Removing Italics from an epub

Johann Cat · 11-14-2014, 12:26 AM

I recently downloaded an epub book from Gutenberg--
a book of poems by Poe. The poems are in italics, which is
both goofy looking and incorrect. However, I can't detect what portion
of CSS or HTML is creating the italics. It isn't as simple as the
text block of the poem being <i> coded.

In the editor before each poem is code like this:

</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
<link href="../stylesheet.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/>
<link href="../page_styles3.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/>
</head>
<body class="calibre2">
<h2 class="calibre8" id="calibre_pb_60">
THE LAKE —— TO——
</h2>
<pre xml:space="preserve" class="calibre3">

The poem (in this case, "The Lake") that follows will be in italics.
Experimenting, I removed this code and, lo, the itals disappeared, but
while the poem looked fine in the editor,
on my epub reader (a Kobo Aura HD), the text of the poem had vanished!

So, two questions: is there a style sheet code somewhere in this
book that is forcing the itals--how could I edit that?
is there some "extra CSS" instruction I could use to just strip the book
(or better yet, a portion of it) of italics?

I am an amateur at code writing/ reading, so pardon the
basic quality of this query.

Johann

susan_cassidy · 11-14-2014, 12:30 AM

Somewhere in the css, there should be a line like: font-style: italic;. Check and see where that css style or styles are applied, and edit the css appropriately. Normally, you can just delete that line, and it will default to normal.

phossler · 11-14-2014, 08:46 AM

FWIW I'm guessing that the epub has been converted via Calibre since there are references in the html

I downloaded a 'fresh' copy of what might be your book ...

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10031

... which has not been converted, but just opening in the Calibre editor there is no italics around the poems

Maybe you just need to retrieve a fresh copy as a starting point, i.e. one that never has been Calibre-converted

Johann Cat · 11-15-2014, 10:04 AM

That was pretty good detective work, phossler, but that edition was not the same one I used.
I was using the "Raven Edition" of Poe's collected works, and even in the "view online," HTML edition, that one has italicized poems.

Nonetheless, your suggestion was good. I am not sure at what stage this happened, but in my earlier conversions of this book--the download breaks it into five separate books that I then re-united into one, using "epub merge"--I had one version of the poems volume without italics. (I wish I knew what made that happen.) So I captured that chapter file and substituted it in the compiled version.

The other suggestion to find the italics code is more germane long-term, and I appreciate that.

Divingduck · 11-17-2014, 03:02 AM

There are two ways to do this:

I took the text position "Caught from some unhappy master..." as an example.

1. Change it in the original html file. When you look in the original html, you will find:

<pre xml:space="preserve">
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore—
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "never—never more!"
</pre>

Where the definition for <pre...> is on top of the file in the style section:

pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}

You can change font-style: italic to what ever you want within the html file.

Or

2. You open your converted eBook (epub or azw3) with calibre editor, search for the text and look with the live css panel what apply to the tag and change the this rule(http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/edit.html#id31).

11-14-2014, 12:26 AM	#1
Johann Cat Member Posts: 21 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2014 Device: Kobo Aura HD; Kindle III; Kindle PWII; Boyue T62D; Onyx Boox i86	Removing Italics from an epub I recently downloaded an epub book from Gutenberg-- a book of poems by Poe. The poems are in italics, which is both goofy looking and incorrect. However, I can't detect what portion of CSS or HTML is creating the italics. It isn't as simple as the text block of the poem being <i> coded. In the editor before each poem is code like this: </title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/> <link href="../stylesheet.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/> <link href="../page_styles3.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/> </head> <body class="calibre2"> <h2 class="calibre8" id="calibre_pb_60"> THE LAKE —— TO—— </h2> <pre xml:space="preserve" class="calibre3"> The poem (in this case, "The Lake") that follows will be in italics. Experimenting, I removed this code and, lo, the itals disappeared, but while the poem looked fine in the editor, on my epub reader (a Kobo Aura HD), the text of the poem had vanished! So, two questions: is there a style sheet code somewhere in this book that is forcing the itals--how could I edit that? is there some "extra CSS" instruction I could use to just strip the book (or better yet, a portion of it) of italics? I am an amateur at code writing/ reading, so pardon the basic quality of this query. Johann

11-14-2014, 08:46 AM	#3
phossler Wizard Posts: 1,087 Karma: 447222 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Valley Forge, PA, USA Device: Kindle Paperwhite	FWIW I'm guessing that the epub has been converted via Calibre since there are references in the html I downloaded a 'fresh' copy of what might be your book ... http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10031 ... which has not been converted, but just opening in the Calibre editor there is no italics around the poems Maybe you just need to retrieve a fresh copy as a starting point, i.e. one that never has been Calibre-converted Attached Thumbnails

11-15-2014, 10:04 AM	#4
Johann Cat Member Posts: 21 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2014 Device: Kobo Aura HD; Kindle III; Kindle PWII; Boyue T62D; Onyx Boox i86	workaround found That was pretty good detective work, phossler, but that edition was not the same one I used. I was using the "Raven Edition" of Poe's collected works, and even in the "view online," HTML edition, that one has italicized poems. Nonetheless, your suggestion was good. I am not sure at what stage this happened, but in my earlier conversions of this book--the download breaks it into five separate books that I then re-united into one, using "epub merge"--I had one version of the poems volume without italics. (I wish I knew what made that happen.) So I captured that chapter file and substituted it in the compiled version. The other suggestion to find the italics code is more germane long-term, and I appreciate that.

11-17-2014, 03:02 AM	#5
Divingduck Wizard Posts: 1,166 Karma: 1410083 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Germany Device: Sony PRS-650	There are two ways to do this: I took the text position "Caught from some unhappy master..." as an example. 1. Change it in the original html file. When you look in the original html, you will find: <pre xml:space="preserve"> Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore— Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore Of "never—never more!" </pre> Where the definition for <pre...> is on top of the file in the style section: pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} You can change font-style: italic to what ever you want within the html file. Or 2. You open your converted eBook (epub or azw3) with calibre editor, search for the text and look with the live css panel what apply to the tag and change the this rule(http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/edit.html#id31). Attached Thumbnails

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11-14-2014, 12:30 AM	#2
susan_cassidy Wizard Posts: 2,251 Karma: 3720310 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: USA Device: Kindle, iPad (not used much for reading)	Somewhere in the css, there should be a line like: font-style: italic;. Check and see where that css style or styles are applied, and edit the css appropriately. Normally, you can just delete that line, and it will default to normal.

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