Is I, Pencil free to download?

Yes. The complete EPUB downloads directly from this page (117 KB). There is no signup, no account and no paywall.

How long is I, Pencil?

5 chapters and about 3,844 words in the edition this archive serves.

Is I, Pencil in the public domain?

Believed so. US works published between 1932 and 1963 kept copyright past 28 years only if someone filed a renewal, and no renewal for this work was found in the Catalog of Copyright Entries. That is a search result rather than a legal opinion: a renewal filed under a shortened title or a different claimant would not have been found. Some copies carry a rights notice, which records the original claim and does not extend a term that lapsed.

First published 1958

I, Pencil

by Leonard E. Read

First published in the December 1958 issue of the Freeman .Updated September 1, 2010

I, Pencil by Leonard E. Read is available as a free EPUB download at freecapitalists.org.

Author: Leonard E. Read
First published: 1958
Format: EPUB
Publisher: First published in the December 1958 issue of the Freeman
License: Believed to be in the public domain: this work was published in the 1932-1963 window when US copyright had to be renewed after 28 years, and no renewal was found in the Catalog of Copyright Entries. Not independently confirmed.

First published in the December 1958 issue of the Freeman, "I, Pencil: My Family Tree as Told to Leonard E. Read" is written in the first person from the point of view of an Eberhard Faber pencil. The pencil details the complexity of its own creation, listing its components (cedar, lacquer, graphite, ferrule, factice, pumice, wax, glue) and the numerous people involved, down to the sweeper in the factory and the lighthouse keeper guiding the shipment into port.

Questions

About this book and this copy

Is I, Pencil free to download?: Yes. The complete EPUB downloads directly from this page (117 KB). There is no signup, no account and no paywall.
How long is I, Pencil?: 5 chapters and about 3,844 words in the edition this archive serves.
Is I, Pencil in the public domain?: Believed so. US works published between 1932 and 1963 kept copyright past 28 years only if someone filed a renewal, and no renewal for this work was found in the Catalog of Copyright Entries. That is a search result rather than a legal opinion: a renewal filed under a shortened title or a different claimant would not have been found. Some copies carry a rights notice, which records the original claim and does not extend a term that lapsed.
Who wrote I, Pencil?: Leonard E. Read (1898–1983) was an American founder and president of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), and had a lifelong devotion to educating people about freedom in down-to-earth ways that would stick with them. This archive holds 39 of Read's works.

What's in it

5 chapters · 3,844 words

About the author

Leonard E. Read 1898–1983

Leonard E. Read (1898–1983) was an American founder and president of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), and had a lifelong devotion to educating people about freedom in down-to-earth ways that would stick with them. Read more about Leonard E. Read.

Further reading: I, Pencil on The Austrian Economics Wiki.

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