[First Project] Father Henson's Story of His Own Life by Josiah Henson

[Scott Voyles]

Hopefully, third time is a charm. As it's suggested as a first-time production, I would try my hand at this one - if there are no objections?

[Alex Cabal]

OK, sure, that one would be a good start.

There's a preface so you'll have to include a half title page. You can
use `se add-file halftitlepage` to do that.

Each chapter has a bridgehead summary, see the manual for copy and paste
CSS and HTML for styling that.

I also see some verse, see the manual again for copy and paste styling.

Make sure to read the Standard Ebooks Manual of Style before starting,
as you won't know what to fix if you haven't read the standards. In
particular, please closely review the semantics, high level patterns,
and typography sections:

https://standardebooks.org/manual

https://standardebooks.org/manual/latest/4-semantics

https://standardebooks.org/manual/latest/7-high-level-structural-patterns

https://standardebooks.org/manual/latest/8-typography

The step by step guide will take you from start to finish:

https://standardebooks.org/contribute/producing-an-ebook-step-by-step

This page on common issues in older books may be useful:

https://standardebooks.org/contribute/how-tos/common-issues-when-working-on-public-domain-ebooks

Please email often if you have any questions at all. Our standards are
well-established so there is probably already a standard for formatting
whatever problem you've encountered.

When you're ready, email back with a link to your Github repository so
that I can assign you a manager and reviewer.

Have fun! :)

On 1/7/26 7:51 AM, Scott Voyles wrote:
> Hopefully, third time is a charm. As it's suggested as a first-time
> production, I would try my hand at this one - if there are no objections?
>

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[Scott Voyles]

https://github.com/zeitchef/josiah-henson_father-hensons-story-of-his-own-life

[Scott Voyles]

The linter is complaining about title values - what's the correct way to markup these chapter titles?

[Robin Whittleton]

You need an hgroup wrapping the h2 and following p. The bridgehead lives outside the hgroup but inside the header.

-Robin

On 8 Jan 2026, at 16:52, Scott Voyles <zeit...@gmail.com> wrote:

The linter is complaining about title values - what's the correct way to markup these chapter titles?

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<Screenshot 2026-01-08 at 16.51.45.png>

<Screenshot 2026-01-08 at 16.50.04.png>

[Alex Cabal]

OK, Robin will manage with Weijia reviewing.

On 1/8/26 9:09 AM, Scott Voyles wrote:
> https://github.com/zeitchef/josiah-henson_father-hensons-story-of-his-
> own-life

>
> On Wednesday, January 7, 2026 at 3:52:06 PM UTC+1 Alex Cabal wrote:
>
> OK, sure, that one would be a good start.
>
> There's a preface so you'll have to include a half title page. You can
> use `se add-file halftitlepage` to do that.
>
> Each chapter has a bridgehead summary, see the manual for copy and
> paste
> CSS and HTML for styling that.
>
> I also see some verse, see the manual again for copy and paste styling.
>
> Make sure to read the Standard Ebooks Manual of Style before starting,
> as you won't know what to fix if you haven't read the standards. In
> particular, please closely review the semantics, high level patterns,
> and typography sections:
>
> https://standardebooks.org/manual <https://standardebooks.org/manual>
>

> https://standardebooks.org/manual/latest/4-semantics <https://
> standardebooks.org/manual/latest/4-semantics>
>
> https://standardebooks.org/manual/latest/7-high-level-structural-
> patterns <https://standardebooks.org/manual/latest/7-high-level-
> structural-patterns>
>
> https://standardebooks.org/manual/latest/8-typography <https://
> standardebooks.org/manual/latest/8-typography>

>
> The step by step guide will take you from start to finish:
>
> https://standardebooks.org/contribute/producing-an-ebook-step-by-

> step <https://standardebooks.org/contribute/producing-an-ebook-step-
> by-step>

>
> This page on common issues in older books may be useful:
>
> https://standardebooks.org/contribute/how-tos/common-issues-when-

> working-on-public-domain-ebooks <https://standardebooks.org/
> contribute/how-tos/common-issues-when-working-on-public-domain-ebooks>

>
> Please email often if you have any questions at all. Our standards are
> well-established so there is probably already a standard for formatting
> whatever problem you've encountered.
>
> When you're ready, email back with a link to your Github repository so
> that I can assign you a manager and reviewer.
>
> Have fun! :)
>
>
> On 1/7/26 7:51 AM, Scott Voyles wrote:
> > Hopefully, third time is a charm. As it's suggested as a first-time
> > production, I would try my hand at this one - if there are no
> objections?
> >
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> > Groups "Standard Ebooks" group.
> > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it,
> send
> > an email to standardebook...@googlegroups.com
> > <mailto:standardebook...@googlegroups.com>.
> > To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/

> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/>
> > standardebooks/4a238907-7655-4256-9cf7-
> c96aeda7c075n%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>
> > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <https://groups.google.com/d/
> msgid/>
> > standardebooks/4a238907-7655-4256-9cf7-
> c96aeda7c075n%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>?
> > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

>
> --
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> b94b-e19b96b96dddn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

[Scott Voyles]

Robin, I'm a little unsure as to how to proceed with the image. My thinking was an "LoI" but as the image is technically in the frontmatter, I'm unsure. What do you advise?

[Robin Whittleton]

You can do it as a frontispiece. Have a look at Theodore Roosevelt’s autobiography for an example: https://github.com/standardebooks/theodore-roosevelt_an-autobiography/blob/master/src/epub/text/frontispiece.xhtml

As the frontispiece will contain a figure, you’ll need to include some CSS to style it. Read through the image section of the manual: https://standardebooks.org/manual/1.8.5/single-page#7.8 for more info. For the sake of simplicity I think I’d just keep the signature as part of the image. You’ll need to write some alt text: describe the image for a reader that doesn’t have any vision and is having the book read out to them.

After adding the frontispiece you’ll need to include an LoI and add that to it: https://github.com/standardebooks/theodore-roosevelt_an-autobiography/blob/master/src/epub/text/loi.xhtml. You’ll also need to add a “wat” role for yourself (writer of added text) in content.opf. See https://github.com/standardebooks/theodore-roosevelt_an-autobiography/blob/master/src/epub/content.opf#L95 for an example.

-Robin

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[Scott Voyles]

Great, now that this is done and I've completed the vast majority of the proofreading, I'd like some opinions on the cover art. The image that I would LOVE to use is this work by Charles Webber called "The Underground Railroad" but I have not yet found an appropriate source (according to SE standards) for the image. If anyone has tips, I would be extremely grateful!

The Underground Railroad

Date: 1893

Artist: Charles Webber

- gripping thematic relevance

- very high artistic quality and historical importance

- a direct reference to Henson's experience with Indiana Quakers (high relevance)

Otherwise, I've found two images that qualify from the National Gallery of Art that would suffice, I believe:

Portrait of a Black Man

Date: probably 1829

Artist: Unknown

- fits with existing SE productions of auto-biographical works with portraits (Northup, Douglas, etc.)

- this is not Josiah Henson, though the subject is unidentified

- the "black gentleman" is very appropriate to the theme of the work

- the subject is almost a direct contemporary of Henson himself

Study for "The Dancing Lesson": The Banjo Player

Date: probably 1877

Artist: Thomas Eatkins

- more abstract, almost evoking the memory of his banjo-playing father

- subject less relevant to Henson directly

- the artistic quality is definitely higher

 Scott

[Robin Whittleton]

I found proof for the first one at https://archive.org/details/eveningstar1219unse/page/n1/mode/1up. If you’d like to use it then go ahead. I’ll upload this to the artwork DB anyway, and can assign it to this production if you do.

I don’t think that a direct portrait of someone that isn’t author is suitable for an autobiography, so I’d veto the second. The third could be acceptable, although it sounds like you’re not sold anyway.

-Robin

On 10 Jan 2026, at 16:51, Scott Voyles <zeit...@gmail.com> wrote:

Great, now that this is done and I've completed the vast majority of the proofreading, I'd like some opinions on the cover art. The image that I would LOVE to use is this work by Charles Webber called "The Underground Railroad" but I have not yet found an appropriate source (according to SE standards) for the image. If anyone has tips, I would be extremely grateful!

The Underground Railroad

Date: 1893

Artist: Charles Webber

- gripping thematic relevance

- very high artistic quality and historical importance

- a direct reference to Henson's experience with Indiana Quakers (high relevance)

<960px-The_Underground_Railroad_by_Charles_T._Webber,_1893.jpg>

Otherwise, I've found two images that qualify from the National Gallery of Art that would suffice, I believe:

Portrait of a Black Man

Date: probably 1829

Artist: Unknown

- fits with existing SE productions of auto-biographical works with portraits (Northup, Douglas, etc.)

- this is not Josiah Henson, though the subject is unidentified

- the "black gentleman" is very appropriate to the theme of the work

- the subject is almost a direct contemporary of Henson himself

<privateimagesa1a43ea1a43e9b-039b-4a6a-a9cd-01d86be40c59__0.jpg>

Study for "The Dancing Lesson": The Banjo Player

Date: probably 1877

Artist: Thomas Eatkins

- more abstract, almost evoking the memory of his banjo-playing father

- subject less relevant to Henson directly

- the artistic quality is definitely higher

<privateimages9b65e89b65e8fc-64e8-429f-948a-4073d5f5478f__0.jpg>

 Scott

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<960px-The_Underground_Railroad_by_Charles_T._Webber,_1893.jpg><privateimages9b65e89b65e8fc-64e8-429f-948a-4073d5f5478f__0.jpg><privateimagesa1a43ea1a43e9b-039b-4a6a-a9cd-01d86be40c59__0.jpg>

[Scott Voyles]

Great, thanks Robin! I guess this is ready for review.