[Next Project] The Columbiad by Joel Barlow

[Jason Livermore]

This one looked interesting to me.  The last printing before modern times was 1825. The PG transcription is based on the 1809 version.  HathiTrust has the 1825 printing.  Just glancing through, no big differences but I notice a few minor punctuation changes in the later edition.

PG: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8683
IA (1809): https://archive.org/details/columbiadpoem00barlrich

HT (1825): https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009722549

[Alex Cabal]

OK! Please send a link to your repo once you start.

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[Jason Livermore]

Repo: https://github.com/javamanatee/joel-barlow_the-columbiad

[Alex Cabal]

OK, David will manage this with Lukas reviewing.

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[David]

Now subscribed.

D.

[Jason Livermore]

Hi David, it's been awhile!

The author put one traditional footnote in line with the text...

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hxtaz5&seq=54

and the rest of them are in a Notes section at the end, with nice headers and backreferences (and an explanatory note about why he did it this way.)

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hxtaz5&seq=416

I was planning to just turn them all into regular endnotes like the normal way, without headers or backref context since we just hyperlink it, and they will have to be renumbered.  Is that the right course?

[David]

That makes good sense to me, and would make for a much better reading experience, IMO. And in that case, the explanatory note (on p. 364 = "416/504" at Hathi) is just dropped.

I'm not sure how many commits this would take, but at least the "note -> endnote" conversion should be Editorial, I expect. And worthwhile adding a production note on this, too, I would think.

D.

[Jason Livermore]

Each of the "books" starts with an Argument page.  This looks similar to Chivalry, it's bridgehead kind of material that I incorporated into the chapter header.  Should I keep the "Argument" heading?

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hxtaz5&seq=46

[David]

Hmmm... They do look very "bridgehead"-like, don't they. I can't see a case for regarding them as prefatory or prologuish, either (thinking through the options).

My inclination would be to "convert" them to proper bridgeheads, though I suppose in this case the dropping of the "Argument" headings would be [Editorial], as would the formatting into our bridgehead conventions.

[David]

Sorry - looking at it again, as I ponder what I just wrote, perhaps there's no need to drop the "Argument" heading. My inclination as I type is to retain the heading, though formatting that material into "bridgeheads" will still be [Editorial].

Hope that makes sense!

[Jason Livermore]

Thinking about how to organize the long lists of paintings in Note 45, the whole endnote being a list item itself.  There are several groups of (header followed by a list.)  The headers need formatting.  What is a good way to handle this?

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hxtaz5&seq=470

[David]

That's a lot of paintings.

I take it the listing has been double-columned just to save paper. As you note, it is simply a set of lists. The heading could be a `<header>` element, I think, which would be simplest, then small caps for the heading text.

Hope that makes sense!

[Vince]

You can use columns (or the individual column-* attributes) if you want to save electronic pages.

Alex, do list headers need the same aria role=presentation issues that blockquotes do?

[Alex Cabal]

<header> cannot be the child of <ol> or <ul> per the HTML spec

On 4/12/25 3:45 PM, Vince wrote:
> You can use columns (or the individual column-* attributes) if you want
> to save electronic pages.
>
> Alex, do list headers need the same aria role=presentation issues that
> blockquotes do?
>
>
>> On Apr 12, 2025, at 3:32 PM, David <djre...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> That's a lot of paintings.
>>
>> I take it the listing has been double-columned just to save paper. As

>> you note, it is simply a set of lists <https://standardebooks.org/
>> manual/1.8.1/single-page#5.6>. The heading could be a `<header>`

>> element, I think, which would be simplest, then small caps for the
>> heading text.
>>
>> Hope that makes sense!
>>
>> On Saturday, 12 April 2025 at 20:52:01 UTC+1 Jason wrote:
>>
>> Thinking about how to organize the long lists of paintings in Note
>> 45, the whole endnote being a list item itself.  There are several
>> groups of (header followed by a list.)  The headers need
>> formatting.  What is a good way to handle this?
>>
>> https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hxtaz5&seq=470

>> <https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hxtaz5&seq=470>

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[Jason Livermore]

How about wrapping each list in <div> and that would allow a <header> followed by <ul> with the list items?

[David]

I would think that works. (My assumption was that `<header>...` could be a *parent* of a `<[o|u]l>` list, and that each separate list would have its own header.)

I'm not familiar with the `column` CSS that Vince suggests, but it looks like it's used plenty in the corpus.

[Jason Livermore]

The manual says do not run modernize-spelling on poetry.  There is a fair amount of prose commentary by the author.  Should I modernize if it causes inconsistent spelling in the prose part vs. the poetry part?  There are a couple minor oddities like "Newyork", "Newhampshire"; and a few relics like "gulph".  Barlow prefers to use "tho, altho, thro" without the -ugh ending and even comments a little on his orthography in the postscript.

[Emma Sweeney]

Take a look at the poem how-to guide on how to modernize spelling in large poetic productions.

Emma

[Jason Livermore]

Just an update that this project still alive!  I've had some interruptions IRL, but I'm most of the way though a close proofreading. The author tweaked things throughout the 1825 edition.  I'm getting there...