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I have a facsimile of the St. Emmeram Codex and I am wondering if it is OK to upload my own modern typesettings of pieces from this work? Here are some details of what I am working from:

• orginal manuscript: "der Handschrift Clm 14274 der Bayerischen Staatsbibliotheck Munchen" circa 1430-1460.
• source of facsimile: Volume I of "Der Mensuralcodex St. Emmeram", published by Ludwig Reichert Verlag Wiesbaden, 2006.
• related material: Volume 2 contains a commentary on the facsimile edition.
• visible copyright notices: Volume 2 contains a copyright notice, 2006
• reason for my question: Volume I contains only the facsimile, with no visible copyright notices, which makes me wonder, does the notice on volume 2 apply only to volume 2, or does it also apply to volume 1?

Please let me know if you need more information,
John.

Only to volume 2, but to be on the somewhat excessively safe side, the status of volume 1 may also depend on its prior publication history - any earlier engravings or manuscript facsimiles, how earlier copies were distributed, etc. A cursory search on WorldCat shows that libraries in Switzerland and the US also have microfilm copies of the codex, which if I remember correctly means that neither this 2006 printing nor the selections engraved in the 1970s and '80s would be legally considered first publications. I'd say it's pretty much in the clear (though, to Carolus - if my memory is accurate on this, which jurisdictions does it pertain to?).

It's probably fine. This is admittedly a fairly ambiguous area with respect to the application of editio princeps in the EU and date of first publication under US law. It's an example of how the essential stated purpose of copyright - to protect the original creation of authors - is not served in any way by according any sort of protection to a work of this nature. The authors, often anonymous, have been dead for centuries. It would be nearly impossible to trace any living heirs - the only rightful claimant to copyright in an unpublished work. Canada finesses this pretty nicely by limiting its own editio princeps to unperformed works. It would be hard to make the claim that this was somehow unperformed. Obviously, any commentary, prefaces, etc. are all off-limits.