Preface: yes, I'm responding to a thread from five years ago. I know that. I may have found something far older that's still under copyright. I was trying to research the copyright status of something in order to justify it's inclusion as public domain, and eventually realized it wasn't. Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (better known as Rashi) lived in France from 1040-1105. During that time he wrote many letters in response to questions which were sent to him. They were never published during his lifetime (keep in mind this was several hundred years before the printing press). Many ended up in libraries and other collections. In the early part of the 20th century Menachem Mendel Kasher visited many libraries, collected the letters, and published them in a book which was published in 1925. Kasher was Israeli, and the book was published in Israel, so his work is governed by Israeli copyright law, which is life of author + 70 years. Kasher passed away in 1983. so the work will enter the public domain in 2053. Unbelievable.