Wikisource talk:Proofread of the Month

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archived suggestions

Please help start a list of text that need to be proofread. Larger text are preferred because we hope to have a large group of people working on the text of the month. Here is a great place to start looking for text to be proofread.

List of suggested works not actioned Index:A Compendium of Irish Biography.djvu Index:Documents from the Den of Espionage.djvu Index:How and Why Library Index:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 1 (2nd edition).djvu Index:The Life of Thomas Linacre.djvu Index:The Methodist Hymn-Book Illustrated.djvu Index:What will he do with it.djvu (Validated) Index:Victory at Sea - William Sowden Sims and Burton J. Hendrick.djvu

Links Coding 'Now' snapshot of PotM Wikisource:Proofread of the Month/validation works Module:PotM/data

Short works requiring validation

• Index:Letter from Anne Warren Weston to Deborah Weston (1842).pdf 4 pp
• Index:ComstockInertia.djvu ‎[21 pages]
• Index:Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act (India) 1994.djvu [16 pp.]
• Index:The Bride of Lindorf.pdf [17 pp.]
• Index:Thoughts on the Corn laws, addressed to the working classes of the county of Gloucester.djvu [24 pp.]

Have problematic pages

• Index:Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Amendment Act 2002.pdf 5 pp
• Index:Daphnaïda.djvu [22 pp., three with images]

Translations, not eligible for simple listing

• The Translation of Deformable Electrons and the Theorem of Conservation of Angular Momentum 2p
• On v. Ignatowsky's Treatment of Born's Definition of Rigidity II 2pp
• Index:EhrenfestStarr2.djvu 3 pp
• Index:LorentzRelatieveBeweging.djvu 6pp.
• Index:MinkowskiRaumZeit 14pp.

New works of less than 30 pages to be added to QUEUED

*

it:Wikisource:Rilettura del mese/Testi brevi

• Little works page
• Wikisource:Proofread of the Month/validation works

A list of potential PotM candidates

On the transcription project, there is a good list of text that are ready to be proofread. That list is available here. This list continues to grow so it would be great if we could knock it down. --Mattwj2002 11:03, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

My person opinion, If people keep bringing in projects (and I have seen it) then they should do a good part of the editing. Some, whoever they are, bring in works for others to do and the work-load adds up. Too, if the texts are brought in and left for others, then others may not like the topic so the work load keeps building up. It would be nice to know [who] likes what to work on. *I* like history and specifically illustrated history* but not children’s books or poems. I have several more volumes to do and more I want to do after that. This way I work on what I brought in, or have another bring in because he/they like the same kind of work. --Maury (talk) 01:33, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

2024

Probably best to get in early. Add sections if you want to suggest. Arcorann (talk) 11:29, 15 December 2023 (UTC)

2024 List

Month

Work

Category

Status

January

The Art of Kissing

Quirky

Done

February

The Story of the Flute

Fine arts

Lapsed (proofread 2024-03-20)

March

Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope

Wikipedia:WikiWomen's History Month / Woman author

Overshot (proofread 2024-04-10)

April

The Tower

Poetry / Drama

Done (started 2024-04-10, proofread 04-17, validated-overflow 04-26)

May

A Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet

Geography

Lapsed (started 2024-05-01, proofread 05-23)

June

The Silent Prince

Fiction: Novel

Overshot (started 2024-06-01, proofread 07-10)

July

The Heart of Jainism

Anthropology, Mythology, or Religion

Lapsed

August

Recollections of Full Years

Biography

Lapsed (started 2024-08-18)

September

Creation by Evolution

Science/Technology

Active (started 2024-09-09)

October

Fiction (SF/Fantastical/etc.)

November

Language

December

Fiction: Short story collections

January 2024: Quirky

If we get an update at all depends largely on how much progress we get on the current one. I earmarked Index:Isis very much unveiled - being the story of the great Mahatma hoax (IA b24884273).pdf as a possibility but it might be better to save it for Anthropology/Mythology/Religion. Arcorann (talk) 11:29, 15 December 2023 (UTC)

I'm game for anything. BD2412 T 03:46, 27 December 2023 (UTC)

As I write this, Isis Very Much Unveiled has all pages with text either proofread, validated, or problematic, even though it hasn't yet been added. Should we still make it official, or skip it? Arcorann (talk) 08:38, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

There does not seem much point in including it in "Proofread of the Month" when there is no actual proofreading to be done. -- Beardo (talk) 14:45, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Re "quirky", the Little Blue Books have some titles that might count, e.g. "The Art of Kissing", https://archive.org/details/artofkissing987wood. MarkLSteadman (talk) 05:38, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Seems like a decent choice, and it's short so we won't have to worry too much about it running over to the next month. It doesn't look like it's on Commons, do we want to bring it over using the IA tool? Arcorann (talk) 07:57, 20 January 2024 (UTC)

I brought it over at File:The art of kissing (IA artofkissing987wood).djvu, but I didn't realise the IA import tool would bring over the colour targets as well, so I've asked for a fix at Scan Lab. Once that's done and we have an index I'll add it as this month's proofread. Arcorann (talk) 11:34, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

And it's live. Arcorann (talk) 13:03, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

February 2024: Fine arts

Get your suggestions in quick because I haven't seen any. (Anyone know of any PD books on sculpting? That empty section in the portal jumped out at me.) Arcorann (talk) 08:38, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Sculpture at your finger tips (1962) by Fred Press (1919-2012)? A how-to book, all the sculpture is by the artist, so the photos should be fine. Manual of Italian Renaissance sculpture as illustrated in the collection of casts at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1904) by Benjamin Ives Gilham (1852-1933) is more about the sculpture; it virtually lacks illustrations, so that simplifies that.--Prosfilaes (talk) 01:42, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Looks like we have two copies of the second one on Commons (via IA): [1] and [2]. Which one would be better to proofread from? Arcorann (talk) 07:57, 20 January 2024 (UTC)

Turns out the second one is missing two pages. Index:Manual of Italian renaissance sculpture as illustrated in the collection of casts at the Museum of fine arts, Boston (IA manualofitalianr00muserich).pdf it is. Arcorann (talk) 13:00, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

• How about The Story of the Flute by Author:Henry Macaulay Fitzgibbon (1914, 328 pages)? Based on the snippets I've read, the author makes the subject at least mildly more interesting than it would initially seem to be (Clinton in 1848 patented some quite useless modifications, reverting more or less to the old system of closed keys, and contradicting much of what he had said two years previously. In 1855 he published a pamphlet about a new flute which he termed "The Equisonant Flute," retaining much of the old system of fingering, and having different diameters of the bore for the different notes to imitate the human larynx, a curious and valueless notion. A partisan of the Bohm thereupon asked if " equisonant " meant "equally bad all over,"[...] —p 70). Cremastra (talk) 13:15, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

It's on Commons already, so we can create an index at Index:The story of the flute (IA cu31924022386407).pdf. I'd be happy for us to work on either this or the sculpture one. Arcorann (talk) 08:31, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

Scan on Commons is missing at least four pages (263-266). There's a usable scan at [3] but it's not on Commons at the moment; I'll put the other book up for now. Arcorann (talk) 12:08, 31 January 2024 (UTC)

Reverted; the sculpture book is missing pages 169-170. Seriously, how come both books are missing pages... Arcorann (talk) 12:17, 31 January 2024 (UTC)

Uploaded Index:The story of the flute (IA storyofflute1914fitz).djvu and queued to PotM. There's some sheet music in there, by the way. Arcorann (talk) 12:31, 31 January 2024 (UTC)

I was going to say, it is far easier to repair a djvu as opposed to a pdf. Sometimes we need to merge the two separate scans to get a complete scan. MarkLSteadman (talk) 12:48, 31 January 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for all that, @Arcorann: Cremastra (talk) 14:51, 31 January 2024 (UTC)

March 2024: Woman author

How about Lady Hester Stanhope's Index:Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope.djvu ? -- Beardo (talk) 14:24, 27 December 2023 (UTC)

How would we feel about trying something new? Dorothy Parker was co-author on A Star is Born, and although we do not have a script scan (that I have been able to find), the film itself is PD and a video exists at Commons. Maybe we could try transcribing the film this month, if @SnowyCinema: is willing to help guide the process? --EncycloPetey (talk) 20:39, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

Wanda Gag's classic children's book Millions of Cats is in the public domain this year. It's a Newbery Award winning-picture book. I've been working on getting a quality scan up, it might be quite the challenge to get a double-paged picture book into namespace... FPTI (talk) 01:51, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

Well, it's already done now (not by me), so feel free to admire it. Arcorann (talk) 12:42, 6 February 2024 (UTC)

April 2024: Poetry / Drama

Four possibilities:

• Index:Peter Pan (1928).pdf, if it hasn't been done by then. (It is currently in the MC)
• Index:The thirty-six dramatic situations (1921).djvu is a frequently cited book that categorizes hundreds of dramas by common plots.
• Selected Poems by Robert Frost (1928) not to be confused with the 1923 book of the same title
• The Tower by W. B. Yeats (external scan)

--EncycloPetey (talk) 20:02, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

Are you able to bring the last one across to Commons before the end of March? Arcorann (talk) 09:43, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

I cannot, because it's at Hathi, but @TE(æ)A,ea.: might be able to. --EncycloPetey (talk) 17:48, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

The first two are already well underway, but if the last one can't be uploaded in time, we may be doing Robert Frost. Is there an available scan of that one? Cremastra (talk) 19:11, 1 April 2024 (UTC)

File obtained from Hathi, uploaded at Index:Yeats The tower.pdf. I haven't checked the file in detail, though, so someone might want to do that. Arcorann (talk) 01:54, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

Something is wrong with the PDF; the Index is giving an interval error. --EncycloPetey (talk) 02:52, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

I made some edits on Commons (had to add metadata anyway) and purged some stuff and it seems to have fixed it. Arcorann (talk) 09:00, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

I've boldly put in The Tower, since it's the already tenth and Memoirs is now proofread. Cremastra (talk) 22:32, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

May 2024: Geography

• Physical Geography of Western Tibet (1854; 92 pages) could be interesting, although it's somewhat lacking in pictures. Cremastra (talk) 19:53, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

  Alternatively:

  • Limnology of Yellowstone Lake in relation to the cutthroat trout — does limnology count as geography? I think it does.
  • If we want something long (and boring) there's here's a 750-page book about Scottish lochs. But given February and March weren't completed in time, a shorter work is likely better. Cremastra (talk) 19:57, 11 April 2024 (UTC)

For something proposed in 2022: Index:New geographies (IA cu31924092515158).pdf. 1910, 10+263 pages plus images. Seems about the right size for a PotM. Arcorann (talk) 08:38, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

Index:Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet.djvu (a much older proposal) could work also. Arcorann (talk) 13:20, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

These both sound good. I think the Lhasa one is more interesting, however it's already been partially started. Cremastra (talk) 19:48, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

Almost nothing of the Lhasa one has been completed. --EncycloPetey (talk) 03:35, 28 April 2024 (UTC)

Added the Lhasa one for May 2024, should start on time. Arcorann (talk) 09:39, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

June 2024: Fiction: Novel

Found Index:Adrian Savage; a novel (IA adriansavagenove00maleiala).pdf (1911, 3+470 pages) lying around in the Not Proofread category, not even started. I have no idea what it's about, and it might be a bit long, but at least it's a proposal. Index:Alexandra Kollontay - Red Love (1927).djvu (~280 pages) proposed 2023 is also an option. Arcorann (talk) 03:32, 28 April 2024 (UTC)

So, after yet another pick that turned out to already be on Gutenberg, I figured I should check online for other copies. Right now Adrian Savage is on Gutenberg, while Red Love is on marxists.org; The Silent Prince (suggested 2023, ~280 pages) (transcription project) doesn't seem to be anywhere else, on the other hand, so it might be a better pick. Thoughts? Arcorann (talk) 09:06, 19 May 2024 (UTC)

Savage Holiday by Richard Wright (HathiTrust) is public domain because copyright was not renewed, though the HathiTrust scan is of a 1969 edition and pages 227-232 might need to be modified to remove copyrightable quotations. I can't find any online transcription of this book. Prospectprospekt (talk) 17:00, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

July 2024: Anthropology, Mythology, or Religion

I was thinking something about Jainism, another religion we don't have much on. Our portal suggests a few possibilities, but there might be more out there. Arcorann (talk) 07:57, 20 January 2024 (UTC)

I picked out Index:The Heart of Jainism (IA heartofjainism00stevuoft).djvu (~330 pages), seems a good balance between content and proofreading difficulty. If anyone else has other suggestions, feel free. Arcorann (talk) 02:01, 28 June 2024 (UTC)

Postponing, there's more rubbish in the DJVU than I expected. I'll remove it first before creating the index page. Arcorann (talk) 23:52, 30 June 2024 (UTC)

August 2024: Biography

Recollections of Full Years (1914) (external scan) by Helen Taft is the first memoir by a first lady of the US. SometimesUsesWikis (talk) 17:53, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

Index created at Index:Recollections of full years (IA recollectionsoff00taft).pdf. Arcorann (talk) 02:37, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

When do we want to switch to "September"? Do we want this work completely finished before we switch, regardless of how long it takes? Or do we switch mid-month, so that's it's been up for a full month? Or do we switch sooner, to try to get back "on schedule"? And do we roll it into the Monthly Challenge if it's not finished? --EncycloPetey (talk) 21:31, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

The problem with switching mid-month (or later) is that, unless we have something really short in the future, we'll always be "behind" to some degree. My personal inclination is to switch it now, and add Recollections to the Monthly Challenge. Of course, I haven't actually contributed to the PoTM much recently, so you can judge for yourself how much right I have to be complaining. :) Cremastra (talk) 21:36, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

Boldly switching then. --EncycloPetey (talk) 22:45, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

Thanks. Cremastra (talk) 23:13, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

Ah. Good to hear it's on the monthly challenge! at least. I was just doing the images. FPTI (talk) 04:04, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

I have not rolled Recollections of Full Years into the MC yet, because doing so would be something completely new, and I'd like more positive feedback before taking that step. --EncycloPetey (talk) 23:13, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

September 2024: Science/Technology

• Creation by Evolution (1928) (external scan) a collection of papers by leading scientists putting forth the case for evolution with reference to scientific discoveries made since Darwin. N.B.: It does have a lot of illustrations, but I am willing to help with those. --EncycloPetey (talk) 20:08, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

  File uploaded to Commons at File:Creation by Evolution (1928).djvu, with associated Wikidata item prepared. --EncycloPetey (talk) 21:46, 17 August 2024 (UTC)

  Index created at Index:Creation by Evolution (1928).djvu, author field hasn't been filled in yet. Arcorann (talk) 02:18, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

  Since it is by multiple authors of the individual sections, we usually don't list them all in the Author field. This is an edited book, with authored chapters. --EncycloPetey (talk) 02:32, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

  Images will be uploaded to commons:Category:Creation by Evolution (1928). ---EncycloPetey (talk) 21:50, 17 August 2024 (UTC)

  May I ask where you're finding the images @EncycloPetey? I'm willing to do some of those! FPTI (talk) 04:05, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

  Look at the message you replied to. It has a link to the images category. --EncycloPetey (talk) 04:40, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

October 2024: Fiction (SF/Fantastical/etc.)

I nominate H. Beam Piper's 1962 novel Little Fuzzy (scan needed), in the public domain because copyright was never renewed. Prospectprospekt (talk) 02:04, 26 April 2024 (UTC)

Ooh, yeah, that would be great. I've never read that, but was meaning to.

I think the Internet Archive has some scans, but for some reason none of their pages will load for me. Cremastra (talk) 11:52, 26 April 2024 (UTC)

It's now on Hathitrust. Prospectprospekt (talk) 21:52, 30 August 2024 (UTC)

Note that most repositories (IA, Hathi, etc.) use hard year cutoffs, so late non-renewed works like Little Fuzzy are usually not available for download. And while the text of the story as such may be PD, the published book very likely contains other copyrightable elements (like, e.g., the cover). Getting a scan of this that can actually be hosted on WMF servers is going to be quite challenging. Xover (talk) 06:38, 31 August 2024 (UTC)

Prospectprospekt's link is downloadable. The 40¢ on the cover seems to indicate it was the original printing; see The ISFDB. A 1962 work needs notice and renewal to be copyright, and the only notice on the work is for H. Beam Piper in 1962. As per the Copyright Office's ruling on Jaws, Jaws Illustration (USCO Review Board, 2014), the copyright notice wouldn't have applied to the cover, and even if it did, it still would have needed a copyright renewal. That whole book should be fine.--Prosfilaes (talk) 22:36, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

It's possibly downloadable, but from the US only if so. Xover (talk) 08:02, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

I got the PDF (and converted it to DJVU), confirmed it was the 1962 printing. Can it be uploaded to Commons or does it need to go on WS directly? Arcorann (talk) 14:42, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

It's a US work PD in the US, so it's good for Commons.--Prosfilaes (talk) 15:46, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

Uploaded to Commons, now at File:Piper Little Fuzzy (1962).djvu. Arcorann (talk) 01:05, 21 September 2024 (UTC)

It's possible that it was simultaneously published in the UK. It was reviewed in 1962 by the British journal Vector, which lists Thorpe & Porter as a publisher. Since Piper died in 1964, the book's "term of protection" is shorter in the UK, possibly making it the country of origin. Prospectprospekt (talk) 22:49, 21 September 2024 (UTC)

I'm worried that this is too long an option. Our de facto current proofread, Recollections of Full Years is ~400 pages and has unsurprisingly run into September. The next proofread, Creation by Evolution, is also almost 400 pages. Although Little Fuzzy is by no means that long, it's still a fairly standard-length novel; this scan is over 200 pages. So maybe something shorter – a novella or even a novelette, so that it won't run too much into the next month and set things back even more. Cremastra (talk) 21:25, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

Note also that July ran long, so we started Recollections of Full Years in mid-August. It is therefore not surprising that it's still going halfway through September, since it hasn't yet been up for a full month. On the positive side, nearly all the illustrations for "September's" proofread have been prepared. --EncycloPetey (talk) 21:29, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

November 2024: Language

I liked the suggestions from 2020, particularly A Handbook of the Cornish Language (transcription project) and A Grammar and Vocabulary of the Language of New Zealand (transcription project) SometimesUsesWikis (talk) 08:08, 25 January 2024 (UTC)

December 2024: Fiction: Short story collections

I was going to suggest the collections by M.R. James that we don't have currently :) ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 11:11, 1 February 2024 (UTC)

Looking at Author:Montague Rhodes James it seems like we have all the collections? We don't have Wailing Well though, no idea if there's a scan out there or not, but it's not a short story collection. Arcorann (talk) 09:41, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

What about Index:The Best Continental Short Stories of 1923–1924.djvu? --Jan Kameníček (talk) 21:15, 17 August 2024 (UTC)

@Arcorann: Yes but some aren't scan backed. I also suggested these as the '"Ghost Story for Christmas"' is a peculiar British Tradition. ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 13:34, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

2025

Keep in mind works that will enter PD on 1 January 2025, but do not upload files for such works until 1 January. --EncycloPetey (talk) 17:35, 19 September 2024 (UTC)

2025 List

Month	Work	Category	Status
January		Quirky
February		Fine arts
March		Wikipedia:WikiWomen's History Month / Woman author
April		Poetry / Drama
May		Geography
June		Fiction: Novel
July		Anthropology, Mythology, or Religion
August		Biography
September		Science/Technology
October		Fiction (SF/Fantastical/etc.)
November		Language
December		Fiction: Short story collections

January 2025: Quirky

• The cat : its natural history; domestic varieties; management and treatment (with illustrations) (1887) by Philip M. Rule, (external scan) --EncycloPetey (talk) 00:53, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

March 2025: Woman author

• A Room of One's Own (external scan) by Virginia Woolf will enter PD in the US in 2025 (it is already PD in the UK). The Wikipedia article describes it as an extended essay in which "[she] uses metaphors to explore social injustices and comments on women's lack of free expression." --EncycloPetey (talk) 01:00, 20 September 2024 (UTC)