Using content (maps and photographs) from old books - Copyright trouble?

[Tim Schoon]

I'm working on a development project for a geo domain, and I'm currently researching the history of this city.
As it's a very interesting place from a historical point of view, many books have been written about this particular city.

Some of the old books I found on the subject contain great drawn maps and historical photographs.
I was wondering if this content (just the maps/drawings/photos) can be published on a website without getting into trouble.

One of these books was published in 1946. The publisher of my edition doesn't exist anymore.
Another one of these books was first published in the 1830's.

Would it be alright to put these drawings and maps as illustrations on my site, or are they still protected by copyrights?

 

[urlurl]

something you should look into, im not an expert but there are expiry dates on the length on time a copyright can be held.

 

[Cartoonz]

There are a lot of factors that go into this... the one from the 1800's is likely public domain.... the 1946 one is dicey, at best...
http://www.publicdomainsherpa.com/public-domain-maps.html & http://www.publicdomainsherpa.com/copyright-renewal.html specifically
pay special attention to the caveats for the time period 1923 - 1963

...and then there's the matter of what country it was published...

Ain't this fun?

 

[Jeroen]

Did you check if these books are in the Project Gutenberg library perhaps? http://www.gutenberg.org