What is legally citable from printed material such as books and references when I want to reproduce a photograph of a page?
<p>I'm writing a style guide for programming and one of the examples I'm providing for describing what it's like to read bad code is by comparing it to reading a bad novel.</p>

<p>I know through experience that typesetting can greatly benefit the comfort of the reader and I would like to provide actual examples of this from other works. Am I able to provide a picture of whole pages, portions or pages, does it have to be public domain work, etc.</p>

<p>The information I'm interested in is the typesetting and not the actual content. I believe that someone's presentation of even public domain work has rights, which is why this is questionable. It's not the content but that person's presentation that I want to provide an example of for critique.</p>

<p>You could create a page of simulated content, part of a fake novel or text, for the purpose. This would allow you to introduce exactly the errors or infelicities you like, and avoid distraction by the actual real content Creating one page of content shouldn't be an onerous burden. </p>

<p>If you really want to use images of existing book pages, and you are giving detailed comment on their formatting and typesetting, that is probably a "transformative use" and strengthens an argument for fair use under US law. But fair use is never guaranteed, and specific legal advice is generally advisable before relying on it. If this would not be in a US context, the rules/laws are different.</p>

<p>Showing the format of public works books on a single page would make it a compilation. As long as you use material that is not copyrighted, you can make all the compilations you want and if yours is unique enough, you can copyright it. 
The rules for copyrights in compilations are explained here: 
<a href="https://www.commarts.com/columns/is-it-true-that-copyright-doesn-t-protect-graphic-design" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.commarts.com/columns/is-it-true-that-copyright-doesn-t-protect-graphic-design</a></p>

<p>A compilation of copyrighted items is not legal without permission. </p>

fair-use public-domain publishing