[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by mrevent

I'd like to have the main text of the book not interrupted with those numerous footnotes (which would be the case were I to attempt to convert the "printed" version of the page to epub) [...].

Looks like working from their "print view" would still be your best bet.

All the footnote text is there + the code is all clean.

All you'd have to do is use a few regexes to convert their code into the EPUB footnote HTML already discussed.

Originally Posted by mrevent

The website in question is a great one: UC Press e-books collection, where 700 of them are accessible by the public.

The book in question is The Fabrication of Labor by R. Biernacki.

In their "print view", each of the "pages" has this basic form:

• <hr> between pages
• <div> page number
• <p class="normal"> or <p class="noindent"> for basic paragraphs
• <p>[##] for footnote paragraphs
• <sup class="ref">[##]</sup> for footnote numbers.

Here's the relevant code for page 8:

Spoiler:

  <hr class="pb"/>

  <div align="center">
    ― <span class="run-head">8</span> ―
  </div>

  <p class="noindent">trade, however, the British exporters had to compete to a greater degree in noncolonial markets, where entry for British goods was no easier than for German ones.<sup class="ref">[20]</sup> [...]</p>

  <p class="normal">The German and British wool textile industries resembled each other another way: in both countries, the majority of factories in this branch operated under the principal ownership of family partners.<sup class="ref">[21]</sup> [...]</p>

  <p>[20] For comments on German competition in the American market for woolens and worsteds, see <i>Textile Manufacturer</i> , June 15, 1884, p. 244. [...]</p>

  <p>[21] <i>Textile Mercury</i> , March 28, 1914, p. 253.</p>

So, what I'd do is 2 regexes:

Search: <sup class="ref">\[(\d+)\]</sup>
Replace: <a class="ref" href="#fn\1" id="ft\1">[\1]</a>

Search: <p>\[(\d+)\]
Replace: <p class="footnote"><a href="#ft\1" id="fn\1">[\1]</a>

That gets you all your EPUB clickable footnotes.

Now you'd just be left with the typical HTML cleanup:

• Removing page code (or converting to RPNs ["Real Page Numbers"]).
• Shifting all footnotes to the end-of-file.
• Merging split paragraphs.
• [...]