eBooks We Need

[branko]

Originally Posted by Patricia

I don't see the point of listing things that are not in the public domain.

Distributed Proofreaders, the major supplier of Project Gutenberg, has several threads discussing which classics are still missing.

The one book that seems to appear on all the lists is:

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (currently [May 2008] in progress at DP, in the first proofreading round)

Some of the rest (in no special order, comments by the volunteers who listed these):

• Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann
• The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
• Remembrance of things past by Marcel Proust
• The Mathnawi by Jalalu'l-Din Rumi
• The Bostan of Saadi (The Orchard) by Sheikh Saadi of Shiraz
• The Death of Ivan Ilyich and other stories by Leo Tolstoy
• The Bhagavad Gita
• Metamorphoses by Ovid. PG does have a version of the metamorphoses, but a different (and arguably, much preferable) translation by Dryden is currently stuck in a queue somewhere at DP.
• Fear and trembling by Soren Kierkegaard
• La vita nuova by Dante Alighieri . (There's a particular edition I'd like to do. I've bought a copy for scanning the pages that Microsoft missed when they scanned it for TIA).
• Pensées by Blaise Pascal. (PG already has an English translation. There's a particular French edition I'd like to do, one that includes the commentary by Voltaire. I have scans for the missing pages).
• The social contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. On my list to do.

Further lists, including their availability at PG or their status at DP:

• http://www.pgdp.net/wiki/100_Most_In...s_Ever_Written
• http://hume.vm.bytemark.co.uk/pgdp/top-books/

Disclaimers:

• Just because a book is being processed at DP doesn't mean you will get to see it soon at PG. The process sometimes takes years.
• Sometimes only the 'wrong' translations are available.

[TedPark]

Now that I've done more research and created a few eBooks myself, I would like to suggest the following. In Samuel Pepys's day, these three books were highly esteemed:

1. Religio Medici by Sir Thomas Browne

2. Advice to a Son by Francis Osborne

3. Hudibras by Samuel Butler

#1 seems to be widely reproduced, including in the Harvard Classics.

#3 I made a nicely fromatted eBook recently - see uploads on this site.

#2 I have not yet found even any raw electic text to work from. Any advice or help on locating same would be much appreciated.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by TedPark

2. Advice to a Son by Francis Osborne

#2 I have not yet found even any raw electic text to work from. Any advice or help on locating same would be much appreciated.

See Google Books, which offers a PDF. The PDF will be scanned page images, and you'll need to OCR and convert.
______
Dennis

[TedPark]

I am also looking for the VERY BEST, least typos, highest quality text for KJV Holy Bible. I don't want to redo something that has been done before and done well - but I now know how to make a really great multi-tier TOC for something like a bible that will be dynamite for a Sony Reader. I would like to have this good version of the text, so I can add this TOC. Nominations please.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by TedPark

I am also looking for the VERY BEST, least typos, highest quality text for KJV Holy Bible. I don't want to redo something that has been done before and done well - but I now know how to make a really great multi-tier TOC for something like a bible that will be dynamite for a Sony Reader. I would like to have this good version of the text, so I can add this TOC. Nominations please.

I don't have a specific text to recommend, but I can suggest a couple of places to look.

I run an open source Bible reader app on my Palm OS device called Palm Bible +. PB+ has an assortment of different bible versions available fior it, and the website points at resources for others:
http://www.gospelshare.org/
http://thechan.com/

as well as pointers to instructions on getting texts into the PB+ format.

You might look there for source texts.

MR poster Alex Pruss is a professor of philosophy and a major contributor to PB+, and can likely provide pertinent suggestions. You might PM him. I believe his screen name is Pruss.
______
Dennis

[Elsi]

Originally Posted by TedPark

2. Advice to a Son by Francis Osborne

#2 I have not yet found even any raw electic text to work from. Any advice or help on locating same would be much appreciated.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

See Google Books, which offers a PDF. The PDF will be scanned page images, and you'll need to OCR and convert.

On the Google Books page, there's an option to view plain text. The "viewer" is some strange thing, but you can -- if you're careful -- copy/paste into a text document. I did this with a 200 page book. It was tedious and the viewer threw up some repeated text, but if you're patient, it may be easier than trying to OCR the PDF file. (Of course, I've never OCRer a PDF file, so it may be easier than I am thinking it would be.)

Originally Posted by Google Books

INTRODUCTION

ALTHOUGH Francis Osborne's Advice to a Son has ^
been reprinted in this century, the public seem to
have called for no further edition of his complete
works since 1722. In his own day he must have
made a considerable mark, not only among students
but also among contemporary men of letters.
Aubrey speaks of him as the friend of Hobbes,
and Dr. Blackbourne confirms this by setting out
a list of the patrons and friends of Hobbes, among
whom we find " Francis Osborne, Esq., whose
writings are sufficiently known," placed between "
Mr. Samuel Butler who wrote that admirable poem '••-
entitled Jfudibras " and " Edmund Waller of Beacons-
field."* Pepys in later years studied the Advice to
a Son with affectionate particularity and in that
strain of homely vanity which is one of the greatest
charms of the Diary records, October 19, 1661, "
I not being neat in clothes, which I find a great
fault in me, could not be so merry as otherwise, and
at all times I am and can be, when I am in good *
habitt, which makes me remember my father Osborne's
rule for a gentleman to spare in all things rather
than in that." And again, Jan. 27, 1663-4, details
a literary conversation with Sir William Petty at
a Coffeehouse, " who in discourse is, methinks, one
of the most rational men that ever I heard speak
with a tongue," saying, " that in all his life
these three books were the most esteemed and
generally cried up for wit in the world — Eeligio
Medici, Osborne's Advice to a Son, and Hudibras."
But the taste for Osborne's writings, perhaps
naturally, gave place to better things. Swift in
the Tatter ranks Osborne with some others, who "
being men of the Court and affecting the phrases
then in fashion, are often either not to be understood
or appear perfectly ridiculous." While Dr. Johnson,
being moved by Boswell's expression of liking for
his works, sums him up in one contemptuous phrase : "
A conceited fellow. Were a man to write so now,
the boys would throw stones at him." Boswell, however,
is not ready to accept this summary criticism
of his " favourite author."

Needs some cleaning up by perusing the PDF file, but if this is the only source available, you might spend 1/2 hour a day until the task is done.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Elsi

On the Google Books page, there's an option to view plain text. The "viewer" is some strange thing, but you can -- if you're careful -- copy/paste into a text document. I did this with a 200 page book. It was tedious and the viewer threw up some repeated text, but if you're patient, it may be easier than trying to OCR the PDF file. (Of course, I've never OCRer a PDF file, so it may be easier than I am thinking it would be.)

Depends on the PDF file and the OCR software.

If the PDF contains text, it may not be necessary: unlocked PDFs will have an option to save the text to a file. You lose images, fonts, formatting and the like, but you get the text.

Other PDFs are simply collections of images. Those would need to be OCR scanned, if possible.. You would also need to do substantial editing and cleanup. No OCR software guesses right all the time, and image quality is a factor. Ligatures are particular problems.

The PDF in question is a collection of images of page scans, and the View as Text is the result of OCR.
______
Dennis

[Patricia]

Originally Posted by TedPark

I am also looking for the VERY BEST, least typos, highest quality text for KJV Holy Bible. I don't want to redo something that has been done before and done well - but I now know how to make a really great multi-tier TOC for something like a bible that will be dynamite for a Sony Reader. I would like to have this good version of the text, so I can add this TOC. Nominations please.

I would consult Deputy-Dawg. He has uploaded several versions of the Bible to our upload section, and is in holy orders. So he would be well-placed to advise you.

Sacred

[Deputy-Dawg]

Nearly all of the online versions of the KJV stem from the one in the Gutenberg Project. So unless you need something in a format other than what the GP has online I doubt if you will find one that will better meet your needs.

The GP is very fastidious in reviewing and correcting their online offerings. The kJV has been through a number of revisions since it was first put online sometime I believe in the late 1990's.

I look forward to seeing how you manage the TOC in your version. Frankly I could find nothing that works as well as PDF and with the new firmware the PDF versions load much faster than before (a few seconds instead of nearly 1.5 minutes) and since the new PDF reader reflows the the the type documents that are designed for the PRS505 are quite good.

[HarryT]

It is perhaps worth noting in passing the interesting fact that the KJV is not in the public domain in the UK. It is protected by a "perpetual" Crown Copyright.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Deputy-Dawg

The GP is very fastidious in reviewing and correcting their online offerings. The kJV has been through a number of revisions since it was first put online sometime I believe in the late 1990's.

The stuff that goes that DP these days is pretty good, but it's certainly not true to say that all PG books are equally good. Many of the early book (which were typed in by hand) are truly dire, with literally thousands of errors. A particular "shocker" is the PG version of Dickens' "Oliver Twist", which has a typo in most sentences, many sentences and even paragraphs missing, and, in the worst case, about half a page of text omitted.

The early additions to PG are sadly in need of being re-done by DP.

[TedPark]

I agree that I have found the quality of the PG stuff to vary widely. Is there a way I have yet to discover whereby the quality/pedigree of each document is signified? Given the nature of the PG initiative and its several decades of history, it is only reasonable and understandable that these differences exist. We just don't want any surprises.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by TedPark

I agree that I have found the quality of the PG stuff to vary widely. Is there a way I have yet to discover whereby the quality/pedigree of each document is signified? Given the nature of the PG initiative and its several decades of history, it is only reasonable and understandable that these differences exist. We just don't want any surprises.

Check to see if it's a Distributed Proofreaders submission. (Current stuff will be.) Quality has improved immeasurably since DP became the feed for Gutenberg editions. And books have credits indicating who was primarily responsible for producing them.

Also, check back periodically on important texts, and new revisions get posted. One thing I do wish for is a Change Log, so I can tell what got changed, and whether the new version merits grabbing a fresh download and conversion.
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It is perhaps worth noting in passing the interesting fact that the KJV is not in the public domain in the UK. It is protected by a "perpetual" Crown Copyright.

And what must you do if you want to produce an edition of the KJV, in print or electronic form?
______
Dennis

[SeaWolf]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

And what must you do if you want to produce an edition of the KJV, in print or electronic form?

The Queen's Printer (currently Cambridge University Press) produces the KJV in Britain. Though I believe that Collins is allowed to produce it in Scotland because the rules are different there.