Who owns the copyright for Golden PRess Books, specificially Japanese
FAiry TAles translated by Mildred Marmur?

Is that the actual title of the book, "Japanese Fairy Tales"?  Is
there a copyright notice on the inside title page anywhere?  This is
complicated because(1) the copyrights in the underlying fairy tales,
if originally authored by a Japanese author, may either be owned bu
that Japanese author or his publisher, or they may have fallen into
the public domain in Japan; and (2) the translation itself may also
qualify for independent copyright protection, and that copyright may
either be owned by Mildred Marmur or Golden Press Books, depending on
the nature of Mildred's relationship with Golden Press.

Having said all that, I searched the records of the Copyright Office
for copyright registrations identifying Mildred Marmur, and while she
has four entries for various translations of Madame Bovary, I find
nothing under her name for a translation of "Japanese Fairy Tales."  A
separate search for books titled "Japanese Fairy Tales" rendered two
results, but neither was published by Golden Books.  You might try
calling or writing Golden and see what they say since this has no
readily apparent solution.

In addition to ipfan's excellent comments about fairy tales and
copyrights, you should know that it's likely impossible to say who
owns the copyrights to the publisher's entire line of books, without
knowing all the titles. The copyrights are most likely different for
every book, since authors typically retain their own copyright.

Kriswrite

THank you for your thoughtful comments.
Yes, the actual title is Japanese Fairy Tales. A Giant Golden Book
I am embarrassed to notice (on a later page than I had looked) that it
says Copyright 1960 Fabbri Milan published by Golden Press in New York
Printed in Italy
The translator is listed as Mildred Marmur, "illustrated by Benvenuti"
The illustrations are equisite, and the tale of, for example,
Issuombochi, is very different, in spirit, from the tale of the same
name in E.D. Hirsch's What Every First Grader Should Know. (Or maybe
second or third grade.)
I still don't know whom to contact for permission to make copies for
my family, as everyone loves the book and we have only one copy.

I assume that the Japanese version is public domain, especially since
various versions are available in English. Like Cinderella or Tom
Thumb.
But I can't figure out Golden Press phone number or address. I googled
for Golden press + copyright and got a bunch of stuff that didn't seem
useful.