Hunter Posted March 22, 2019 Share Posted March 22, 2019 Can we compile a list of classic Bible reference books that are in the public domain? Strong's Concordance and Dictionary Nave's Topical Bible Vine's Expository Dictionary was written in the 1940's. Did it lapse into public domain, or does someone own the rights to it? Matthew Henry Commentary 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted March 23, 2019 Share Posted March 23, 2019 Hunter, this is a lovely idea. I am not certain whether or not the J. Paterson Smyth commentaries are classic, but some at least are public domain. There is a site dedicated to his work and which includes free pdfs, and Google Books has some ebooks (here are the search results for John Paterson Smyth) including "The Bible for Home and School" which is meant for helping teach children the stories in Genesis. Also, the Smyth commentaries do not (so far as I can see) cover the whole Bible; they are rather an assortment. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver Posted March 23, 2019 Share Posted March 23, 2019 I like Summarized Bible: OT: https://books.google.com/books?id=FUdDAAAAIAAJ NT: https://books.google.com/books?id=4EZDAAAAIAAJ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 23, 2019 Author Share Posted March 23, 2019 These are EXACTLY what I am talking about! I just found this 2014 list that is overwhelming and sometimes outdated. I do not even know where to start with it! Less is more sometimes. http://www.lettermen2.com/bcrrappb.html Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. This book is in public domain, right? Some of these books are really hard to find! Both free and in PRINT as a hardcopy. And as the KJV is being abandoned, the original versions of these books are abandoned, and parts of them cannibalized into software programs sold for large amounts of money. These books were all written to be read in hardcopy and used with a KJV. What are we LOSING, here? Never again will so many authors be writing so many books all keyed to the same translation. Investing in a hardcopy library of these books was a STABLE thing that LASTED. Now everything is completely revamped every couple years. New versions and all new reference books. Many of the new and "improved" editions of these books are missing things that were included in earlier editions. And the samples online are often of ebooks without anything that does not easily convert to an ebook, like the Greek and Hebrew, pronunciation aids, timelines, etc. So even if the hardcopy DOES include these things, the ebook sample does not. I think posting links to versions that are currently in print and priced appropriately for a public domain book would be helpful. And links to explanations of how to USE them. Also features to look for that might be missing. And links to nice free pdf scans and ebooks and whatever people find helpful. We are sitting on a homeschooling treasure trove. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 23, 2019 Author Share Posted March 23, 2019 What is the best of the best for timelines? What is the best of the best for atlases? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 23, 2019 Author Share Posted March 23, 2019 Heritage History went free at some point and has some nicely formatted books of Bible stories and church history. https://www.heritage-history.com/?c=library&s=genre#bible 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeachyDoodle Posted March 24, 2019 Share Posted March 24, 2019 The Kretzmann Popular Commentary is available online. The Kretzmann Project claims the copyright to the online edition but allows full reproduction rights, so long as the content isn't altered. The original Commentary is in the public domain and was never copyrighted. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 25, 2019 Author Share Posted March 25, 2019 Thanks! That looks good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 25, 2019 Author Share Posted March 25, 2019 Sword Searcher is PC software that uses the KJV and mostly public domain reference books. Priced at $60.00 your money is spent on software development and not copyright. The library list is a good list of the best of the best of public domain books. https://www.swordsearcher.com/resources.html There is a free 30 day trial of a limited version. Logos has a free basic package that I did not know about until recently. It is enough to learn your way around logos and download some really good free resources and take advantage of monthly sales on eBooks that make them far cheaper than from Amazon. But buying the resources included in Sword Searcher for Logos would cost SOOOOO much more, and I am not sure they would be as good. https://www.logos.com/basic The developer of Sword Search went all out to maximize the use of this public domain content. I am so glad that I did not invest in any of these titles for logos! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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