First, the photo is a mechanical scan/photocopy of the original cover and does not qualify for independent copyright protection.
Second, the dust jacket was first published prior to 1978 without a valid copyright notice.
Light in August was first published in 1932. The hardcover book itself carried a copyright notice, so 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."
The lack of a copyright notice can be verified by inspecting the full-jacket scan at the Heritage Auctions link above.
Keep in mind that the pre-1989 requirements for copyright notice were highly formalistic and, other than a few enumerated exceptions, required these three elements:
"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.
Licensing
This image is in the public domain because it is a mere mechanical scan or photocopy of a public domain original, or – from the available evidence – is so similar to such a scan or photocopy that no copyright protection can be expected to arise. The original itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
Note that it may still be copyrighted in jurisdictions that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works (depending on the date of the author's death), such as Canada (50 p.m.a.), Mainland China (50 p.m.a., not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany (70 p.m.a.), Mexico (100 p.m.a.), Switzerland (70 p.m.a.), and other countries with individual treaties.
This tag is designed for use where there may be a need to assert that any enhancements (eg brightness, contrast, colour-matching, sharpening) are in themselves insufficiently creative to generate a new copyright. It can be used where it is unknown whether any enhancements have been made, as well as when the enhancements are clear but insufficient. For known raw unenhanced scans you can use an appropriate {{PD-old}} tag instead. For usage, see Commons:When to use the PD-scan tag.
Note: This tag applies to scans and photocopies only. For photographs of public domain originals taken from afar, {{PD-Art}} may be applicable. See Commons:When to use the PD-Art tag.
File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
== {{int:filedesc}} == {{Information |Description={{en|1=First-edition dust jacket cover of ''Light in August'' (1932) by the American author William Faulkner.}} |Source={{en|1=Scan via [https://historical.ha.com/itm/books/william-faulkner-light-in-august-new-york-harrison-smith-and-robert-haas-1932-first-editio/a/6085-36141.s Heritage Auctions]. Cropped from the original image.}} |Date=1932 |Author={{en|1=Illustration by Arthur Hawkins (signature...
File usage
The following pages on the English Wikipedia use this file (pages on other projects are not listed):