A question that comes up from time to time on this forum is, when did Alphonse Cherel, the founder of Assimil, live? Or, specifically, when did he die? (I think this last question is asked more by people wondering about the copyright status of his works.)
I have not seen any answer on the forum, so I dug around a little and found this:
Go to the webpage of the "Bibliotheque nationale de France": http://www.bnf.fr (This is similar to the U.S. Library of Congress, in that one of its roles is to have a copy of every book published in France.)
Search for "Alphonse Cherel". You'll find many of the Assimil titles listed, with the author "Cherel, Alphonse (1882-1956)".
A second source: A book on the history of Assimil, "My Tailor Is Rich: Assimil, 80 ans d'histoire", by Annie Fave and Marcel Levy. (This appears to be some sort of company vanity book, in my opinion. Though still kind of nice, with old photographs to look at.) My knowledge of French is not very good, but on pages 57 and 59, I believe they also say that Cherel died in 1956, of a cerebral hemorrhage.
These sources would give Cherel a lifespan of around 74 years. That may seem a bit short nowadays, but back then, when medical science was more limited, it would not have been so unusual. In other words, I don't see any reason to seriously doubt these dates.
As for copyrights, I am not a lawyer. But according to wikipedia, most countries in the EU, along with Switzerland (where this forum is based) provide copyright protection for the lifetime of the author, plus 70 years. So, for most of the older "Without Toil" books, copyright in those countries would be in force until the end of 2026.
(On the other hand, if you live in a country with shorter terms, such as lifetime + 50 years, these books might already be in the public domain for you. But you should consult a lawyer before doing anything rash.)
Hope that helps some of you. And sorry for the verbosity, but I wanted to lay things out so people could verify everything for themselves.
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