Wanted - Endangered scripts

Is it really possible for published stage play scripts to vanish? Works out-of-copyright are also out-of-print as publishers lose interest and ownership fades. Libraries keep lending copies only until they are lost or too damaged to shelve. One reason to preserve these works in digital format is Australia's unique copyright situation. Duration of copyright was extended by twenty years in 2005, without revoking what had already been released, so copyright culture can be divided into law by nation. United states (publication + 28years +renewal 28 years) Canada & New Zealand (authors life + 50 years) Australia (life + 70 after 1955) Britain and Europe (Life + 70) Consequently, Australians may be interested in public domain works TOO OLD for the united states tastes, yet TOO RECENT for European law. Under these circumstances, the most useful resources are those which are known to be safe territory, clearly marked as definitely available in the public domain. Project Gutenberg offers storage, retrieval and copyright clearance, all for free. This is a relief for amateurs as well as budding producers. Works I consider critically endangered (no copies in Australian libraries) or extinct (no copies for sale) "Frankenstein" by Peggy Webling (1925 unpublished) "Frankenstein" (1823) by Richard Brinsley Peake "Our Flat" by Mrs Musgrave "Message from Mars" by Richard Ganthoney All the screenplays of Wilson Collison All screenplays by Stanley Lupino All works by Walter W Ellis The one broadway hit by Max Rhinehardt "Jupiter unleashed" by Australian Walter Turner "Seven Days Leave" by Walter Howard Musical "Bunty pulls the strings by Graham Moffat "When Knights were bold" by Charles Marlowe "The Pink Dominoes" by James Albery . . . . .there are plenty more Tomb-raiding is such an unattractive idea, but if you have access to a script cupboard or library, take a glance at what you can find by authors who died between 1943 and 1955. Obviously, if you have any original manuscripts, they could be worth a lot of money. The point is, don't hide them. You may uncover a true gem, the last copy on earth.