eBooks we're working on - Page 66

GrannyGrump · 09-03-2015, 09:35 AM

AMAZING! I went to archive.org, and there it was, uploaded on 23 August. I just haven't gone there in several weeks, and google did not see it.
So, unlikely as that may be, Unlikely Tales will be my new project.

doubleshuffle · 09-03-2015, 09:54 AM

Congrats, and looking forward to the next Nesbit.

Searching on archive.org is really a bit of a hit and miss affair. The best-quality scans of the Jacobs Fairy Tale collections I wasn't (and still am not) able to locate with archive.org's on-site search, but only by following Wikisource's links to their sources - on archive.org.

GrannyGrump · 09-11-2015, 10:52 AM

I think I'm on a Nesbit high... I was almost finished with Grim Tales (horror stories for adults -- very understated, as is to be expected from this writer), when I discovered more short stories in the Strand Magazine on archive.org. Currently browsing through two decade's worth of those archives in case I can find even more!

Now it will be an omnibus of "Tales of Darkness" instead of only the original seven stories of Grim Tales.

grumbles · 09-12-2015, 09:29 PM

@GrannyGrump

About "Nine Unlikely Tales for Children".
The Toronto Public Library has three editions at The Osborne Collection, a reference collection of children's books. There is also one circulating copy but it doesn't specify the edition.

While the Osborne (and Merill) collection do not circulate, they do allow people to go into the library and photograph (but not scan) the books. I did that for ALL the Thorne Smith books last year and I have been slowly making ebooks of them since then. I really have to get working on them again. Note that the various versions of "The Stray Lamb" has several significant chunks of text missing.

I've put in a request for the circulating copy of "Nine Unlikely Tales for Children" and I'll let know if it's suitable for scanning or photographing. It looks complete, all editions show 297 pages.

GrannyGrump · 09-17-2015, 11:39 AM

@Grumbles -- I just saw this post from you today. I do appreciate the offer, but I already uploaded 9 Unlikely Tales last week. I used the edition from archive.org (for a change, their OCR wasn't the really bad output I've often found, only moderately horrid.)

Thanks, and I am looking forward to the Thorne Smith (when I uploaded them, I had nothing to proof-read against except a dictionary! ) I know they will be worth waiting for. (Are they done yet?

)

grumbles · 09-17-2015, 09:28 PM

Well I've just uploaded "Dream's End" and well as "Haunts and By-Paths". I haven't seen "Haunts" posted anywhere and "Dream's End" only as a commercial ebook. I've also uploaded a new version of "The Stray Lamb". The are four pages missing in chapter 16 of all versions floating around. There are a few other omissions scattered through the book. I don't know exactly where the first version came from but it was never proofed against the book. There is a small omission in the first chapter and it is missing in the sample from eNet Press as well.

Originally, I had wanted to get drawings that were part of some of the books. I went to the library with the original intent of just checking the ebook against the paper book. By chance the first book was "The Stray Lamb" and as soon as I started to find missing text in the ebook, I realized that it would be easier for me to photograph the book and redo it from scratch. The library will allow me to photograph any book but will not allow scanners (which is just as well, many of the books were very fragile) and the staff were a great help in letting me work in the library. I've done all the Thorne books except for his children's book. I've prepared the text for them all but I'm still working, on and off on the illustrations. Ideally, I'd like to trace them as svg images so that will scale properly. Maybe I'll post them without illustrations in the interim.

I'm also working on the four volumes of Edwin Markham's poetry.

My experience with the Internet Archive has not been good as late. I've downloaded a couple of James Thurber's books through Open Library and they all had illegible pages. I have had similar problems with some of Parkinson's books. Check carefully!

HarryT · 09-18-2015, 04:50 AM

As warned in another thread, it's also advisable to check the legality of stuff you find at "archive.org". It's an invaluable resource, but unfortunately it also has a considerable amount of content that shouldn't be there.

(I know that you'd do so; this is more for the benefit of others, who may mistakenly believe that anything they find on "archive.org" must automatically be legitimate.)

GrannyGrump · 09-19-2015, 08:27 AM

I just uploaded Tales of Darkness, a 21-story compilation of Edith Nesbit short stories.

I am now well into The Wonderful Garden (back to children's fiction), as serialized in the Strand Magazine in 1911. It is greatly abridged from the book, but the book is just not available anywhere, I'm sorry to find. But this will have ALL the original illustrations!

Had to use an OCR service (curse lazy Google page images!), and now slogging through transcription and proofing. Having so much fun...

doubleshuffle · 09-19-2015, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrannyGrump

Had to use an OCR service (curse lazy Google page images!), and now slogging through transcription and proofing. Having so much fun...

But don't we secretly love it...

I really can't compete with your speed though. Going through George Darley's works at the moment, all from OCR'ed scans - a lot of work taking a lot of time, but definitely worth it. (That will also be an MR exclusive, never before published as an ebook.)

And I'm itching to get back to illustrated books after that one...

grumbles · 09-20-2015, 09:21 PM

Curious.

I've never used the OCR results from Google. I download the PDF file, convert it to images, clean it up with ScanTailor and the use Abbyy Sprint to do the OCR. Sprint came with my scanner. The conversion can be done with PDFill if you're using Windows or pdftopng if using Windows or Linux and you are comfortable with command line. pdftopng is faster. This how I've done the OCR for the Markham poetry books which continue to proceed at a very desultory manner. By the end of the year as well as the rest of the Thorne Smith books. Soon... Real soon now.

grumbles · 10-17-2015, 07:56 PM

Well, the Markham books are done. I want to go over them a few more times. The books are; "The Man with the Hoe and Other Poems", "Lincoln and Other Poems", "The Gates of Paradise and Other poems" and "The Shoes of Happiness". There are two other books. I can find a copy of "The Ballad of the Gallows Bird" at the Toronto Reference Library but I have been unable to find a copy of "Eighty Poems at Eighty". Or at least a copy I don't have to pay for.

"The Man with the Hoe" is quite big at 6Mb. There is a line illustration on almost every page and I've created svg drawings for each illustration. Why svg? I use devices that range in size from 4.3" to 10" (and up to a 19" portrait monitor) and I want the images to be as sharp on the large devices as the small. A 5.375" wide png at 300dpi (a high res 10" tablet) isn't much smaller than the svg file. A before anybody asks, jpg is not a good choice for line art, especially at large sizes. I've created a version without the drawings that weighs in at about 10% of the size.

I should have things posted by the end of the month. Alas my next project can not be posted here. James Thurber died in 61 so he is only PD in life + 50 countries and I'm still in a life +50 country, at least for a while (and in any case, I doubt if it can be made retroactive).

eschwartz · 10-18-2015, 11:29 AM

I think you can post it and it will go into the Offline forum.

Jellby · 10-18-2015, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I think you can post it and it will go into the Offline forum.

Why risk a ban? We may move to the offline forum books that are close to copyright expiration, or for which the copyright status may not be clear, but users knowingly uploading copyrighted books are facing a direct ban.

eschwartz · 10-18-2015, 12:26 PM

... because not being a regular in the Ebook Uploads section, I don't know how everything works, but I assumed the reason there is an Offline forum is so people can upload books that will become available when they enter Life+70.

Otherwise why not simply delete them anyway?

Apologies if I got things wrong.

Jellby · 10-18-2015, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I assumed the reason there is an Offline forum is so people can upload books that will become available when they enter Life+70.

Otherwise why not simply delete them anyway?

The library used to be life+50 compliant, but then it was moved to life+70. Books that were OK previously but not now were moved to the offline forums. And yes, they will be moved back online when they enter life+70.

That doesn't mean it's OK to upload new life+50 books now.

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09-03-2015, 09:35 AM	#976
GrannyGrump Obsessively Dedicated... Posts: 3,200 Karma: 34977896 Join Date: May 2011 Location: JAPAN (US expatriate) Device: Sony PRS-T2, ADE on PC	AMAZING! I went to archive.org, and there it was, uploaded on 23 August. I just haven't gone there in several weeks, and google did not see it. So, unlikely as that may be, Unlikely Tales will be my new project.

09-03-2015, 09:54 AM	#977
doubleshuffle Unicycle Daredevil Posts: 13,924 Karma: 185041098 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Planet of the Pudding Brains Device: Aura HD (R.I.P. After six years the USB socket died.) tolino shine 3	Congrats, and looking forward to the next Nesbit. Searching on archive.org is really a bit of a hit and miss affair. The best-quality scans of the Jacobs Fairy Tale collections I wasn't (and still am not) able to locate with archive.org's on-site search, but only by following Wikisource's links to their sources - on archive.org.

09-11-2015, 10:52 AM	#978
GrannyGrump Obsessively Dedicated... Posts: 3,200 Karma: 34977896 Join Date: May 2011 Location: JAPAN (US expatriate) Device: Sony PRS-T2, ADE on PC	I think I'm on a Nesbit high... I was almost finished with Grim Tales (horror stories for adults -- very understated, as is to be expected from this writer), when I discovered more short stories in the Strand Magazine on archive.org. Currently browsing through two decade's worth of those archives in case I can find even more! Now it will be an omnibus of "Tales of Darkness" instead of only the original seven stories of Grim Tales.

09-12-2015, 09:29 PM	#979
grumbles Addict Posts: 238 Karma: 1500000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Pandigital Novel (Black), T-2 and 3, Nexus 7	@GrannyGrump About "Nine Unlikely Tales for Children". The Toronto Public Library has three editions at The Osborne Collection, a reference collection of children's books. There is also one circulating copy but it doesn't specify the edition. While the Osborne (and Merill) collection do not circulate, they do allow people to go into the library and photograph (but not scan) the books. I did that for ALL the Thorne Smith books last year and I have been slowly making ebooks of them since then. I really have to get working on them again. Note that the various versions of "The Stray Lamb" has several significant chunks of text missing. I've put in a request for the circulating copy of "Nine Unlikely Tales for Children" and I'll let know if it's suitable for scanning or photographing. It looks complete, all editions show 297 pages.

09-17-2015, 11:39 AM	#980
GrannyGrump Obsessively Dedicated... Posts: 3,200 Karma: 34977896 Join Date: May 2011 Location: JAPAN (US expatriate) Device: Sony PRS-T2, ADE on PC	@Grumbles -- I just saw this post from you today. I do appreciate the offer, but I already uploaded 9 Unlikely Tales last week. I used the edition from archive.org (for a change, their OCR wasn't the really bad output I've often found, only moderately horrid.) Thanks, and I am looking forward to the Thorne Smith (when I uploaded them, I had nothing to proof-read against except a dictionary! ) I know they will be worth waiting for. (Are they done yet? )

09-17-2015, 09:28 PM	#981
grumbles Addict Posts: 238 Karma: 1500000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Pandigital Novel (Black), T-2 and 3, Nexus 7	Well I've just uploaded "Dream's End" and well as "Haunts and By-Paths". I haven't seen "Haunts" posted anywhere and "Dream's End" only as a commercial ebook. I've also uploaded a new version of "The Stray Lamb". The are four pages missing in chapter 16 of all versions floating around. There are a few other omissions scattered through the book. I don't know exactly where the first version came from but it was never proofed against the book. There is a small omission in the first chapter and it is missing in the sample from eNet Press as well. Originally, I had wanted to get drawings that were part of some of the books. I went to the library with the original intent of just checking the ebook against the paper book. By chance the first book was "The Stray Lamb" and as soon as I started to find missing text in the ebook, I realized that it would be easier for me to photograph the book and redo it from scratch. The library will allow me to photograph any book but will not allow scanners (which is just as well, many of the books were very fragile) and the staff were a great help in letting me work in the library. I've done all the Thorne books except for his children's book. I've prepared the text for them all but I'm still working, on and off on the illustrations. Ideally, I'd like to trace them as svg images so that will scale properly. Maybe I'll post them without illustrations in the interim. I'm also working on the four volumes of Edwin Markham's poetry. My experience with the Internet Archive has not been good as late. I've downloaded a couple of James Thurber's books through Open Library and they all had illegible pages. I have had similar problems with some of Parkinson's books. Check carefully!

09-18-2015, 04:50 AM	#982
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	As warned in another thread, it's also advisable to check the legality of stuff you find at "archive.org". It's an invaluable resource, but unfortunately it also has a considerable amount of content that shouldn't be there. (I know that you'd do so; this is more for the benefit of others, who may mistakenly believe that anything they find on "archive.org" must automatically be legitimate.)

09-19-2015, 08:27 AM	#983
GrannyGrump Obsessively Dedicated... Posts: 3,200 Karma: 34977896 Join Date: May 2011 Location: JAPAN (US expatriate) Device: Sony PRS-T2, ADE on PC	I just uploaded Tales of Darkness, a 21-story compilation of Edith Nesbit short stories. I am now well into The Wonderful Garden (back to children's fiction), as serialized in the Strand Magazine in 1911. It is greatly abridged from the book, but the book is just not available anywhere, I'm sorry to find. But this will have ALL the original illustrations! Had to use an OCR service (curse lazy Google page images!), and now slogging through transcription and proofing. Having so much fun...

09-20-2015, 09:21 PM	#985
grumbles Addict Posts: 238 Karma: 1500000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Pandigital Novel (Black), T-2 and 3, Nexus 7	Curious. I've never used the OCR results from Google. I download the PDF file, convert it to images, clean it up with ScanTailor and the use Abbyy Sprint to do the OCR. Sprint came with my scanner. The conversion can be done with PDFill if you're using Windows or pdftopng if using Windows or Linux and you are comfortable with command line. pdftopng is faster. This how I've done the OCR for the Markham poetry books which continue to proceed at a very desultory manner. By the end of the year as well as the rest of the Thorne Smith books. Soon... Real soon now.

10-17-2015, 07:56 PM	#986
grumbles Addict Posts: 238 Karma: 1500000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Pandigital Novel (Black), T-2 and 3, Nexus 7	Well, the Markham books are done. I want to go over them a few more times. The books are; "The Man with the Hoe and Other Poems", "Lincoln and Other Poems", "The Gates of Paradise and Other poems" and "The Shoes of Happiness". There are two other books. I can find a copy of "The Ballad of the Gallows Bird" at the Toronto Reference Library but I have been unable to find a copy of "Eighty Poems at Eighty". Or at least a copy I don't have to pay for. "The Man with the Hoe" is quite big at 6Mb. There is a line illustration on almost every page and I've created svg drawings for each illustration. Why svg? I use devices that range in size from 4.3" to 10" (and up to a 19" portrait monitor) and I want the images to be as sharp on the large devices as the small. A 5.375" wide png at 300dpi (a high res 10" tablet) isn't much smaller than the svg file. A before anybody asks, jpg is not a good choice for line art, especially at large sizes. I've created a version without the drawings that weighs in at about 10% of the size. I should have things posted by the end of the month. Alas my next project can not be posted here. James Thurber died in 61 so he is only PD in life + 50 countries and I'm still in a life +50 country, at least for a while (and in any case, I doubt if it can be made retroactive).

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10-18-2015, 11:29 AM	#987
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,422 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	I think you can post it and it will go into the Offline forum.

10-18-2015, 12:26 PM	#989
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,422 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	... because not being a regular in the Ebook Uploads section, I don't know how everything works, but I assumed the reason there is an Offline forum is so people can upload books that will become available when they enter Life+70. Otherwise why not simply delete them anyway? Apologies if I got things wrong.