Image: Slaughterhouse-Five (first edition) - Kurt Vonnegut

Description: Cover of Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) by the American author Kurt Vonnegut. First edition, Delacorte Press
Title: Slaughterhouse-Five (first edition) - Kurt Vonnegut
Credit: AbeBooks (direct link to jpg).
Author: The credit "Jacket design by Paul Bacon" is found on the left jacket flap. (For jurisdictions that define copyright term on the date of the author's death: according to this article, Bacon died in 2015.)
Permission: No permission is required for three reasons: The photo is a mechanical scan/photocopy of the original cover and does not qualify for independent copyright protection. The cover design is likely too simple to qualify for copyright protection, being a simple arrangement of geometric shapes and text, and does not meet the threshold of originality. Even if the cover design is deemed original enough to qualify for copyright protection, the entire dust jacket was published without a copyright notice and is ineligible for copyright protection on that basis. More on that below. Slaughterhouse-Five was first published in 1969. The book itself carried a copyright notice, and its contents remain copyrighted. However, the first-edition dust jacket did not carry a separate copyright notice. According to The Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices: Chapter 2200, § 2207.1(C) at p. 15: "A notice of copyright on the dust jacket of a book is not an acceptable notice for the book, because the dust jacket is not permanently attached to the book. Likewise, a notice appearing in a book is not an acceptable notice for the dust jacket or any material appearing on that dust jacket, even if the book refers to the jacket or material appearing on the jacket." To verify the lack of a copyright notice, high-resolution photos of the rest of the same edition's dust jacket can be seen via Heritage Auctions or Worthpoint. Keep in mind that the pre-1989 requirements for a copyright notice were highly formalistic and, other than a few enumerated exceptions, required these three elements: "The symbol © or the word 'Copyright' or the abbreviation 'Copr.' or an acceptable variant such as "(c)" "The year of first publication for the work"; and "The name of the copyright owner, or an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally known alternative designation of the owner." If just one of these elements is omitted, the work is deemed to be published without notice and is not eligible for copyright protection. The year, copyright symbol (or any variation), and the word "copyright" (or any variation) are not found on the jacket. The credits "Jacket design by Paul Bacon" and "Photo by Bossi" do not meet the requirements, nor do the identifications of the author and publisher. As such, the jacket design and author photo were published without a notice and are not eligible for copyright protection.
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No