[Project] The Apple Cart, by George Bernard Shaw

[Asher Smith]

My next production will be The Apple Cart, continuing on my George Bernard Shaw project. It was released in 1930, so I'll be able to create/publish a repo in the new year, but there is already a transcription on PG AU (link) and scans on IA (link) so I can see that it looks like a pretty standard Shaw production (e.g. I'll need to add a lot of apostrophes).

The PG AU transcription includes a few afterwords made up of interviews/statements of Shaw to various publications; these are not present in the scans of the original publication. I am not convinced that there is any real merit in including these, especially given that there is a preface as well in which Shaw lays out a number of his views, so I am going to exclude them unless somebody objects.

[Asher Smith]

There's also this note that precedes the preface, but I'm assuming that it should be cut out and the relevant information just put into the long description.

[Alex Cabal]

OK, this is not public domain YET, so let's not discuss it in the public
mailing list until Jan 1. At that time you can create a new repo and
send the link so we can create a project.

On 12/28/25 2:49 AM, Asher Smith wrote:
> There's also this note that precedes the preface, but I'm assuming that
> it should be cut out and the relevant information just put into the long
> description.
>

> Screenshot 2025-12-28 at 21.45.51.png
>
> On Sunday, December 28, 2025 at 9:25:12 PM UTC+13 Asher Smith wrote:
>

> My next production will be /The Apple Cart/, continuing on my George

> Bernard Shaw project. It was released in 1930, so I'll be able to
> create/publish a repo in the new year, but there is already a

> transcription on PG AU (link <https://gutenberg.net.au/
> ebooks03/0300431h.html>) and scans on IA (link <https://archive.org/
> details/dli.ernet.504120>) so I can see that it looks like a pretty

> standard Shaw production (e.g. I'll need to add a lot of apostrophes).
>
> The PG AU transcription includes a few afterwords made up of
> interviews/statements of Shaw to various publications; these are not
> present in the scans of the original publication. I am not convinced
> that there is any real merit in including these, especially given
> that there is a preface as well in which Shaw lays out a number of
> his views, so I am going to exclude them unless somebody objects.
>

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[Asher Smith]

Now it’s public domain, here’s a Github repo.

Here’s a fun one: in this play, Shaw uses a lot of bare exclamation marks instead of lines of dialogue to indicate action. Here’s an example of a clip from the scans and then a couple of options of how to typeset it.

<td epub:type="z3998:persona">Balbus</td>

<td><i epub:type="z3998:stage-direction">Subsides with a shrug.</i>!</td>

<td epub:type="z3998:persona">Balbus</td>

<td><i epub:type="z3998:stage-direction">Subsides with a shrug.</i> !</td>

I prefer the introduction of a space and think it increases legibility, even though it’s less accurate to the scans, so have added that in an editorial commit.

I’m also struggling to get the LoC categories right; I hate having to do that manually. Only one of the entries for the book in the LoC catalogue has any categories (link), and they are:

Subject

Political science--Fiction (LCSH)

Genre Form

Fiction (LCGFT)

Satirical fiction (LCGFT)

Novels (LCGFT)

What I can’t tell how to do is find the subject IDs for those and to know which of them need to be included in the content.opf

[Emma Sweeney]

We include only LCSH subjects in the content.opf, so the only subject you would use from this page is `Political science -- Fiction`. Since the subject doesn't have a link to a page that contains the subject ID, the subject ID would be `Unknown`.

Emma

[Alex Cabal]

OK, Robin will manage with Emma reviewing.

I don't really understand what the exclamation mark is supposed to
convey. What does it add that "Subsides with a shrug" doesn't already
indicate?

On 1/1/26 12:52 PM, Asher Smith wrote:
> Now it’s public domain, here’s a Github repo <https://github.com/
> ACBSmith/george-bernard-shaw_the-apple-cart>.

>
> Here’s a fun one: in this play, Shaw uses a lot of bare exclamation
> marks instead of lines of dialogue to indicate action. Here’s an example
> of a clip from the scans and then a couple of options of how to typeset it.

> PastedGraphic-1.png
> <td epub:type="z3998:persona">Balbus</td>
> <td><i epub:type="z3998:stage-direction">Subsides with a shrug.</i>!</td>

> PastedGraphic-3.png
> <td epub:type="z3998:persona">Balbus</td>
> <td><i epub:type="z3998:stage-direction">Subsides with a shrug.</i> !</td>

> PastedGraphic-2.png
>
> I prefer the introduction of a space and think it increases legibility,
> even though it’s less accurate to the scans, so have added that in an
> editorial commit.
>
> I’m also struggling to get the LoC categories right; I hate having to do
> that manually. Only one of the entries for the book in the LoC catalogue

> has any categories (link <https://id.loc.gov/resources/
> works/23930890.html>), and they are:

> Subject
> Political science--Fiction (LCSH)
> Genre Form

> Fiction (LCGFT) <http://id.loc.gov/authorities/genreForms/gf2014026339>
> Satirical fiction (LCGFT) <http://id.loc.gov/authorities/genreForms/
> gf2023026105>
> Novels (LCGFT) <http://id.loc.gov/authorities/genreForms/gf2015026020>

>
> What I can’t tell how to do is find the subject IDs for those and to
> know which of them need to be included in the content.opf
>
>
>

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[Asher Smith]

Thanks, Emma - that makes sense.

Alex - I have no idea, but there’s a whole range of them with different numbers of exclamation marks to indicate different levels of wordless emotion. Presumably you would perform them as varying levels of grunts or exclamations.

[Alex Cabal]

Honestly I would just remove them. Especially if they're not in any
other GBS play we have.

[Asher Smith]

I’d prefer to keep them, actually, as Shaw is treating them differently than he treats stage direction lines without a persona. Though we don’t have any other examples in the corpus, this is the latest Shaw play that is in PD, and I can see that it also appears in the next play that will enter PD, The Millionairess—it appears like it’s a thing he’s started doing in his later works.