eBooks we're working on

[HarryT]

I know. I'm working my way through the list .

[Justy]

Originally Posted by Patricia

I've already got the first six in html or pdf. I never bothered to make ebooks because I just print out a relevant section as necessary.

The main drawback with some e-needlework texts is that the relevant illustrations are several pages away from the instructions. (This is true of, say Beeton's book of Needlework and Therese de Dillmont's wonderful Encyclopedia of Needlework. The Christie text that you mention also does this, somewhat.) This means that constant flipping is necessary.
Also, I tend to print out patterns because I mark them, either to show when I've done a row, or to underline a stitch combination which has to be repeated.

But I may be untypical.

You aren't atypical, I do the same thing to my patterns. I don't think I would read a pattern book on my Cybook, however I would love to have an HTML or PDF copy of those books so that I could also check out these classic patterns and perhaps print them and mark them up as I use them.

[vivaldirules]

Justy, you can find HTMLs of those six works and the two on needlework that Patricia mentioned at Project Gutenberg here:

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22029
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/21032
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16605
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20386
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/24964
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/24165
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15147
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20776

[Elsi]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

just for info, mobi files can be "undone" very successfully

Yes, but I can *read* mobi files just fine. It's the Sony files that I'm wanting access to. I'm jealous of all the neat files that have been uploaded in Sony format only.

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

if you find a way to undo a sony file i would love to know about it.

I downloaded the ABC Amber Sony tool and will be experimenting with it. I'm also downloading and trying to learn calibre for creating Sony format books.

Originally Posted by HarryT

By all means create your own version starting from the original sources - PG or whatever - that's fine; but I'd personally always check with the original uploader before simply converting their text without asking.

Just strikes me as being common courtesy to do so.

Of course. For now, I'm just going to experiment with the technique. If I get something useful that's worth uploading to share, then I'll check with the original submitter. Actually, it might be worthwhile to ask for the intermediate files used by the original submitter -- particularly if the submitter added a cover image, illustrations, and/or table of contents.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Elsi

I downloaded the ABC Amber Sony tool and will be experimenting with it. I'm also downloading and trying to learn calibre for creating Sony format books.

Forget ABC Amber Sony Converter. It just does a really poor job of converting. No graphics, no styles. Just dreadful. The author said when it first came out that he would be shortly fixing these issues. And has he? Nope. The best idea is to use one of the various LRF to LRS converters and then write a program to convert the LRS into HTML.

[Elsi]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Forget ABC Amber Sony Converter. It just does a really poor job of converting. No graphics, no styles. Just dreadful. The author said when it first came out that he would be shortly fixing these issues. And has he? Nope.

Well, the price was right. But I was hoping that it would preserve any covers and illustrations in the .lrf file.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The best idea is to use one of the various LRF to LRS converters and then write a program to convert the LRS into HTML.

Hmmm. My problem is that my current programming skills are with COBOL and S/390 Assembler. Neither of them seem particularly friendly to massaging text. I've been resisting learning Java, but maybe this would be a stimulus.

[JSWolf]

Actually, if you learn Python, you can add lrs2html as part of Calibre.

[RWood]

Elsi: I have used the ABC Amber products for quite a while (both the free and the purchase variety) and I find them very good. Jon's dislike of all things ABC Amber is well established. Scholars differ. Your mileage may vary.

My wife is an accomplished needleworker, sewer, and quilter so Did conversions of several needlework books for her some time ago. Their functionality on the Sony is dreadful. The graphics are too small to provide guidance and as Patricia noted often several pages removed from the related text. Even when moved next to the text it often required page-up/page-down operations to go from the text to the graphic. Additionally, the graphics did not have enough resolution when viewed on the Sony to make them easy to understand. For these reasons I never posted the books here.

[DixieGal]

OK, it's time to pay my rent around here. I will try to do a nice Canterbury Tales. TRY is the operative word.

Don't hold me to it, because I might fail. But I'll try. It might take a long while, since it will have to be an "at-home" project.

Wish me luck?

Thanks!

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Elsi

Hmmm. My problem is that my current programming skills are with COBOL and S/390 Assembler. Neither of them seem particularly friendly to massaging text. I've been resisting learning Java, but maybe this would be a stimulus.

You would do better to explore Perl and Python.
______
Dennis

[vivaldirules]

I've updated J. A. Mitchell's The Last American with an illustrated version using images from a PDF at Google Books. The PRC version includes correct diacritical marks while the LRF and IMP versions do not because the fonts are not supported.

[vivaldirules]

I'm a bit worn tuckered out from making books right now and I think I'll take the rest of the summer off. In the fall, I'm planning to redo the Einstein title that I botched in December and try a few other math and physics titles. I'd love to hear some suggestions about putting equations into an LRF, at least. If I have to use images captured from a math equation editor I will but it would be great to avoid that.

I'm also toying with a larger project. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, as it's called, is a massive thing containing all of his correspondence, journals, publications, and speeches translated into English by the Indian government. It contains about 50,000 pages in about 100 volumes. Much of it is in the public domain in the U.S. and all of it will be so in India on January 1, 2009. I've been reading the PDFs of these on my Reader and noting the particularly interesting portions. I may put these portions together into a collection and post it in January if I determine that to be legal to do and if I can find the time to do it.

Keep posting great books!

[HarryT]

Uploaded new versions (Sony and MobiPocket) of all six of Jane Austen's major novels with greatly improved covers. Many thanks to Paul Durrant for creating these.

The novels are:

- Emma
- Mansfield Park
- Northanger Abbey
- Persuasion
- Pride and Prejudice
- Sense and Sensibility

[HarryT]

I'm in a "classics" frame of mind today. Posted two new books - a very good English translation of Apollonius of Rhodes' "Argonautica" (the famous epic poem telling the story of "Jason and the Argonauts" and their quest to find the Golden Fleece), and a commentary on Homer's "Odyssey".

[llasram]

I'm working on an EPUB edition of Sinclair Lewis's Babbitt.