I am currently writing a book on the history of world currency. Most of my sources are authors who published their books in other countries and some don't seem to have any copyright notice on their books. I still want to gain permission from these authors, but I am having a hard time finding them. Some of these works are self publish. I would like to know what the community recommends in order to gain permission from these authors or is there a way to use their work without their direct permission. Most of the sources are indeed historical and not necessary original. Thanks

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Bear in mind I'm not a lawyer and probably don't live in the same country as you... Assuming that the stuff you want to quote actually is still in copyright... (Some people round here seem to think it lasts forever. Disney's efforts notwithstanding, it doesn't, at least not yet.) Copyright allows you quote small pieces of someone else's work without their permission if you do it for the purposes of reviewing or commenting on it, or in academic work, in support of a point you want to make. Generally, it has to be no more than is necessary for your purpose. If you want to quote more than that, you'll need permission. At the front of some books, I've seen words to the effect that "The publisher has not been able to trace the copyright owner of X on page Y. If it's you, please contact us." But this is usually for photographs, where they'd be reproducing the whole thing, not just a small part of it. If you have a publisher in mind, it might be worth checking with them what the position is. The larger publishers tend to have people whose job is to obtain any licenses necessary to use other people's work. Smaller publishers tend to leave it to the author. Good luck!

If a book is published by a publishing company, you need to seek permission from that publishing company, who will give you the proper copyright line to use; it is not necessary to contact the author directly. Major publishing companies have permissions departments. In the case of self-published books, you will have to contact the author. Good luck.