09-12-2012, 06:44 AM | #1 |
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Out of copyright ebooks/writers you'd most like to see digitized?
Here are a few of my recommendations/authors. All of these should be freely available, but some are completely AWOL, and others are out there on the Web, but in dismally illegible formats (shame on you, Archive.org).
Admittedly, this list reflects my prejudice towards epub. But the other versions in many cases aren't much better. Ronald Firbank Frederick Rolfe/a.k.a. Baron Corvo Edmund Wilson - Axel's Castle is available from Archive.org, but the epub version is terrible Walter de la Mare - classic ghost story author, but most of his classics are nowhere to be seen August Strindberg - also available mostly in dismal facsimiles George Macaulay Trevelyan - great British historian also available from Archive.org only in terrible epub versions Anyone else have some suggestions? |
09-12-2012, 06:58 AM | #2 | |
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Should??? If, then all of these are available only because of the generous unpaid work of many volunteers. Please, don't take this for granted!
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09-12-2012, 07:44 AM | #3 |
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Actually, it seems that for Archive.org at least, these texts are not provided by hardworking volunteers, but simply scanned wholesale and then digitized by machine without any checking of the result. That's my main beef. I could well be wrong, but that's how it looks.
And Strindberg translations are in ebook format, but alas with the same formatting issues. |
09-12-2012, 09:32 AM | #4 | |
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09-12-2012, 11:48 AM | #5 | |
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By the way, you can always ask politely in this thread https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76205 if someone wants to make a fine ebook based on the archive.org-files. But I think we are drifting a little bit aside, you wanted to know about other authors who's works are in the public domain but are not or only in a poor state available. |
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09-12-2012, 12:11 PM | #6 | |
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09-12-2012, 02:36 PM | #7 | |
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We live and learn. Mike Last edited by Mike L; 09-12-2012 at 02:37 PM. Reason: Because we all make mistakes |
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09-13-2012, 03:10 AM | #8 |
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I'd love to see Mark Clifton's science fiction stories, especially his short stories. He had distinctive approach. I'm in the throes of preparing a short story collection for the MR library, but can only find ten of his twenty or so short stories in digital form.
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09-13-2012, 03:17 AM | #9 | |
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09-13-2012, 03:30 AM | #10 |
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I have plenty of out of print books I'd like to see as ebooks but I don't think there are any out of copyright books that I'd be interested in that isn't already in ebook format.
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09-13-2012, 04:41 AM | #11 | |
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09-13-2012, 05:29 AM | #12 | |
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No, the fact that he died intestate doesn't affect copyright in the least, and the fact that something is on the US PG site simply means that it's in the public domain in the US, not elsewhere. That's why PG tells you to check before downloading whether or not it's in the public domain in your country. Last edited by HarryT; 09-13-2012 at 05:48 AM. |
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09-13-2012, 06:50 AM | #13 | |
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I checked in Project Gutenberg Australia, and he's not there, I'm afraid: http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty.html
It's a great place to check out other writers hard to find elsewhere, such as George Orwell, Josephine Tey, etc ... Quote:
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09-13-2012, 07:02 AM | #14 |
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De la Mare wrote some fabulous ones - no wonder his poetry was sometimes so creepy. According to the Wikipedia entry on him: 'De la Mare was also a significant writer of ghost stories. John Clute comments that "in his long career, De la Mare seems to have published about 100 stories, of which about eighty-five have been collected. At least forty of these have supernatural content".'
Interestingly, very little of this stuff is still in print, either public domain or commercial. Now *that* sounds like a case for some serious digitizing ... |
09-13-2012, 07:42 AM | #15 | |
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