[Project Proposal] Religio Medici, Hydriotaphia, and the Letter to a Friend - Thomas Browne

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Guan Un

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Oct 7, 2025, 11:32:48 AM (2 days ago) Oct 7
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Hi all!

I'm wondering if there's interest in me converting the above. This isn't my first project, but it's been a while since I've done it. 

Alex Cabal

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Oct 7, 2025, 4:00:52 PM (2 days ago) Oct 7
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I think we would be interested in his work, but organized differently.

The PG edition has three different works in one volume, but I think we
would do Religio Medici separately, then Hyrdiotaphia and The Garden of
Cyrus together as they are supposedly two parts of a single work, and
then maybe any letters as a separate omnibus.

What do you think?
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Guan Un

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Oct 7, 2025, 4:29:16 PM (2 days ago) Oct 7
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That works for me! I'm most interested in Hydriotaphia at first, so I'll start with that and the Garden of Cyrus. 

It doesn't look like there's a Gutenberg edition of that volume but there looks like there's a high quality web version:

Would that be okay to work from? 

It's based on the 1658 edition, with scans here: https://archive.org/details/hydriotaphiaurne00browuoft

Alex Cabal

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Oct 7, 2025, 4:39:19 PM (2 days ago) Oct 7
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Looking at it closer, this would require significant spelling
modernization, much more than modernize-spelling can do; and removal of
excessive italics and capitalization. It would require very careful
reading and a lot of work. Are you OK with doing that?

On 10/7/25 3:29 PM, Guan Un wrote:
> That works for me! I'm most interested in Hydriotaphia at first, so I'll
> start with that and the Garden of Cyrus.
>
> It doesn't look like there's a Gutenberg edition of that volume but
> there looks like there's a high quality web version:
> https://penelope.uchicago.edu/hgc.html
>
> Would that be okay to work from?
>
> It's based on the 1658 edition, with scans here: https://archive.org/
> details/hydriotaphiaurne00browuoft
> On Wednesday, October 8, 2025 at 7:00:52 AM UTC+11 Alex Cabal wrote:
>
> I think we would be interested in his work, but organized differently.
>
> The PG edition has three different works in one volume, but I think we
> would do Religio Medici separately, then Hyrdiotaphia and The Garden of
> Cyrus together as they are supposedly two parts of a single work, and
> then maybe any letters as a separate omnibus.
>
> What do you think?
>
> On 10/6/25 10:47 PM, Guan Un wrote:
> > Hi all!
> >
> > I'm wondering if there's interest in me converting the above.
> This isn't
> > my first project, but it's been a while since I've done it.
> >
> > Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/586 <https://
> www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/586>
> > Archive: https://archive.org/details/religiomedicihyd00brow/page/
> n7/mode/2up <https://archive.org/details/religiomedicihyd00brow/
> page/n7/mode/2up>
> > Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Browne <https://
> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Browne>
> >
> > --
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> send
> > an email to standardebook...@googlegroups.com
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> > To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/>
> > standardebooks/893b37f0-a44b-4223-94c6-
> c6bfe9f65bfbn%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>
> > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/893b37f0-
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/893b37f0->
> > a44b-4223-94c6-c6bfe9f65bfbn%40googlegroups.com
> <http://40googlegroups.com>?
> > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
>
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> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

Weijia Cheng

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Oct 7, 2025, 4:40:29 PM (2 days ago) Oct 7
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You should still be able to use the PG version for a project like this if the transcription is better. Just extract the relevant portion when you start the SE project.

Guan Un

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Oct 7, 2025, 4:51:02 PM (2 days ago) Oct 7
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I think so! I'll give it a go, and let you know if it's too much. 

Alex Cabal

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Oct 7, 2025, 4:52:58 PM (2 days ago) Oct 7
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OK. I would classify this project as advanced difficulty. It will be
very hard.

We want to do the following

- Modernize all spelling to modern standards

- Remove excess capitalization and italics (but preserve where the
modern reader would expect it)

- Expand any abbreviated external references in the endnotes

Send a link to your repo once you start and we'll assign you a manager
and reviewer.

On 10/7/25 3:51 PM, Guan Un wrote:
> I think so! I'll give it a go, and let you know if it's too much.
>
> On Wednesday, October 8, 2025 at 7:39:19 AM UTC+11 Alex Cabal wrote:
>
> Looking at it closer, this would require significant spelling
> modernization, much more than modernize-spelling can do; and removal of
> excessive italics and capitalization. It would require very careful
> reading and a lot of work. Are you OK with doing that?
>
> On 10/7/25 3:29 PM, Guan Un wrote:
> > That works for me! I'm most interested in Hydriotaphia at first,
> so I'll
> > start with that and the Garden of Cyrus.
> >
> > It doesn't look like there's a Gutenberg edition of that volume but
> > there looks like there's a high quality web version:
> > https://penelope.uchicago.edu/hgc.html <https://
> penelope.uchicago.edu/hgc.html>
> >
> > Would that be okay to work from?
> >
> > It's based on the 1658 edition, with scans here: https://
> archive.org/ <https://archive.org/>
> > details/hydriotaphiaurne00browuoft
> > On Wednesday, October 8, 2025 at 7:00:52 AM UTC+11 Alex Cabal wrote:
> >
> > I think we would be interested in his work, but organized
> differently.
> >
> > The PG edition has three different works in one volume, but I
> think we
> > would do Religio Medici separately, then Hyrdiotaphia and The
> Garden of
> > Cyrus together as they are supposedly two parts of a single work,
> and
> > then maybe any letters as a separate omnibus.
> >
> > What do you think?
> >
> > On 10/6/25 10:47 PM, Guan Un wrote:
> > > Hi all!
> > >
> > > I'm wondering if there's interest in me converting the above.
> > This isn't
> > > my first project, but it's been a while since I've done it.
> > >
> > > Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/586 <https://
> www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/586> <https://
> > www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/586 <http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/586>>
> > > Archive: https://archive.org/details/religiomedicihyd00brow/
> page/ <https://archive.org/details/religiomedicihyd00brow/page/>
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Browne> <https://
> > en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Browne <http://en.wikipedia.org/
> wiki/Thomas_Browne>>
> > >
> > > --
> > > 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/893b37f0-a44b-4223-94c6-
> > c6bfe9f65bfbn%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>
> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>
> > <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>?
> > > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
> >
> > --
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> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/>
> >
> standardebooks/9200e28f-29c1-4feb-85f4-44409277c2efn%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>
> > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <https://groups.google.com/d/
> msgid/>
> >
> standardebooks/9200e28f-29c1-4feb-85f4-44409277c2efn%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>?
> > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
>
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> e1d62334-8578-4102-9d77-eda25bd88ec4n%40googlegroups.com?
> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

Guan Un

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Oct 7, 2025, 6:09:02 PM (2 days ago) Oct 7
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Alex Cabal

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Oct 7, 2025, 10:04:28 PM (2 days ago) Oct 7
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OK, David will manage with Vince reviewing.

Let's make the ebook title Hydriotaphia and the Garden of Cyrus

You don't have to rename the repo, just update the ebook metadata.

On 10/7/25 5:09 PM, Guan Un wrote:
> Repo: https://github.com/thisisguan/thomas-browne_hydriotaphia-or-urn-
> burial-and-the-garden-of-cyrus
> penelope.uchicago.edu/hgc.html> <https://
> > penelope.uchicago.edu/hgc.html <http://penelope.uchicago.edu/
> hgc.html>>
> > >
> > > Would that be okay to work from?
> > >
> > > It's based on the 1658 edition, with scans here: https://
> > archive.org/ <http://archive.org/> <https://archive.org/
> <https://archive.org/>>
> > > details/hydriotaphiaurne00browuoft
> > > On Wednesday, October 8, 2025 at 7:00:52 AM UTC+11 Alex Cabal
> wrote:
> > >
> > > I think we would be interested in his work, but organized
> > differently.
> > >
> > > The PG edition has three different works in one volume, but I
> > think we
> > > would do Religio Medici separately, then Hyrdiotaphia and The
> > Garden of
> > > Cyrus together as they are supposedly two parts of a single work,
> > and
> > > then maybe any letters as a separate omnibus.
> > >
> > > What do you think?
> > >
> > > On 10/6/25 10:47 PM, Guan Un wrote:
> > > > Hi all!
> > > >
> > > > I'm wondering if there's interest in me converting the above.
> > > This isn't
> > > > my first project, but it's been a while since I've done it.
> > > >
> > > > Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/586 <https://
> www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/586> <https://
> > www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/586 <http://www.gutenberg.org/
> ebooks/586> <http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/586 <http://
> <https://archive.org/details/religiomedicihyd00brow/page/>>
> > > n7/mode/2up <https://archive.org/details/
> religiomedicihyd00brow/ <https://archive.org/details/
> religiomedicihyd00brow/>
> > <https://archive.org/details/religiomedicihyd00brow/ <https://
> > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Browne <https://
> wiki/Thomas_Browne> <http://en.wikipedia.org/ <http://
> en.wikipedia.org/>
> > wiki/Thomas_Browne>>
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > 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/
> <https://groups.google.com/d/>
> > msgid/ <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <https://
> d/msgid/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>
> standardebooks/9200e28f-29c1-4feb-85f4-44409277c2efn%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>
> > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/msgid/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>
> > msgid/>
> > >
> >
> standardebooks/9200e28f-29c1-4feb-85f4-44409277c2efn%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>?
> > > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
> >
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>
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