[First Project] The Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville

[Alex Hedges]

Hello,

I would like to create an ebook for The Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville. Although it is listed on Wanted Ebooks under the "Moderate-difficulty productions" heading, it is only around 100k words¹ and does not contain much complex formatting.

For the transcription, I will use https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37892, which is the only one hosted on Project Gutenberg. The book's credits note that it was created using scans from "the Google Print project", so it was likely derived from https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Recollections_of_Alexis_de_Tocquevil/3gtoAAAAMAAJ, the only copy on Google Books.

I searched the other recommended sites for scans, and I found 3, all of which were for the same 1896 edition used for the transcript. Both https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000645167 and https://archive.org/details/recollectionsal00mattgoog are copies of the Google Books scan but with larger/more watermarks, and the latter is black-and-white instead of color. https://archive.org/details/gpl_1795303 is a higher quality scan, so I'll use it during production.

I have skimmed through the step-by-step instructions and the Manual of Style, and I'll do a closer read while working through the production.

- Alex

---

1. $ curl https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/37892/pg37892.txt | wc -w
   106995

[Vince Rice]

Alex will have to answer the question of whether it’s OK, but I would suggest not starting until he replies. We generally do not allow first time producers to do something from the moderate list, and we do not generally put things on the moderate list that are suitable for first time producers.

On Jun 9, 2024, at 7:38 PM, 'Alex Hedges' via Standard Ebooks <standar...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Hello,

[Alex Cabal]

This one is on the moderate list because it's actually quite difficult:
the transcription is not in good shape, there's lots of quotations and
italics, quite a few endnotes, appendicies, parts, subparts, and so on.
It might actually fit better in the 'advanced' section.

For first time productions please look at our wanted ebooks list:
https://standardebooks.org/contribute/wanted-ebooks

Or, pitch something else that might interest you, that is a plain prose
work of less than about 100k words.

Once you have one book under your belt and are comfortable with the
process, you can move on to more advanced stuff. We do this both to help
increase the odds you'll finish the book, and also to take some burden
off our volunteer managers and reviewers.

On 6/9/24 7:23 PM, 'Alex Hedges' via Standard Ebooks wrote:
> Hello,
>

> I would like to create an ebook for /The Recollections of Alexis de
> Tocqueville/. Although it is listed on Wanted Ebooks
> <https://standardebooks.org/contribute/wanted-ebooks> under the

> "Moderate-difficulty productions" heading, it is only around 100k

> words^1 and does not contain much complex formatting.

>
> For the transcription, I will use https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37892

> <https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37892>, which is the only one hosted

> on Project Gutenberg. The book's credits note that it was created using
> scans from "the Google Print project", so it was likely derived from

> https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Recollections_of_Alexis_de_Tocquevil/3gtoAAAAMAAJ <https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Recollections_of_Alexis_de_Tocquevil/3gtoAAAAMAAJ>, the only copy on Google Books.

>
> I searched the other recommended sites for scans, and I found 3, all of
> which were for the same 1896 edition used for the transcript. Both
> https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000645167
> <https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000645167> and
> https://archive.org/details/recollectionsal00mattgoog
> <https://archive.org/details/recollectionsal00mattgoog> are copies of
> the Google Books scan but with larger/more watermarks, and the latter is
> black-and-white instead of color.
> https://archive.org/details/gpl_1795303
> <https://archive.org/details/gpl_1795303> is a higher quality scan, so
> I'll use it during production.
>
> I have skimmed through the step-by-step instructions

> <https://standardebooks.org/contribute/producing-an-ebook-step-by-step>
> and the Manual of Style <https://standardebooks.org/manual/1.8.0>, and

> I'll do a closer read while working through the production.
>
> - Alex
>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 1. $ curl https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/37892/pg37892.txt | wc -w
> 106995
>
> --
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> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
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> <mailto:standardebook...@googlegroups.com>.
> To view this discussion on the web visit
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[Alex Hedges]

Alex,

I understand. In that case, I would like to work on Democracy and Social Ethics by Jane Addams. I'm still in the process of exploring the various transcriptions and scans, so I'll post about it later. Should I continue in this conversation or start a new one?

As a side note, how can one tell that "the transcription is not in good shape"? Does it just require manually comparing the transcription against a scan? Are the problems in transcribing the words or in additional features like formatting?

[Alex Cabal]

OK, sure. There is a short dedication so cut everything up to it, but
include the prefatory note too. You can also cut the index at the end.

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

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 mark you as having started.

Have fun! :)

On 6/11/24 3:55 PM, 'Alex Hedges' via Standard Ebooks wrote:
> Alex,
>

> I understand. In that case, I would like to work on /Democracy and
> Social Ethics/ by Jane Addams. I'm still in the process of exploring the

> https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Recollections_of_Alexis_de_Tocquevil/3gtoAAAAMAAJ <https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Recollections_of_Alexis_de_Tocquevil/3gtoAAAAMAAJ> <https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Recollections_of_Alexis_de_Tocquevil/3gtoAAAAMAAJ <https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Recollections_of_Alexis_de_Tocquevil/3gtoAAAAMAAJ>>, the only copy on Google Books.

> >
> > I searched the other recommended sites for scans, and I found 3,
> all of
> > which were for the same 1896 edition used for the transcript. Both
> > https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000645167
> <https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000645167>
> > <https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000645167
> <https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000645167>> and
> > https://archive.org/details/recollectionsal00mattgoog
> <https://archive.org/details/recollectionsal00mattgoog>
> > <https://archive.org/details/recollectionsal00mattgoog
> <https://archive.org/details/recollectionsal00mattgoog>> are copies of
> > the Google Books scan but with larger/more watermarks, and the
> latter is
> > black-and-white instead of color.
> > https://archive.org/details/gpl_1795303
> <https://archive.org/details/gpl_1795303>
> > <https://archive.org/details/gpl_1795303
> <https://archive.org/details/gpl_1795303>> is a higher quality scan, so
> > I'll use it during production.
> >
> > I have skimmed through the step-by-step instructions
> >

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

> > and the Manual of Style <https://standardebooks.org/manual/1.8.0
> <https://standardebooks.org/manual/1.8.0>>, and
> > I'll do a closer read while working through the production.
> >
> > - Alex
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > 1. $ curl https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/37892/pg37892.txt
> <https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/37892/pg37892.txt> | wc -w
> > 106995
> >
> > --
> > 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 on the web visit
> >

> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/2b7c0cca-07a1-4d04-90eb-49378a2c9b9bn%40googlegroups.com <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/2b7c0cca-07a1-4d04-90eb-49378a2c9b9bn%40googlegroups.com> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/2b7c0cca-07a1-4d04-90eb-49378a2c9b9bn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/2b7c0cca-07a1-4d04-90eb-49378a2c9b9bn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>>.

>
> --
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