eBooks we're working on

[Jellby]

Have you tried the email address in the Gutenberg file?

These are missing that particular volume:
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011261032
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011261033

This is not available:
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100327200

This one at least looks like the same text:
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?i...39015014614948

This has probably the same content too:
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?i...33433107655205

Probably nothing you didn't know already.

[pynch]

Thank you very much, Jellby.

Originally Posted by Jellby

Have you tried the email address in the Gutenberg file?

Not yet, I will try that if everything else fails.

Originally Posted by Jellby

These are missing that particular volume:
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011261032
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011261033

Indeed. The second link would have been right (only the 1908 collection has the Reviews volume), but unfortunately it’s one of the misnumbered lists.

Originally Posted by Jellby

This is not available:
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100327200

This has probably the same content too:
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?i...33433107655205

This is from the Second Collected Edition which only gives excerpts from the Reviews volume.

Originally Posted by Jellby

Probably nothing you didn't know already.

Almost. Because this

Originally Posted by Jellby

This one at least looks like the same text:
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?i...39015014614948

could be it! I was worried about variants in the American collection, but I found out that the “Authorised Edition” used stereotyped plates of the Methuen edition. I’m still not sure, though: according to Mason, it should say “Reviews | By Oscar Wilde | [Volume I or II] | Authorised Edition | John W. Luce & Co. | Boston” on the title page and this one is a one-volume book by “The Wyman-Fogg Company | Boston Massachussetts”, which isn’t mentioned in Mason. But then, everything else (including the pagination) is identical, so it’s probably the right one.

Thanks again!

[pynch]

I did some more research and I’m quite sure now that the Wyman-Fogg text is identical to the Methuen edition: I have compared The Happy Prince, and Other Stories, and not only do the pages look the same, but the misprints are identical, too.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Sounds interesting. I must admit that he's an author I hadn't previously heard of.

Thorne Smith wrote the two Topper novels on which the movies (starring Roland Young as Topper) were based. There was also a TV show based on the character I believe.

[Jellby]

I've started working on Burton's translation of "The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night". The PG version is not in very good state (lots of missing hyphens, split words and OCR errors), the ebooks@Adelaide one is supposed to be improved, but does not seem much better. At least the first volume is reasonably correct in Wikisource, so I'm using that as a starting point, and I'm applying all corrections there too.

If there's any volunteer for proofing the other volumes (the reference scans are listed in the "Discussion" page in Wikisource), that would be greatly appreciated

[GrannyGrump]

@Jellby, I'll volunteer for a volume or two, if you don't expect terribly speedy results

It's only fair, after all the proof-reading you have done on books that I uploaded.

Let me know which volume you would like me to work on.

[Jellby]

It seems that every volume in Wikisource but the first is just a straight copy from PG. When I reach there I'll search the net to see if there are better versions around. For the time being, if you want to start somewhere, I'd say Volume 2, and concentrate on OCR mistakes ("cost" for "dost") and split words ("be fore" for "before"); apply any correction to the Wikisource text directly.

I should say that I am not reading the text at this point, just formatting it. (There's not much formatting, actually, but I'm adding some tags to keep track of the structure, curling the quotes and visually checking every page.)

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by Jellby

I've started working on Burton's translation of "The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night". The PG version is not in very good state (lots of missing hyphens, split words and OCR errors), the ebooks@Adelaide one is supposed to be improved, but does not seem much better. At least the first volume is reasonably correct in Wikisource, so I'm using that as a starting point, and I'm applying all corrections there too.

There's also another website that has the Burton etexts: Wollamshram World.

IMHO, Burton's translation isn't that great; he basically took John Payne's translation and "sexed it up" a bit. He also added at least one story that isn't in the Arabic original. (For more information on Burton's translation, see this article.)

If you're interested in re-reading 1001 nights, I can fully recommend the contemporary translation by Malcolm C. Lyons. The slightly older English translation by Powys Mathers (1892–1939) is also not bad. Unfortunately, Mathers' translation doesn't seem to be available as an etext.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

There's also another website that has the Burton etexts: Wollamshram World.

Which shares many problems with the PG version, however. They look like the same text.

IMHO, Burton's translation isn't that great

From what I've read, all translations have their flaws. I've chosen Burton's because it seems to be the most popular and easily accessible of the complete, unexpurgated, public-domain ones. I'm still early enough in the project to choose a different one if a better option is given.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by Jellby

I'm still early enough in the project to choose a different one if a better option is given.

Have a look at the article that I linked to. IMHO, Payne's translation is much more readable. Here's an excerpt from the (somewhat raunchy) story that the article refers to:

a) The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad (Burton)

So they said, "Thou must not remain with us this night save on condition that thou submit to our commands, and that whatso thou seest, thou ask no questions there anent, nor enquire of its cause." "All right," rejoined he, and they said, "Go read the writing over the door." So he rose and went to the entrance and there found written in letters of gold wash; Whoso speaketh of what concerneth him not, shall hear what pleaseth him not! The Porter said, Be ye witnesses against me that I will not speak on whatso concerneth me not."

b) The Porter And The Three Ladies Of Baghdad (Payne)

So the mistress of the house said to the porter, 'Thou shalt pass the night with us on condition that thou submit to our authority and that, whatever thou seest, thou ask no questions about it nor enquire the reason of it.' 'It is well,' answered he; and they said, 'Go and read what is written over the door.' So he went to the door and found the following words written thereon in letters of gold, 'He who speaks of what concerns him not, shall hear what will not please him.' And he said, 'Be ye witness against me that I will not speak of what concerns me not.'

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Have a look at the article that I linked to. IMHO, Payne's translation is much more readable.

I read the article. I must confess it was somewhat disappointing (not the article, but what it says), I had the impression the faithfulness of the translation was better that what the article implies. Nevertheless, I've learnt not to trust too much neither praise nor criticism.

Regarding Payne's translation, only 4 volumes seem to be available at PG, though, and with similar issues to Burton's. Do you know of any complete electronic version?

[HarryT]

Just completed in time for the New Year a new version of "The Pickwick Papers" by Charles Dickens. Thoroughly proofed against the "Oxford Illustrated Dickens" edition; lots of errors fixed, and general formatting improvements made, such as replacing straight quotes with curly ones, and (where appropriate) using small caps (well, fake small caps, at least). Uploaded in the usual formats.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by Jellby

Regarding Payne's translation, only 4 volumes seem to be available at PG, though, and with similar issues to Burton's. Do you know of any complete electronic version?

AFAIK, pdfs of all nine volumes are available at archive.org and the etext of all 9 volumes is available at Wollamshram World.

[AlexBell]

I've just started work on The Middle Parts of Fortune by Frederic Manning. Are there any better sources than the Project Gutenberg Australia text file? Anyone know of a cover image?

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

AFAIK, pdfs of all nine volumes are available at archive.org and the etext of all 9 volumes is available at Wollamshram World.

Thanks for pushing me. I'll probably format the first volume of both Burton and Payne, then I'll see.