[Next Project] The Third Round

[Chris Spurgeon]

I have the second Bulldog Drummond book, The Black Gang, in review. Once that's done I'd like to proceed to the third title, The Third Round.

The transcription is available on fadedpage.com at https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20140332 , and the book is on archive.org (under the title Bull-dog Drummond's Third Round) at https://archive.org/details/bwb_S0-CBT-585/page/n3/mode/2up

I've started a Github repo at https://github.com/chrisspurgeon/h-c-mcneile_the-third-round

Chris

[Alex Cabal]

OK! Robin will manage with Vince reviewing.

On 7/26/26 8:43 PM, Chris Spurgeon wrote:
> I have the second Bulldog Drummond book, /The Black Gang/, in review.
> Once that's done I'd like to proceed to the third title, /The Third Round/.

>
> The transcription is available on fadedpage.com at https://
> www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20140332 , and the book is on

> archive.org (under the title /Bull-dog Drummond's Third Round/)

> at https://archive.org/details/bwb_S0-CBT-585/page/n3/mode/2up
>
> I've started a Github repo at https://github.com/chrisspurgeon/h-c-
> mcneile_the-third-round
>
> Chris
>

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[Chris Spurgeon]

Close to wrapping this up, but I'm drawing a blank on finding a cover image that plays off of the main themes of the book. The main thing driving the plot is that an eccentric old inventor has come up with a way to create perfect diamonds in his lab, so all sorts of folks want to either kidnap him to get the diamond formula, or just kill him so he can't use the formula and thereby destroy the pre-existing diamond cartels. The key final scene takes place on a lake in Switzerland, and features a big motor yacht, and a 1920s high speed motorboat.

SOOOOOOOOOO.... I've been looking all over for a suitable painting that features either diamonds or vintage motor yachts / motor boats. But I've been totally striking out. I found a few cool cover images from vintage boating magazines, but they are all too low-res. If anyone has any ideas please share!

BTW, if I strike out on one of those ideas, I'm sure I can come up with a detective-looking portrait to use.

[Chris Spurgeon]

Do you think this could work, or is the resolution too poor? (It a smaller image from the cover of a yachting magazine from 1930, that I passed through Topaz' GigaPixel software).

[Chris Spurgeon]

Whoops, let me upload that again...

[Robin Whittleton]

It’s a nice image, but it might be a bit watercolour for us. I think I’d just want the OK from Alex on that.

Also to my eyes that’s overly AI enhanced: look at whatever the bird in the sky has become. Can you link to the source scan?

I did have a quick look at the first edition cover, but I don’t think it works for us: https://pictures.abebooks.com/inventory/32122476647.jpg

-Robin

On 5 Aug 2026, at 03:30, Chris Spurgeon <spurge...@gmail.com> wrote:

Whoops, let me upload that again...

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[Chris Spurgeon]

Wow, that first edition cover is outrageous.

Here's the original of the "Yachting" magazine cover...

[Robin Whittleton]

There’s a higher res copy on Hathi at https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433005008325?urlappend=%3Bseq=157%3Bownerid=121519915-157. I’ve mocked up a 1400x2100 JPG with a little straightening and no damage fixes, attached. But yes, Alex, what do you think on this?

On 5 Aug 2026, at 09:07, Chris Spurgeon <spurge...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Alex Cabal]

I think it works, though I would try to clean up some of the paper
damage in the upper right with maybe a despeckle filter

On 8/5/26 11:44 AM, Robin Whittleton wrote:
> There’s a higher res copy on Hathi at https://hdl.handle.net/2027/
> nyp.33433005008325?urlappend=%3Bseq=157%3Bownerid=121519915-157

> <https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433005008325?
> urlappend=%3Bseq=157%3Bownerid=121519915-157>. I’ve mocked up a

> 1400x2100 JPG with a little straightening and no damage fixes, attached.
> But yes, Alex, what do you think on this?
>

> nyp.33433005008325-seq_157.jpg
>
>> On 5 Aug 2026, at 09:07, Chris Spurgeon <spurge...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>

>> yachting.jpeg

>
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[Robin Whittleton]

Great, I’ll upload it to the artworks DB then and assign it. Chris, if you want me to poke at it with a heal brush let me know, otherwise I’ll leave it to you.

-Robin

> On 5 Aug 2026, at 18:56, 'Alex Cabal' via Standard Ebooks <standar...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> I think it works, though I would try to clean up some of the paper damage in the upper right with maybe a despeckle filter

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[Chris Spurgeon]

Will do!

> On Aug 5, 2026, at 9:56 AM, 'Alex Cabal' via Standard Ebooks <standar...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> I think it works, though I would try to clean up some of the paper damage in the upper right with maybe a despeckle filter

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[Robin Whittleton]

Added and assigned: https://standardebooks.org/artworks/ella-condie-lamb/yachting-august-1930. The signature in the bottom left looks like “Condie Lamb” so I assume the artist was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Condie_Lamb.

-Robin

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[Chris Spurgeon]

OK, I took a shot at despeckleing and airbrushed out the weird bird artifact, as well as some scratches and odd spots. Here it is after that. (But I'm no Photoshop pro, so please feel free to have a go at it as well)...

[Robin Whittleton]

Here’s my attempt. I took the higher-res Hathi cover to start with, which needed no resizing, then attacked it with the heal brush. Personally, I prefer a bit more texture (especially in the boat’s wake) to the smoothed-off and saturated Gigapixel look. But it’s your production, so pick the one you prefer.

On 5 Aug 2026, at 22:34, Chris Spurgeon <spurge...@gmail.com> wrote:

OK, I took a shot at despeckleing and airbrushed out the weird bird artifact, as well as some scratches and odd spots. Here it is after that. (But I'm no Photoshop pro, so please feel free to have a go at it as well)...

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/a2d8cb39-b4dd-4918-8dc8-52f74f96a280n%40googlegroups.com.
<third_round_cover_despeckled.jpg>

[Alex Cabal]

I agree, we just want to clean up the physical damange, and not airbrush
it like that Italian painting.

On 8/6/26 2:45 PM, Robin Whittleton wrote:
> Here’s my attempt. I took the higher-res Hathi cover to start with,
> which needed no resizing, then attacked it with the heal brush.
> Personally, I prefer a bit more texture (especially in the boat’s wake)
> to the smoothed-off and saturated Gigapixel look. But it’s your
> production, so pick the one you prefer.
>

> nyp.33433005008325-seq_157.jpg
>
>> On 5 Aug 2026, at 22:34, Chris Spurgeon <spurge...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> OK, I took a shot at despeckleing and airbrushed out the weird bird
>> artifact, as well as some scratches and odd spots. Here it is after
>> that. (But I'm no Photoshop pro, so please feel free to have a go at
>> it as well)...
>>
>> <third_round_cover_despeckled.jpg>
>>
>> On Wednesday, August 5, 2026 at 1:14:55 PM UTC-7 robin wrote:
>>
>> Added and assigned: https://standardebooks.org/artworks/ella-

>> condie-lamb/yachting-august-1930 <https://standardebooks.org/
>> artworks/ella-condie-lamb/yachting-august-1930>. The signature in

>> the bottom left looks like “Condie Lamb” so I assume the artist

>> was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Condie_Lamb <https://
>> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Condie_Lamb>.

>>
>> -Robin
>>
>>> On 5 Aug 2026, at 19:39, Chris Spurgeon <spurge...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Will do!
>>>
>>>> On Aug 5, 2026, at 9:56 AM, 'Alex Cabal' via Standard Ebooks
>>>> <standar...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I think it works, though I would try to clean up some of the
>>>> paper damage in the upper right with maybe a despeckle filter
>>>>
>>>>> On 8/5/26 11:44 AM, Robin Whittleton wrote:
>>>>> There’s a higher res copy on Hathi at https://

>>>>> hdl.handle.net/2027/ <https://hdl.handle.net/2027/>
>>>>> nyp.33433005008325?urlappend=%3Bseq=157%3Bownerid=121519915-157
>>>>> <https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433005008325 <https://
>>>>> hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433005008325>?

>>>>> urlappend=%3Bseq=157%3Bownerid=121519915-157>. I’ve mocked up a
>>>>> 1400x2100 JPG with a little straightening and no damage fixes,
>>>>> attached. But yes, Alex, what do you think on this?
>>>>> nyp.33433005008325-seq_157.jpg
>>>>>>> On 5 Aug 2026, at 09:07, Chris Spurgeon <spurge...@gmail.com>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> yachting.jpeg
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>> <third_round_cover_despeckled.jpg>

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[Chris Spurgeon]

Thanks Robin! That looks better -- I'll go ahead and use it.

Chris

[Chris Spurgeon]

OK, The Third Round is ready for inspection. The repo is at https://github.com/chrisspurgeon/h-c-mcneile_the-third-round .

There's a se-lint-ignore.xml file to cover a line in chapter 11 where a semaphore message is being spelled out letter by letter (each letter marked as a grapheme), and each letter is followed by a period.

I used version 4.0.0 of the toolset.

Chris

[Vince]

Looks good, Chris, just a few things to take care of.

On Aug 8, 2026, at 1:43 AM, Chris Spurgeon <spurge...@gmail.com> wrote:

OK, The Third Round is ready for inspection. The repo is at https://github.com/chrisspurgeon/h-c-mcneile_the-third-round .

[Chris Spurgeon]

Corrections made!

[Vince]

Alex, this is ready for you.

[Alex Cabal]

Looks good Chris, I've released it! Thanks!

On 8/9/26 9:59 PM, Vince wrote:
> Alex, this <https://github.com/chrisspurgeon/h-c-mcneile_the-third-
> round> is ready for you.

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