Is it legal to rewrite a book written in 16th century English in modern American English?
<p>I would like to rewrite an old story, written in the 16th century, in the hope that more people may benefit from its message. The latest reprint was in 1971 in Great Britain.  </p>

<p>It is legal to rewrite a book that is out of copyright, although ethical considerations demand that the original author and source be credited. You need to derive your rewrite from a version that is out of copyright, however, rather than a translation whose incremental innovations due to the transformation arising from the translation is still under copyright.</p>

<p>Certainly, the 16th century original would be out of copyright, and in all likelihood, so would many of the later editions, but probably not the one from 1971.</p>

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