[Next Project] The Venetians by M. E. Braddon

[mauka218lani]

Greetings,

Next I'd like to try The Venetians by Braddon from the Wanted Ebooks list. Browsing online versions it looks longer than others I've produced but not technically difficult.

There are a number of scans available. How does one go about selecting a primary source? There are two at Internet Archive and two at Google Books with copyright 1892. For convenience, here are the links to those.

Internet Archive 1

Internet Archive 2

Google Books 1

Google Books 2

Surely cover art will be something depicting Venice. There are already three Venice paintings in the SE artwork database not in use.

Thank you

[Alex Cabal]

OK, you can work on that. For page scans the rule of thumb is to select
the latest possible edition you can find, unless some specific
circumstance suggests otherwise. Send a link to your repo once you start!

On 2/10/26 8:25 PM, 'mauka218lani' via Standard Ebooks wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> Next I'd like to try The Venetians by Braddon from the Wanted Ebooks
> list. Browsing online versions it looks longer than others I've produced
> but not technically difficult.
>
> There are a number of scans available. How does one go about selecting a
> primary source? There are two at Internet Archive and two at Google
> Books with copyright 1892. For convenience, here are the links to those.
>

> Internet Archive 1 <https://archive.org/details/venetiansnovel03brad/
> page/n4/mode/1up>
> Internet Archive 2 <https://archive.org/details/venetians00unkngoog/
> page/n5/mode/1up>
> Google Books 1 <https://books.google.com/books?id=-
> o6YJ2yjB34C&pg=PA5&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false>
> Google Books 2 <https://books.google.com/books?
> id=ZrExAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA3&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false>

>
> Surely cover art will be something depicting Venice. There are already
> three Venice paintings in the SE artwork database not in use.
>
> Thank you
>

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[mauka218lani]

Greetings

This scan seems to be best version of the 1893 "Stereotyped Edition" edition and is presented as single volume:

Internet Archive

Repo with initial commit:

Repo

Thank you

[Alex Cabal]

OK, David will manage with Weijia reviewing.

On 2/11/26 5:15 PM, 'mauka218lani' via Standard Ebooks wrote:
> Greetings
>
> This scan seems to be best version of the 1893 "Stereotyped

> Edition" edition and ispresented as single volume:
>
> Internet Archive <https://archive.org/details/venetiansnovel00braduoft/>
>
> Repo with initial commit:
>
> Repo <https://github.com/mauka218lani/m-e-braddon_the-venetians.git>

>
> Thank you
>
>
> On Tuesday, February 10, 2026 at 5:11:28 PM UTC-10 Alex Cabal wrote:
>
> OK, you can work on that. For page scans the rule of thumb is to select
> the latest possible edition you can find, unless some specific
> circumstance suggests otherwise. Send a link to your repo once you
> start!
>
> On 2/10/26 8:25 PM, 'mauka218lani' via Standard Ebooks wrote:
> > Greetings,
> >
> > Next I'd like to try The Venetians by Braddon from the Wanted Ebooks
> > list. Browsing online versions it looks longer than others I've
> produced
> > but not technically difficult.
> >
> > There are a number of scans available. How does one go about
> selecting a
> > primary source? There are two at Internet Archive and two at Google
> > Books with copyright 1892. For convenience, here are the links to
> those.
> >
> > Internet Archive 1 <https://archive.org/details/

> venetiansnovel03brad/ <https://archive.org/details/
> venetiansnovel03brad/>

> > page/n4/mode/1up>
> > Internet Archive 2 <https://archive.org/details/

> venetians00unkngoog/ <https://archive.org/details/venetians00unkngoog/>
> > page/n5/mode/1up>
> > Google Books 1 <https://books.google.com/books?id=- <https://
> books.google.com/books?id=->
> >
> o6YJ2yjB34C&pg=PA5&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false>
> > Google Books 2 <https://books.google.com/books <https://
> books.google.com/books>?

> >
> id=ZrExAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA3&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false>
> >
> > Surely cover art will be something depicting Venice. There are
> already
> > three Venice paintings in the SE artwork database not in use.
> >
> > Thank you
> >
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
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> send
> > an email to standardebook...@googlegroups.com
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>
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[mauka218lani]

Greetings

This book has grave marker text. I found the prior advice to style as centered small caps. However, the marker is in Italian. Here is scan:

I've added the tombstone class to local css

blockquote.tombstone p{
text-align: center;
text-indent: 0;
font-variant: small-caps;
}

But included language tag in the blockquote anyway, like this:

<blockquote class="tombstone" xml:lang="it">
<p>Sir Smizz<br/>
Morto A Venezia,<br/>
Martedi-Grasso, <time>1885</time>.<br/></p>
</blockquote>

Please advise if this approach could be improved. Thank you

[David]

SE does not use the PG classes (and you have quite a lot of them to get rid of still in this production). So you want:

#chapter-33 blockquote{ ... }

I don't think you need to target the `p`: https://standardebooks.org/manual/1.8.6/single-page#5.10

It looks like you've applied the language correctly; I assume you've noted the need for the namespace declaration to be added to local.css:
https://standardebooks.org/manual/1.8.6/single-page#5.3.1.3

You want to remove the last `<br/>` immediately before the `</p>`. And I believe the "A" should be lower-case ("Morto a Venezia.")

Hope that helps!

[mauka218lani]

Thank you very much. I've made those corrections.

I found the advice about tombstone format searching in this group,  group post

Could you recommend an approach for sorting out which older posts in this group might still be valid advice? Maybe 2017 is just too far back to be reliable?

Thanks again

[Alex Cabal]

Most older advice is still valid, but styling requirements vary wildly
between ebooks and it almost never makes sense to copy and paste a
custom style from one ebook to another. Instead you have to think about
what custom visual effect you want to achieve, and how to do that given
the various constraints in the SE manual. What David told you to do is
correct, and I will also note that in this case `text-indent: 0` is not
necessary, because the first child of a blockquote has `text-indent: 0`
applied by default.

On 2/13/26 9:08 PM, 'mauka218lani' via Standard Ebooks wrote:
> Thank you very much. I've made those corrections.
>
> I found the advice about tombstone format searching in this group, group

> post <https://groups.google.com/g/standardebooks/c/R1iTMKFNCqk/m/
> wM9jMlgeAQAJ>

>
> Could you recommend an approach for sorting out which older posts in
> this group might still be valid advice? Maybe 2017 is just too far back
> to be reliable?
>
> Thanks again
>
> On Friday, February 13, 2026 at 12:06:32 PM UTC-10 David wrote:
>
> SE does not use the PG classes (and you have quite a lot of them to
> get rid of still in this production). So you want:
>
> #chapter-33 blockquote{ ... }
>
> I don't think you need to target the `p`: https://

> standardebooks.org/manual/1.8.6/single-page#5.10 <https://
> standardebooks.org/manual/1.8.6/single-page#5.10>

>
> It looks like you've applied the language correctly; I assume you've
> noted the need for the namespace declaration to be added to local.css:
> https://standardebooks.org/manual/1.8.6/single-page#5.3.1.3
> <https://standardebooks.org/manual/1.8.6/single-page#5.3.1.3>
>
> You want to remove the last `<br/>` immediately before the `</p>`.
> And I believe the "A" should be lower-case ("Morto a Venezia.")
>
> Hope that helps!
>
> On Friday, 13 February 2026 at 21:36:17 UTC mauka218lani wrote:
>
> Greetings
>
> This book has grave marker text. I found the prior advice to
> style as centered small caps. However, the marker is in Italian.
> Here is scan:
>

> tombstone.png
>
> I've added the tombstone class to local css
> blockquote.tombstone p{
> text-align: center;
> text-indent: 0;
> font-variant: small-caps;
> }
>
> But included language tag in the blockquote anyway, like this:
> <blockquote class="tombstone" xml:lang="it">
> <p>Sir Smizz<br/>
> Morto A Venezia,<br/>
> Martedi-Grasso, <time>1885</time>.<br/></p>
> </blockquote>
>
> Please advise if this approach could be improved. Thank you
>

> --
> 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>.
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> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/
> standardebooks/366f35f9-29cd-402f-9778-7085302a700fn%40googlegroups.com?
> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

[mauka218lani]

Greetings,

This book has the phrase "anathema maranatha." Scan below for context.

I found three different treatments for this phrase in the repositories. Which do you prefer as the standard?

<i xml:lang="grc-Latn">Anathema</i> <i xml:lang="arc">maranatha</i>

Found here: Trollope Barchester Towers

is anathema <i xml:lang="jpa-Latn">maranatha</i>

Found here: Montgomery Anne of Island

Also, this was the advice posted to this group: post (April 2024)

<i xml:lang="grc-Latn">Anathema</i> <i xml:lang="sam">maranatha!</i>

Found here: Trollope Doctor Thorne

Thank you

[David]

I believe we should go with the Anne of the Island version (credit to Weijia): "anathema" is in MW, with appropriate meaning (so no semantics of language tag), but "maranatha" is not, and the `jpa-Latn` language is quite correct. (Original source is 1 Corinthians 16:22, of course.)

[mauka218lani]

Greetings,

Two cover mockups I like. Which is preferred?

This one is created from Martin Rico y Ortega

This one is created from Robert Frederick Blum

Thank you.

[David]

Both work, both look good. I marginally prefer the palette of the Ortega, but the setting of the Blum (which might benefit from a slight level adjustment?).

The choice is yours! I've added both to the Artworks DB (Ortega; Blum); just let me know which you've chosen, and I'll make the assignment.

(N.b. for the Ortega, the date provided by ARTIC is "1880–1889" or "1880s"; I've registered it as "c. 1885". As it happens, that's also the date for the Blum.)

On Sunday, 22 February 2026 at 22:48:42 UTC mauka218lani wrote:

Greetings,

Two cover mockups I like. Which is preferred?

This one is created from Martin Rico y Ortega

. . .

This one is created from Robert Frederick Blum

. . .

Thank you.

[mauka218lani]

Thank you.

I too prefer the more cheerful coloring over the more traditional aspect. For all the tragedy in this book, the author consistently lauds Venice. So it seems to me appropriate to have an image celebrating delight in tranquil beauty.

Please assign the Ortega to this book.

Thanks again

[David]

Done! (Even a small level adjustment on the Blum reveals a much more vibrant aspect, but the Ortega works well.)

[mauka218lani]

Well, I confess spending time on the Blum trying to balance more sky at the top without losing the central gondola behind the text block. Is that the type of adjustment you had in mind? We are not working in concrete here. I'm open to changing the image and I value your experience. If you've been playing with it and came up with a better crop, please feel free to send your ideas!

Thank you

[mauka218lani]

Aha! Perhaps you did not mean changing the crop, but instead adjusting the color levels as described here:

adjust images

Great idea, thank you! What do you think about the new mockup below? I like it much better now. If you agree, please change the assigned image to this one. Reminder, source is

Blum

[David]

That's exactly what I had in mind. :) I've switched the assignment to the Blum, then.

On Tuesday, 24 February 2026 at 00:06:05 UTC mauka218lani wrote:

Aha! Perhaps you did not mean changing the crop, but instead adjusting the color levels as described here:

adjust images

Great idea, thank you! What do you think about the new mockup below? I like it much better now. If you agree, please change the assigned image to this one. Reminder, source is

Blum

. . .

[mauka218lani]

Greetings,

Thought I'd alert you to unexpected behavior in create-draft. For this book it was run 2/11/2026 under SE version 2.11.2. I reran it today (same version SE tools) to confirm. IIRC this particular misbehavior did not occur in my other books.

Both transcriber names "file-as" did not convert the name to sort order properly, although the author "file-as" worked fine. Below is what was in my content.opf before I changed it.

<dc:contributor id="transcriber-1">Peter Becker</dc:contributor>
<meta property="file-as" refines="#transcriber-1">Peter, Becker</meta>

<dc:contributor id="transcriber-2">Hannah Wilson</dc:contributor>
<meta property="file-as" refines="#transcriber-2">Hannah, Wilson</meta>

For convenience, this is the Project Gutenberg link:  74385

No response needed, thank you. This is just FYI in case it needs further action.

[Vince]

Right, it didn’t occur before because it wasn’t trying to sort before, it just left the TRANSCRIBER_SORT variable there. The sort has been wrong since the attempt to sort was first made in December; we’ll probably need to look at the books completed since then to see if the sort is incorrect in them. (Some of them will have been drafted earlier and thus not have the issue.)

I’ve submitted a PR to fix it.

[mauka218lani]

Thank you for letting me know.

[mauka218lani]

Greetings,

Thank you all for the help getting this far.

This book is ready for review. The repo is here  repo

Looking forward to the feedback.

Thank you.

[Weijia Cheng]

Thanks, I will be getting on this soon!

[mauka218lani]

Thank you. No rush at all to review this long book. No need for high priority.

[Weijia Cheng]

Good work! Sorry for the delay, I am in grad school and I am in a busy stretch of the semester. I filed a review with a few issues, including some that involve rebasing. Let me know if you need more detailed instructions.

[Weijia Cheng]

Alex, this is ready for you.

[Alex Cabal]

Looks good, I've released it, thanks!

In the long description you laid out the entire plot in quite a bit of
depth. That's not really what we're looking for, the reader should
discover the plot on their own. Instead, talk about broad themes,
meanings, a book's place in history, and so on. Often there's not a
whole lot to say about plain pulp fiction, and that's fine too.

On 3/5/26 5:26 AM, 'Weijia Cheng' via Standard Ebooks wrote:
> Alex, this is ready for you.
>
> On Tuesday, March 3, 2026 at 10:34:23 AM UTC-5 Weijia Cheng wrote:
>
> Good work! Sorry for the delay, I am in grad school and I am in a
> busy stretch of the semester. I filed a review with a few issues,
> including some that involve rebasing. Let me know if you need more
> detailed instructions.
>
> On Sunday, March 1, 2026 at 4:16:09 PM UTC-5 mauka218lani wrote:
>
> Thank you. No rush at all to review this long book. No need for
> high priority.
>
> On Sunday, March 1, 2026 at 1:13:36 AM UTC-10 weij...@bu.edu wrote:
>
> Thanks, I will be getting on this soon!
>
> On Thursday, February 26, 2026 at 5:55:13 PM UTC-5
> mauka218lani wrote:
>
> Greetings,
> Thank you all for the help getting this far.
> This book is ready for review. The repo is here repo

> <https://github.com/mauka218lani/m-e-braddon_the-
> venetians.git>

>> link: 74385 <https://www.gutenberg.org/
>> ebooks/74385>

>>
>> No response needed, thank you. This is just
>> FYI in case it needs further action.
>

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