be issued by the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs based on Article 67 of the Copyright Law.
From June 23 (Wed) to August 23 (Mon), we will carry out Open Research for Author Information on the NDL website to identify copyright holders of books published in the Taisho and Showa (mainly prewar) period and children’s books published before the 50s. We appreciate your cooperation.

Related news:

• 2010/5/14 Searching for copyright holders of books published in the Meiji period — Open Research for Author Information —