[Next Project] The Eternal Boy / Prodigious Hickey

[mauka218lani]

Greetings

Propose to do next "The Eternal Boy," which is on the Wanted list, a Patron selection.

The Internet Archive has scans of it plus scans of a retitled "reissue." This is how they are listed on the author's wiki page: author

• The Eternal Boy (1909; a 'Lawrenceville' story).
• The Prodigious Hickey (1910; a reissue of The Eternal Boy).

Which do we want? For comparison, here are the IA scans:

Eternal Boy 1909

Prodigious Hickey 1910

There are numerous illustrations in both editions. Are they considered decorative and should be dropped?

There is a text version of a "poster" which seems to me is not just an illustration and instead important to be retained. Do you think a blockquote might be best for this? See poster

Thank you

[Alex Cabal]

OK, sure. Please send a link to your repo once you get started.

Either one of those scans work, whichever one has the better OCR search.

Yes, cut all illustrations.

That "poster" can be in a blockquote, we are "quoting" the poster.

On 5/9/26 5:58 PM, 'mauka218lani' via Standard Ebooks wrote:
> Greetings
>
> Propose to do next "The Eternal Boy," which is on the Wanted list, a
> Patron selection.
>
> The Internet Archive has scans of it plus scans of a retitled "reissue."

> This is how they are listed on the author's wiki page: author <https://
> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Johnson_(writer)>
>
> * The Eternal Boy (1909; a 'Lawrenceville' story).
> * The Prodigious Hickey (1910; a reissue of The Eternal Boy).

>
> Which do we want? For comparison, here are the IA scans:

> Eternal Boy 1909 <https://archive.org/details/eternalboybeings00john/
> page/n11/mode/2up>
> Prodigious Hickey 1910 <https://archive.org/details/
> prodigioushickey00johnrich/page/n13/mode/2up>

>
> There are numerous illustrations in both editions. Are they considered
> decorative and should be dropped?
>
> There is a text version of a "poster" which seems to me is not just an
> illustration and instead important to be retained. Do you think a

> blockquote might be best for this? See poster <https://archive.org/
> details/prodigioushickey00johnrich/page/n217/mode/1up>
>
> Thank you
>
>
>
> --
> 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/
> standardebooks/45577df4-4ae6-481f-bc17-b94c44b2bd85n%40googlegroups.com
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/45577df4-4ae6-481f-
> bc17-b94c44b2bd85n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

[mauka218lani]

The book title is different between the scans. To make the repo I need to know which scan version we want so the repo title matches the book title.

The 1909 scan title matches that of PG:

The 1910 scan, which is most recent so possibly preferred, has this title:

Please give me your preference on this. If you have none, I would go with 1910 title "The Prodigious Hickey" for the repo.

Thanks

[Alex Cabal]

Go with the later title

On 5/11/26 6:54 PM, 'mauka218lani' via Standard Ebooks wrote:
> The book title is different between the scans. To make the repo I need
> to know which scan version we want so the repo title matches the book title.
>
> The 1909 scan title matches that of PG:

> title1909.png
> The 1910 scan, which is most recent so possibly preferred, has this title:

> title1910.png
>
> Please give me your preference on this. If you have none, I would go
> with 1910 title "The Prodigious Hickey" for the repo.
>
> Thanks
>
> On Monday, May 11, 2026 at 8:30:01 AM UTC-10 Alex Cabal wrote:
>
> OK, sure. Please send a link to your repo once you get started.
>
> Either one of those scans work, whichever one has the better OCR
> search.
>
> Yes, cut all illustrations.
>
> That "poster" can be in a blockquote, we are "quoting" the poster.
>
> On 5/9/26 5:58 PM, 'mauka218lani' via Standard Ebooks wrote:
> > Greetings
> >
> > Propose to do next "The Eternal Boy," which is on the Wanted list, a
> > Patron selection.
> >
> > The Internet Archive has scans of it plus scans of a retitled
> "reissue."
> > This is how they are listed on the author's wiki page: author
> <https://

> > en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Johnson_(writer) <http://

> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Johnson_(writer)>>
> >
> > * The Eternal Boy (1909; a 'Lawrenceville' story).
> > * The Prodigious Hickey (1910; a reissue of The Eternal Boy).
> >
> > Which do we want? For comparison, here are the IA scans:
> > Eternal Boy 1909 <https://archive.org/details/

> eternalboybeings00john/ <https://archive.org/details/
> eternalboybeings00john/>
> > page/n11/mode/2up>
> > Prodigious Hickey 1910 <https://archive.org/details/ <https://
> archive.org/details/>

> > prodigioushickey00johnrich/page/n13/mode/2up>
> >
> > There are numerous illustrations in both editions. Are they
> considered
> > decorative and should be dropped?
> >
> > There is a text version of a "poster" which seems to me is not
> just an
> > illustration and instead important to be retained. Do you think a
> > blockquote might be best for this? See poster <https://

> archive.org/ <https://archive.org/>

> > details/prodigioushickey00johnrich/page/n217/mode/1up>
> >
> > Thank you
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > 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/45577df4-4ae6-481f-bc17-
> b94c44b2bd85n%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>
> > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/
> standardebooks/45577df4-4ae6-481f- <https://groups.google.com/d/
> msgid/standardebooks/45577df4-4ae6-481f->
> > bc17-b94c44b2bd85n%40googlegroups.com?
> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer <http://40googlegroups.com?
> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>>.

>
> --
> 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/

> standardebooks/bc06b756-967b-4271-a561-1cbc3b1dc79en%40googlegroups.com
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/bc06b756-967b-4271-
> a561-1cbc3b1dc79en%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

[mauka218lani]

Great, thanks.

Repo is here

Initial commit done.

[Alex Cabal]

OK, Vince will manage with Weijia reviewing.

On 5/11/26 9:58 PM, 'mauka218lani' via Standard Ebooks wrote:
> Great, thanks.

> Repo is here <https://github.com/mauka218lani/owen-johnson_the-
> prodigious-hickey>

> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Johnson_(writer)> <http://

> > en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Johnson_(writer) <http://
> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Johnson_(writer)>>>
> > >
> > > * The Eternal Boy (1909; a 'Lawrenceville' story).
> > > * The Prodigious Hickey (1910; a reissue of The Eternal Boy).
> > >
> > > Which do we want? For comparison, here are the IA scans:

> > > Eternal Boy 1909 <https://archive.org/details/ <https://
> archive.org/details/>
> > eternalboybeings00john/ <https://archive.org/details/ <https://

> archive.org/details/>
> > eternalboybeings00john/>
> > > page/n11/mode/2up>
> > > Prodigious Hickey 1910 <https://archive.org/details/ <https://

> archive.org/details/> <https://
> > archive.org/details/ <http://archive.org/details/>>

> > > prodigioushickey00johnrich/page/n13/mode/2up>
> > >
> > > There are numerous illustrations in both editions. Are they
> > considered
> > > decorative and should be dropped?
> > >
> > > There is a text version of a "poster" which seems to me is not
> > just an
> > > illustration and instead important to be retained. Do you think a
> > > blockquote might be best for this? See poster <https://

> > archive.org/ <http://archive.org/> <https://archive.org/

> <https://archive.org/>>
> > > details/prodigioushickey00johnrich/page/n217/mode/1up>
> > >
> > > Thank you
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > 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/>

> > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <https://groups.google.com/d/
> msgid/>>
> > > standardebooks/45577df4-4ae6-481f-bc17-
> > b94c44b2bd85n%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>
> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>
> > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/msgid/>
> > standardebooks/45577df4-4ae6-481f- <https://groups.google.com/d/
> <https://groups.google.com/d/>
> > msgid/standardebooks/45577df4-4ae6-481f->
> > > bc17-b94c44b2bd85n%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>?
> > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer <http://40googlegroups.com
> <http://40googlegroups.com>?

> > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>>.
> >
> > --
> > 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/bc06b756-967b-4271-
> a561-1cbc3b1dc79en%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>
> > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/
> bc06b756-967b-4271- <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/
> standardebooks/bc06b756-967b-4271->
> > a561-1cbc3b1dc79en%40googlegroups.com?

> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer <http://40googlegroups.com?
> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>>.
>
> --
> 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/

> standardebooks/12ac905f-e466-42da-804d-b4f42bea0626n%40googlegroups.com
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/12ac905f-
> e466-42da-804d-b4f42bea0626n%40googlegroups.com?
> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

[Weijia Cheng]

Ok, noted.

[mauka218lani]

Greetings,

Two general questions...

1) What is the criteria to decide if the global language tag should be xml:lang="en-GB" or xml:lang="en-US"?

     This book is by an American author and was first published in America, so I assumed "en-US". However, there are a few words with British spelling. Is that sufficient to cause global language to be set "en-GB"? Examples for "programme" and "centre" below.

2) How do we handle abbreviations without punctuation? This book has a chapter involving temporary "Federalist" and "Anti-Federalist" political parties. There are a few instances where Federalist abbreviated as "Fed." with a period and I know what to do about those. But what about "Anti-Fed" as shown in the first scan excerpt above, or "Feds" below?

Thank you for your help.

[Vince]

Isn’t the transcription from PG? If so, create draft should have set the appropriate language already.

Unless Alex has different thoughts, I wouldn’t do anything with the ones that don’t have periods.

On May 15, 2026, at 9:52 PM, 'mauka218lani' via Standard Ebooks <standar...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Greetings, 

Two general questions...

1) What is the criteria to decide if the global language tag should be xml:lang="en-GB" or xml:lang="en-US"?

     This book is by an American author and was first published in America, so I assumed "en-US". However, there are a few words with British spelling. Is that sufficient to cause global language to be set "en-GB"? Examples for "programme" and "centre" below.

<programme.png>

<centre.png>

2) How do we handle abbreviations without punctuation? This book has a chapter involving temporary "Federalist" and "Anti-Federalist" political parties. There are a few instances where Federalist abbreviated as "Fed." with a period and I know what to do about those. But what about "Anti-Fed" as shown in the first scan excerpt above, or "Feds" below?

[mauka218lani]

Thank you. That was the clue I needed. Found this in se create_draft.py

# Try to guess the ebook language.
transcription_language = "en-US"
if "colour" in transcription_ebook_html or "favour" in transcription_ebook_html or "honour" in transcription_ebook_html:
transcription_language = "en-GB"

Confirmed all 3: colour, favour, and honour are in the book. Will set to xml:lang="en-GB"

Thanks again

[Vince Rice]

Again, create draft sets the language automatically. Why are you setting it manually?

On May 16, 2026, at 8:15 PM, 'mauka218lani' via Standard Ebooks <standar...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



[mauka218lani]

Because I assumed an American author and published in America were reasonable criteria and changed it. Now changed back, thanks. Lesson learned.

[mauka218lani]

Greetings, the 1910 scan has a page with the original title between ToC and start of chapter 1 text.

Should this be retained as a separate front matter file? If so, where should it be placed?

Thank you

[Vince]

No, you can just add it as an alternative title to the metadata.

On May 17, 2026, at 5:48 PM, 'mauka218lani' via Standard Ebooks <standar...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Greetings, the 1910 scan has a page with the original title between ToC and start of chapter 1 text.

[mauka218lani]

Greetings,

Here are 3 possible covers, with the first being the one I like best. What do you think?

Option 1, source is Remington

I worked on the crop quite a bit. This seems to catch the rough-house nature of the boys football games in the book.

Option 2, source is Bellows

I think this represents boarding school boys well. However, this particular boy looks a bit too angelic for the titular character in this book.

Option 3, source is Kline

I like this one but the players look older than the boys in their late teens in this book.

What do you think?

Thank you