[First Project] Anna of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett

[Koregono]

Hello everybody,

I would like to contribute and thought of "Anna of the Five Towns" by Arnold Bennett as my first ebook. It is in the "For your first production" section of the Wanted Ebooks list.

Transcription: https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/35505
Page scans: https://archive.org/details/annaoffivetowns00benn/

Sincerely,
koregono

[Alex Cabal]

Great, that one would be a good start.

This book has a dedication and epigraph as front matter; see the manual
for copy and paste styling for that. Since there is front matter you'll
have to include a half title page with `se add-file halftitlepage`.

The epigraph is in verse, see the manual for how to style verse.

Punctuation is in British style, so you will have to run `se
british2american` to convert to American style. This process can
introduce a lot of errors so you'll have to carefully proofread to
ensure quotes are all curled in the correct direction.

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! :)

[Koregono]

Hello,

I have started working on it. The link to the GitHub repo is: https://github.com/koregono/arnold-bennett_anna-of-the-five-towns

Sincerely,
koregono

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[Alex Cabal]

OK, David will manage with Vince reviewing.

[Koregono]

Hello,

I am currently working on the typography and have come up with a few questions:

1. This book has many elided letters in words. In some cases, there is a space in front of the elision where one would nowadays omit it, like in chapter 6, line 63, column 263 (https://github.com/koregono/arnold-bennett_anna-of-the-five-towns/blob/main/src/epub/text/chapter-6.xhtml#L63). According to SEMOS 8.7.4, these spaces should be removed. However, it is not clear to me what exactly counts as "common contraction". For example, should the spaces at columns 286 and 382 of the same line be removed as well? What about chapter 4, line 14, column 55?

2. At line 53 in chapter 3, there are three consecutive punctuation marks: ".,’". This is also present in the page scans (https://archive.org/details/annaoffivetowns00benn/page/36/mode/2up). According to SEMOS 8.7.2 this would be the correct approach. However, this still looks odd to me; is this really how it should be done here?

Thanks in advance!

Sincerely,
koregono

> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/56823279-ad2b-4cc8-b8c2-60801c1ab17f%40standardebooks.org.

[David]

Hi - it *really* helps to have links (at least) to the page scans for the issues you're raising, as it can be important to see what's there as well. Screen shots with the issue clearly identifies also makes things easier!

How far along the steps in the Producing guide have you got? Both #1 and #2 will probably be taken care of when you run `se typogrify`, but it's not clear that you've got that far from your repo. (Perhaps you haven't pushed the latest changes?)

My suggestion for both of these questions is: keep working through the steps (carefully! following the commit messages!), and if there are issues like this that come up at the proofreading stage, we can deal with them then. You may (should) find that the "se tools" take care of them automatically.

David / Fife, UK

[Koregono]

Hello,

I have pushed all my changes to GitHub now. You were correct, my issues have been resolved by the se tools at later steps.

I also finished proofreading. I already fixed the few things I found during my read-through.

Regarding the cover art: I originally had a painting depicting a pottery factory in mind, as it would match the world/setting the story takes place in. Unfortunately, however, I was unable to find any suitable artwork.
Therefore, I would propose this as cover: https://standardebooks.org/artworks/julian-alden-weir/the-black-hat
Albeit more generic, it goes in the same direction as the covers of many of existing editions of the book. Additionally, I think the dark colours fit the tragic, somewhat somber tone of the story quite well.

Sincerely,
koregono

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[David]

It sounds like you're making good progress.

Can you say more about what makes *this* portrait an appropriate one for your novel? Which character? scene? Youi're right that it does seem a bit generic. Would a "factory" theme be more distinctive? (Finding a cover has got a lot "easier" with the Artworks db, but it's worth searching for a good fit.)

Also, it's good practice to post a mock-up of the cover (there's some comment on this in the "cover how-to", so we see how the crop you're using fits with the SE titlebox.

On Wednesday, 21 January 2026 at 20:01:00 UTC Koregono wrote:

Hello,

[Koregono]

Hello,

the woman in the portrait should represent the novel's main character, Anna Tellwright. But I think I have found a better artwork:
"Franz von Lenbach mit Frau und Töchtern" by Franz von Lenbach. It is listed as CC0 at one of the recommended museums: https://www.lenbachhaus.de/en/digital/collection-online/detail/franz-von-lenbach-mit-frau-und-toechtern-30029488
I used GIMP to retouch the two persons on the right. See the attached image for how this would look as cover.
The girl would be Anna and the man standing behind her would be her father, one of the most important characters of the story. Their arrangement conveys the control he exercises over his daughter, which is one of the central conflicts driving the plot forward.

Would that be a good fit?

Sincerely,
koregono

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[David]

Hmm... I've looked at that Lenbach painting for an earlier production of my own, and it is "licit", being CC0 from one of the recognized source museums, as you say. But....

...I'm not sure the Lenbach family look like Staffordshire? Perhaps - but more importantly, we don't take that much liberty in "re-touching" a painting. (Removing text from first edition covers, and "healing" crackle or blemishes are a different matter.)

My sense it that there could be a better fit — but on the chance this one could work, it would be good to get Alex's ruling on the amount of re-touching you've done.

On Thursday, 22 January 2026 at 21:44:39 UTC Koregono wrote:

Hello,

the woman in the portrait should represent the novel's main character, Anna Tellwright. But I think I have found a better artwork:
"Franz von Lenbach mit Frau und Töchtern" by Franz von Lenbach. It is listed as CC0 at one of the recommended museums: https://www.lenbachhaus.de/en/digital/collection-online/detail/franz-von-lenbach-mit-frau-und-toechtern-30029488
I used GIMP to retouch the two persons on the right. See the attached image for how this would look as cover.
The girl would be Anna and the man standing behind her would be her father, one of the most important characters of the story. Their arrangement conveys the control he exercises over his daughter, which is one of the central conflicts driving the plot forward.

Would that be a good fit?

Sincerely,
koregono

[Alex Cabal]

You decide David

On 1/22/26 4:11 PM, David wrote:
> Hmm... I've looked at that Lenbach painting for an earlier production of
> my own, and it is "licit", being CC0 from one of the recognized source
> museums, as you say. But....
>
> ...I'm not sure the Lenbach family look like Staffordshire? Perhaps -
> but more importantly, we don't take that much liberty in "re-touching" a
> painting. (Removing text from first edition covers, and "healing"
> crackle or blemishes are a different matter.)
>
> My sense it that there could be a better fit — but on the chance this
> one could work, it would be good to get Alex's ruling on the amount of
> re-touching you've done.
>
> On Thursday, 22 January 2026 at 21:44:39 UTC Koregono wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> the woman in the portrait should represent the novel's main
> character, Anna Tellwright. But I think I have found a better artwork:
> "Franz von Lenbach mit Frau und Töchtern" by Franz von Lenbach. It
> is listed as CC0 at one of the recommended museums: https://
> www.lenbachhaus.de/en/digital/collection-online/detail/franz-von-

> lenbach-mit-frau-und-toechtern-30029488 <https://www.lenbachhaus.de/
> en/digital/collection-online/detail/franz-von-lenbach-mit-frau-und-
> toechtern-30029488>

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[David]

If it's up to me, I think we keep looking. And that's probably more of a liberty in re-touching a painting than we want to take.

[Vince]

I for one agree on the latter (and therefore by default the former).

[Koregono]

Hello,

I have sadly had hardly any time to continue working over the last few days, but this week I continued searching and found the painting "The Song of the Shirt" by Anna Elizabeth Blunden (https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:6257). It is listed as CC0 at an approved museum and doesn't need any re-touching either.

The city depicted in the background is reminiscent of an English industrial city such as Staffordshire/the Five Towns. The gesture of prayer symbolises the role of the church, which is relevant in several places in the novel. In addition, the woman's longing gaze into the distance can be interpreted as her desire to escape societal pressures/expectations, just like Anna in the story.

Please let me know if this would be a better choice.

Sincerely,
koregono

[David]

I think that one works well - it was worth persevering!

I've added it to the Artworks database and assigned it to the project.

[Koregono]

Hello,

there are two cases where I added the relevant semantics to the title of a book/song and now "se lint" complains that the two are not correctly titlecased. The two passages in question are:

ch1l51: <i epub:type="se:name.publication.book">Janey’s Sacrifice or the Spool of Cotton, and other stories for children</i> (https://github.com/koregono/arnold-bennett_anna-of-the-five-towns/blob/main/src/epub/text/chapter-1.xhtml#L51, https://archive.org/details/annaoffivetowns00benn/page/8/mode/2up?q=%22Janey%27s+Sacrifice+or+the+Spool+of+Cotton%2C+and+other+stories+for+children%22)

ch5l34: <span epub:type="se:name.music.song">Jesu, lover of my soul</span> (https://github.com/koregono/arnold-bennett_anna-of-the-five-towns/blob/main/src/epub/text/chapter-5.xhtml#L34, https://archive.org/details/annaoffivetowns00benn/page/74/mode/2up?q=%22Jesu%2C+lover+of+my+soul%22)

From SEMoS 8.3.2 it is not entirely clear to me whether "se titlecase" is only for things like chapter titles or should also be used here? And if they are changed, I assume this has to be done in an [Editorial] commit, right?

Sincerely,
koregono

[David]

Yes, `se titlecase` should be used for these titles, too.

I tend not to make "titlecase" changes like this [Editorial], but I have seen it done. As ever, the counsel is to make the change in its own commit, and it's relatively simple to tweak the commit message either way.

[Koregono]

Alright, I have fixed them now. I think with that done, this book should be ready for review now.

[Vince]

Very good, I’ll try to get to it this weekend.

[Vince]

Good work on a first production. I’ve filed a number of things to be addressed, including a couple of required rebases. Ping me in the GitHub issue if you haven’t done one before, and I can give you some instructions.

[Vince]

This is ready for you, Alex.

[Alex Cabal]

OK, great work J! Everything looks good and I've released the ebook.

If you'd like to work on something more advanced next, check our Wanted
Ebooks list for moderate difficulty productions:
https://standardebooks.org/contribute/wanted-ebooks

Or, pitch something else that might interest you to the mailing list.

Thanks!

On 2/10/26 3:05 PM, Vince wrote:
> This <https://github.com/koregono/arnold-bennett_anna-of-the-five-
> towns> is ready for you, Alex.

>
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[Koregono]

Thanks for releasing it and for all your help along the way!

Just one question, Alex: I saw you changed "Almanack" to "Almanac" in commit cc881b8. Since Whitaker's Almanack is a real book and that's the actual proper name and does not merely refer to the type of book, wouldn't it be correct to keep the c? At least that was my reasoning for not changing it. Sorry, I forgot to ask during production...

[Alex Cabal]

Good point, I've reverted that, thanks!

On 2/12/26 3:10 PM, 'Koregono' via Standard Ebooks wrote:
> Thanks for releasing it and for all your help along the way!
>
> Just one question, Alex: I saw you changed "Almanack" to "Almanac" in

> commit cc881b8 <https://github.com/standardebooks/arnold-bennett_anna-
> of-the-five-towns/commit/cc881b8d34b2597fe9ee7d5c9db443275363cb60>.
> Since Whitaker's Almanack is a real book <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
> Whitaker's_Almanack> and that's the actual proper name and does not

> merely refer to the type of book, wouldn't it be correct to keep the c?
> At least that was my reasoning for not changing it. Sorry, I forgot to
> ask during production...
>

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