Copyright on original work, as stated above, is generally valid for 70 years after the death of the author, artist or photographer etc if published during their lifetime and if the author/artist is known, though I believe the above statement "whichever is the later date" is erroneous: the estate of the author retains copyright of the text and the estate of the artist retains copyright of the illustrations, though you would need to check the links given below to be certain. Where the author of published works is unknown copyright usually expires 70 years after publication, though the law for photos is slightly different. For material first published after the death of the author/artist the law is different again depending on the date of creation/publication/death.

For newly, or recently, reproduced versions of out of copyright images, then the reproduction is copyright of the new producer for a further 25 years after publication. This only applies to the actual reproduction and not to the original work from which it was copied (which is still out of copyright and can still be scanned and published by anyone else). The same applies to published versions of out of copyright texts: it's the typesetting, arrangement etc of the text which holds the 25 year copyright and not the original text itself, and then only from the date of publication and not from the death of the reproducer. Though where this new version is a facsimile it would be best to tread carefully and a new arrangement or typesetting etc should suffice to negate any threats of legal action.

For unpublished manuscripts the law is different and the copyright, even where the manuscript is many hundreds of years old, is usually held by the owner of the manuscript(s), or the repository where they are held. I believe that all such documents will remain in copyright until 2039. The law may differ depending on whether the author is known or unknown and the last two links below seem to give differing advice regarding this: the National Archives gives the 2039 cut off point and the British Library gives 70 years after the creation of the document and I have used my own transcription of an anonymously authored manuscript from 1599 held at the British Library on my own website, though with their permission.

Borlase died in 1899 so use of his original material is not a problem and I have done so on my own website (which page is, of course, itself copyright of myself for 25 years as the internet is generally treated as a publication in legal terms).

Limited use of copyright material for non-commercial purposes can be used under the terms of "fair use", but this itself is a murky pool through which I wish not to tread at this present moment in time for fear of wearing out my keypad.

Please note that, although I have to be very much aware of the law regarding copyright due to my professional role within archives, I am not qualified to give judgement on the matter, and the above must be treated as lay advice rather than as professional opinion. If in doubt, consult an expert.

See http://www.bl.uk/services/information/copyrightfaq.html http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/legal/pdf/copyright_full.pdf and http://www.bl.uk/collections/manuscriptscopy.html for more details on the UK laws regarding copyright.