Wikisource talk:Proofread of the Month

From Wikisource
(Redirected from Wikisource talk:PotM)
Jump to: navigation, search

Proposals
archived suggestions
Shortcut:
WT:PotM


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.

Contents

List of suggested works not actioned[edit]

Links[edit]


Little works requiring validation[edit]

Larger works with little bits to close out
Translations, not eligible for simple listing

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

*

it:Wikisource:Rilettura del mese/Testi brevi

A list of potential PotM candidates[edit]

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)


Calendar 2013[edit]

Month Work Category Status
January Index:Evolution of the thermometer.djvu &
Index:The Early English Organ Builders and their work.djvu &
Index:Tensing Exercises.djvu &
Index:How to write a Short Story.djvu &
Index:Japanese flower arrangement.djvu &
Index:English as She is Spoke.djvu &
Index:Mr. Punch's Book of Sports.djvu &
Index:The Cycle Industry (1921).djvu		 Quirky Yes check.svg Completed
February Vanity Fair Fiction Yes check.svg Completed
March Index:Japanese plays and playfellows (1901).djvu Japanese culture Yes check.svg Completed
April Index:The Romance of Nature; or, The Flower-Seasons Illustrated.djvu
Index:A Treasury of South African Poetry.djvu		 Poetry, Female author Yes check.svg Done
May Index:Natural History, Birds.djvu Natural history Yes check.svg Done
June Index:Balthasar Hübmaier.djvu Biography Selected
July Geography (little known area)
August Female author
September WS:RT
October Economics
November Validation month Working on finishing proofread works
December Games (Chess, &c.)

January 2013[edit]

For January I suggest something quirky or a little off-beat. A couple of suggestions:

  • Medical Directions for the Use of Navigators and Settlers in Hot Climes (1803) [1]
  • Evolution of the Thermometer 1592-1743 [2]
  • How to write a short story [3] Beeswaxcandle (talk) 02:17, 9 December 2012 (UTC)
I have reservations about selecting the fist one. Not only does it include long-s font, which will slow things down, but also it recommends poisonous compounds for ingestion. I've not looked at the other two, but the topic for either seems agreeable. --EncycloPetey (talk) 03:11, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

A couple that I bookmarked at a point of time

The Early English Organ Builders looks really interesting. When did we last do something on music? It's short, though, and so might last only a week or two, depending on the speed at which the community works. --EncycloPetey (talk) 21:07, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
Uploaded and index at Index:The Early English Organ Builders and their work.djvu — billinghurst sDrewth 14:47, 3 January 2013 (UTC)

The three transcriptions endorsed by EncycloPetey—Evolution of the thermometer, How to write a short story, The early English organ builders and their work—may be done in succession. They are very short, but the last one/two may be postponed if a month isn't enough to proofread them. Here is the first one: Index:Evolution of the thermometer.djvu.--Erasmo Barresi (talk) 11:18, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

Sounds like a plan. Adding a few smaller quirky pieces works for me, actually good in my opinion, as people like to get a touch on all of them. — billinghurst sDrewth 11:55, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

How about Tensing Exercises (1913) by Edward Barrett Warman [114 pp]. It's a little volume of physical exercises (all illustrated) from the turn of the century. At the rate we're crunching through the nominations this month, we may be done by the 10th! I'm therefore suggesting another quirky little book to follow the previous suggestions (if indeed one is needed). --EncycloPetey (talk) 02:51, 5 January 2013 (UTC)

Index:Tensing Exercises.djvu in place if needed, and it looks that way. — billinghurst sDrewth 10:10, 5 January 2013 (UTC)
How about a book on how to play chess? There is a short, 36 pp. book on Google Books that is not at Archive.org, and there is a longer 160+ pp. book on Archive.org. After only a quick look, I would prefer the shorter version, but being that it is less easily accessed(?) not yet being on Archive.org, time constraints may be an issue? Londonjackbooks (talk) 16:17, 5 January 2013 (UTC)
There are also [two] [books] by noted German chess grand master Emaneul Lasker at archive as well. MarkLSteadman (talk) 17:36, 5 January 2013 (UTC)
I think length may be an issue (time constraints?), but others can decide that. Maybe for a future PotM? Just a thought. I don't know how to play chess, so I would lack insight into an 'appropriate' book. Londonjackbooks (talk) 18:27, 5 January 2013 (UTC)
...so we could even do more than one of these in a later "Chess Month", if we don't have time this month. That sounds like a good suggestion. Note that there is wikicode developed specifically for the display of chess board arrangements, so any board position diagrams in the book could be rendered in wikicode as well as (or in place of) an image file. --EncycloPetey (talk) 18:57, 5 January 2013 (UTC)
Or even just a "games month," one chess book with a book a on a card game (whist, bridge, cribbage)? or a book on go or backgammon or dominoes? I would only suggest to avoid a chess book that is too encyclopedic of chess openings/endgames which might be tedious to some. MarkLSteadman (talk) 20:48, 5 January 2013 (UTC)
Just one month, though,—not the same month per annum, right? I agree that the book/s should be instructional, yet easy enough for me to 'get'. I like the 36pp. book's philosophical take on the game. Londonjackbooks (talk) 21:36, 5 January 2013 (UTC)
Right, as a one-off. The 36pg. Heywood. looks fine and beginner friendly. MarkLSteadman (talk) 21:53, 5 January 2013 (UTC)
Tensing Exercises finished, so Short Story book uploaded. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 18:11, 8 January 2013 (UTC)
Well, that one didn't last long. Some more possibilities (I couldn't find a book on Bingo, sorry Maury):
ROFL ! Sorry Beez, I apologize for my freak-out on those two goofy books but I did do some edits on them. There were just too, well, I don't know any other way to say what I already said and feel to be true. You fellows down there in New Zealand need a better library. Do they ever let you off that island? How about international interlibrary oceanic loans? Why not one of those two Asian books that EncycloPetey suggested? —Maury (talk) 01:52, 9 January 2013 (UTC)
Any takers? Beeswaxcandle (talk) 00:03, 9 January 2013 (UTC)
The book choices of Evolution of the thermometer and Tensing Exercises are both bland and UGH-able boring books. The quality is lacking. What happened with the better books like the two Asian books that someone else mentioned and I agreed with -- those aren't bland and UGH-able boring books! Have you all become old and just seeking wee short so-called "books" because they were printed -- for the sake of getting wee books completed fast? Quality not quantity or better yet both quality and quantity for WS. Chess, cribbage...and how about a hot game of Bingo in the old folks home at 20 cents per piece of winning corn for an fast-paced and lively-entertaining-everlasting wonder? —Maury (talk) 20:47, 8 January 2013 (UTC)
The two Asian books you refer to are for March. This month is for books that are a little off the usual beat, or a bit quirky. So far, they seem to be quite popular with 24 different editors taking part. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 02:15, 9 January 2013 (UTC)
"Care and management of rabbits" might work, but it's a bit text heavy, and might offend a few animal-rights folks. It's also a bit longer than the successful selections we've had so far this month. I believe part of the reason PotM has been so popular this month is that, not only are the selections quirky, but they're short enough that we have constant novelty of new works without the tedium that sometimes sets in when a work drags on for a full month. So, if we can keep the selections this month on the shorter side, as well as being quirky and varied, we may pull in a lot more new participants. In any case, I suspect the rabbit book would be worth having on Wikisource, and we could choose it if we need to. --EncycloPetey (talk) 01:51, 10 January 2013 (UTC)
To add to the list of potential candidates. Japanese flower arrangement applied to western needs [[5]] MarkLSteadman (talk) 01:56, 9 January 2013 (UTC)
SUPPORT—I like the immediate above on "Japanese flower arrangements...." I love/like almost all things Asian. My computer room is fully decorated with an Asian theme. There are two of these books and both have 88 illustrations; one shows 1st edition with 401 pages while the other shows 88 illustrations with 663 pages. I would be willing to work on the images, perhaps all since there are only 88 illustrations. My work with illustrations can be seen in present works such as The Clipper-Ship Era and John Cassell's Illustrated History of England v 1 and other works before these I am presently working on. I shift back and forth between these two works but I also always assist in "proofread of the month" —Maury (talk) 04:10, 9 January 2013 (UTC)
My thoughts on the books suggested above is that I wasn't particularly impressed by the shorter ones, and while the cat's cradle looks interesting, 400 pages of figures might be too long... I thought that since there seemed to be interest in Asian and instructional works, it looked like a somewhat off-beat topic, and had lots of nice illustrations it would make a good candidate for PotM. MarkLSteadman (talk) 05:21, 9 January 2013 (UTC)
I looked this book over once again and I saw only 218 numbered pages inside. Therefore, there are others on-line and using the same illustrations or I did a miscount but I don't believe I did. Whatever, we can take the cards dealt to us. Anybody got a book on poker? The Asian book cited above is a good book "to my liking". I like the Asians art of "bonsai" when they grow dwarfed, ornamentally shaped trees or shrubs in small shallow pots or trays. They are a highly creative people. Uh Oh! Mark, two other Asian books are ahead of this one. Well, it can still be done even if not a proofread of the month (POM)(PotM)<-Pot!M_ary Jane". There is an old but interesting topic of the 60's and 70's many people will now deny. Wild Times & Hard Times. Any 1800's books about it? Ships once used "hemp" for docking hawsers. —Maury (talk) 06:16, 9 January 2013 (UTC)
Selected and uploaded. Now in the templates. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 07:20, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

What a busy month! Another possible offering for the mix:

Mr. Punch's Book of Sports, a collection of British sports humor and cartoons from Punch magazine circa 1910. --EncycloPetey (talk) 20:39, 9 January 2013 (UTC)
SUPPORT— Busy as Bees can possibly be, right Beez?. Only about 195 pages not counting blank pages and Library Card.(When is it due back?) I got several "chuckles" just looking the pages over. The illustrations are grand and with no bingo. :) —Maury (talk) 21:06, 9 January 2013 (UTC)
Also The Cycle Industry (160pp), which covers the history and design of early bicycles, tricycles, etc. Lots of illustrations of odd-looking early contraptions. --EncycloPetey (talk) 07:18, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Japanese flowers is finished. I've selected English as She is Spoke as it's already loaded and it's the middle of the night here. We can swap to Punch or the Cycle Industry when they're loaded. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 09:52, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

Oh, Lordy, please save something for another day. English as She is Spoke? I am already sleepy from being up all night and into this morning. How did it come about that British spellings are so often (or vs our) (z vs s ) different than American English? When did this start and by whom? I suspect Americans at some point after the American Revolution against being 13 more of Great Britain's Colonies. BTW, the little island of England (aka "Angland") learned about gaining power from Rome conquering her and remaining about 500 years. We are all descended from Germanic tribes and Romans! Why didn't more of England's colonies rebel? And why not the humor(our-our) y col-'our'-ful book above, Mr. Punch's Book of Sports Probably everyone (including our 24 editors) knows how to ride a bicycle or tricycle plus the people in China and Japan where every household made of Adobe bricks has unique flower arrangements. Let us all validate my work on The Clipper-Ships Era first. I like it here on WS. It's a lot of Goodwill and lighthearted rapport amongst 24 WS editors. --Signed, Saint George the Dragon Slayer —Maury (talk) 17:55, 11 January 2013 (UTC)
Take a look at the book. English as she is Spoke is not the sort of book you'd expect from the title. It was written by two Portuguese who wanted to prepare a useful introductory phrasebook for English learners, but they botched the job horribly. The result is unintentionally comical, and the book has had a cult following ever since. I suspect that it was the inspiration behind the Monty Python sketch in which a Hungarian tourist visits a tobacconist, consults his phrasebook, then exclaims "My hovercraft is full of eels!"
EncycloPetey, I did look at the book and I like it. I also saw the authors names and I know I edited 1 page but on recall it was about 2 or 3 pages. I like Monty Python a lot.

I was missing sleep in that message above. That happens sometimes because bad dreams awaken me and my instinct is to come here to forget the bad dreams. I have often wondered throughout my life about why the differences in British and American English spellings though. I have never heard anyone say nor have I seen anything written that covers it. I even liked that fat man exercise book. Factually, it is a good book for those out of shape to start getting in shape. I have been a health person all of my life and I stay in shape and visit my primary physician every 6 months after I have had blood drawn to be inspected. There is a very _hardcore flu in this nation at this point_ and I cannot get a flue shot because in my old age I am now allergic to something in that particular shot. In the military you get mixtures of germs in each shot and you get a shot in both arms at the same time over several days. It protects you from _everything_ but now I find myself getting a bad reaction from just one civilian flu shot! I am invincible no more. Go figure.., body changes with time and age. The books chosen recently are fine and I always have backup projects I can work on instead including the one I think you set up for me on Clipper Ships! I like that book a lot. I also like my book on England a lot that AdamBMorgan set up for me to work on and Beeswaxcandle has helped me with in setting up multiple volumes. Respectfully, —Maury (talk) 00:30, 12 January 2013 (UTC)

I've uploaded "Mr Punch's Sports" to Commons, but haven't yet set up an index page. I'll do that, and also upload the cycling book and the one on raising bunnies either tonight or tomorrow. --EncycloPetey (talk) 18:23, 11 January 2013 (UTC)
"raising bunnies"? You must be joking. :-) I hope it has a Playboy theme. —Maury (talk) 00:30, 12 January 2013 (UTC)
Index:Mr. Punch's Book of Sports.djvu now exists. --EncycloPetey (talk) 02:35, 12 January 2013 (UTC)
Index:The Cycle Industry (1921).djvu is now added. --EncycloPetey (talk) 03:03, 12 January 2013 (UTC)

February 2013[edit]

Let's get Vanity Fair scheduled in. Ineuw has already done the images for us, so we can focus on the text. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 02:20, 9 December 2012 (UTC)

Sounds good to me. This is a great work of English literature that has been requested several times, and which we've never gotten around to having complete. --EncycloPetey (talk) 03:06, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

March 2013[edit]

For March, I'd like to see us do something on Japanese drama. Almost all of the works we currently have pertaining to Japan concern World War II. We don't have their art, culture, literature, language, history, etc., so a work covering dramatic performance will fit into a very large hole in our topical coverage. I find two good choices on IA:

The former work is slightly shorter and covers more the history of actors and stage performance in Japan, while the latter work covers the plots, themes, and stories of Japanese drama. Neither one contains any Japanese script that I could spot, which would have increased difficulties in transcription. Rather the Japanese words are rendered in romaji (Roman script), so the only oddity will be the macrons over certain vowels. The latter book is also richly illustrated. --EncycloPetey (talk) 22:17, 2 December 2012 (UTC)

I like them both! I have always admired Asians and their cultures. I also am an art lover and have visited a fair number of art museums. The 1st listed shows colored images. How colors are used is an art form in itself. The 2nd has more illustrations but none are colored (alas!) I hope that we can start with the 1st and then we will know if we can add the 2nd one. If we cannot do both for March then let us do the other anyhow even if it is not for any specific month. "Please" They have a fantastic history. Are others here aware of the origins of martial arts? I was raised with Judo (some brought back by American soldiers from Korea; my uncle was a POW there and so he taught me some years after he escaped and came home. He had been declared "dead" and my grand-mother was given such notice plus my uncle's "Purple Heart" although unknown that my uncle was alive. He and many others were on a death march but hundreds "ran for it" (freedom or die). I studied 6 other forms of martial arts in my youth. It came in handy during Vietnam. My father and uncle knew there would be another war waiting for me and my generation as there are always wars. I cannot remember not studying Judo under my father and his brother or not practising targets with a pistol and rifle. These have always been in my life. In the old days warlords who ruled areas would not allow the farmers to have any weapons but they devised weapons from the tools they worked with and appeared to be helpless but they were not helpless and thus entered martial arts for self-defense and defense of family against warlords and their men with swords. Anyhow, I like both books. —Maury (talk) 00:51, 3 December 2012 (UTC)


I don't know where we are for suggestions anymore but I still like EncycloPetey's suggestions shown below. —Maury (talk) 02:39, 9 December 2012 (UTC)

" For March, I'd like to see us do something on Japanese drama. Almost all of the works we currently have pertaining to Japan concern World War II. We don't have their art, culture, literature, language, history, etc., so a work covering dramatic performance will fit into a very large hole in our topical coverage. I find two good choices on IA:

There having been no objections, could someone please create the Index pages for these two works? We'll work on them one at a time. We may need a third work to cover the month, but let's see how we go. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 20:34, 24 February 2013 (UTC)
Index:Japanese plays and playfellows (1901).djvu is up. Moondyne (talk) 14:17, 25 February 2013 (UTC)
In the event that a third work is needed, we could do: A History of Japanese Literature (1899) by W. G. Aston. We have a woefully incomplete copy right now. The only downside is that the book is mostly text, not images. If people think we'd rather like to do an image-intensive work, then I have some suggestions set aside. --EncycloPetey (talk) 05:39, 1 March 2013 (UTC)
Support Moondyne (talk) 05:49, 1 March 2013 (UTC)
Support—Maury (talk) 06:08, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

Also "Things Japanese: being notes on various subjects connected with Japan for the use of travellers and others" by Basil Hall Chamberlain (1890) (1891 ed.). Reprints up to 2007. Its a nice A-Z encyclopaedia type book which I imagine would be a worthwhile reference. Everything from Abacus to Zoology. Lots of text, no images (save for a map) and hardly any tablessmiley. Moondyne (talk) 06:59, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

Support—Maury (talk) 07:12, 1 March 2013 (UTC) The above mentioned encyclopedia is very nice!
Were we going to continue on to do Index:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu? The Index page is up. --EncycloPetey (talk) 04:43, 20 March 2013 (UTC)
Note: Most of the formatting is in the introductory chapter (short) and in the page headers, with some italics and ō characters, as in the previous work. --EncycloPetey (talk) 04:47, 20 March 2013 (UTC)

April 2013[edit]

This one ticks a number of boxes. Poet and illustrator in one; female author; images are of excellent quality; quality scan — billinghurst sDrewth 13:20, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

  • Looks good to me. However, as it looks a bit short and therefore might not last the whole month, I'll suggest The Ballads of Marko Kraljević (1922) as translated by D. H. Low as a back-up. Prince Marko is a Serbian folk hero, and this epic poem about his deeds is a cornerstone of their literature, as well as being popular in Bulgaria and Mecedonia. (See the Wikipedia article about Prince Marko in poetry.) --EncycloPetey (talk) 05:15, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
  • It would be nice if we could determine in some manner as to how many people are willing to work on which books that are chosen as proofread of the month -- or perhaps have a backup book. As is, there is a possibility that Prince Marko, or whatever else, may be chosen but the work could easily remain unfinished or worked on by one person and the book would be left with other unfinished works. Perhaps two small books could be finished? I myself like the basics of what I looked at in Flower Seasons Illustrated shown above but not Prince Marko of Serbia. —Maury (talk) 05:33, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
    I don't think you understood my nomination. I suggested Prince Marko as an option to follow The Romance of Nature only in the event that it does not last through the entire month. I did this because the origina nomination has relatively few pages, with little text on each page. It is quite likely we'll be done with it in a short time, so I want there to be an option for us to continue on to in the event that this happens. --EncycloPetey (talk) 16:40, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
    I think you are correct, I didn't understand your point as stated in the immediate above with one following the other. However, anyone who looks at "Prince Marko" will see that it has sidenotes and footnotes and uses a lot of symbols. Because of this I don't know if we could finish that book. This is why I mentioned "two small works". I think the difference is this; some people here can handle sidenotes quickly whereas others like myself cannot. I have only expressed my opinion and yours is just as valid. We're all different. I see Prince Marko as being nothing but boring, long, and with all text and symbols whereas I love illustrated works regardless of length of text. But your nomination really does not matter a lot to me either way because I will continue to busy myself with the Illustrated History of England volume 1 of 9 volumes which will take 4-ever. Best wishes to all, —Maury (talk) 18:26, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
    Where did you see sidenotes? There weren't any that I found, unless you mean the line numbers for the poetry, which has its own template here. --EncycloPetey (talk) 20:51, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
    I think The Ballads of Marko Kraljević is too complex for POTM. I see lots references as well as foreign words which newbies will find intimidating. Poetry line numbers (eg. {{pline}}) aren't hard but add another layer of trickiness. NB, I noticed a duplicate scan on pages xvi and xvii. Moondyne (talk) 06:09, 31 March 2013 (UTC)
  • There having been no objection to the Meredith work, it is selected. Could someone please upload and create the index (I have limited bandwidth at present)? Beeswaxcandle (talk) 00:36, 31 March 2013 (UTC)
    If I (or someone else) doesn't have this up in the next five hours, please put a reminder on my talk page. --EncycloPetey (talk) 00:39, 31 March 2013 (UTC)
    I've now uploaded the file from the linked source above, but Google Books had only a PDF, and no DjVu version of the file. It seems to have no text layer. --EncycloPetey (talk) 01:02, 31 March 2013 (UTC)
Bother. pdf files don't work with the potm and collaboration templates. There are a couple of copies on IA. second edition or first edition] Beeswaxcandle (talk) 01:21, 31 March 2013 (UTC)
Most people have already noticed, but I'll close this thread by noting that George has cleaned up and uploaded Index:The Romance of Nature; or, The Flower-Seasons Illustrated.djvu for the project. --EncycloPetey (talk) 02:03, 3 April 2013 (UTC)
  • Last year when we had a poetry month Index:A Treasury of South African Poetry.djvu was going to be the second work. In the end we didn't need it. However, it looks like we will need a second work this year. I propose this again as, while we have quite a lot of South African works there is no literature amongst them and this will go some way to fill a gap. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 07:47, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

May 2013[edit]

  • Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America (1905, 7th ed., ca. 500pp) by Frank Chapman might be a good choice, if we're going to do natural history this month. I couldn't find any general book of birds when I looked around here, which was surprising. The book I've selected has lots of color plates, black-and-white plates, as well as a number of line drawings in the text. The only tricky bits are some of the special symbols (such as ♀and ♂), which we might load into the standard editing tools, should we choose this work. The book went through many editions (one of which my grandmother had), but the seventh edition is by far the most downloaded from the Internet Archive. With scientific works, a later edition is usually superior to an earlier one, unless a later and inferior author mangles it. --EncycloPetey (talk) 21:01, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
    While I don't have a problem with the selection, I take issue with the archive selected. It was created in 2007 (both jp2.zips still show 2007), the source PDF was replaced in 2011, the black and white PDF is from 2010 and the DjVu is from 2010. In short, nothing matches the parent it was derived from anymore. Now this doesn't necessarily mean the DjVu is flawed or less than optimal - but it does indicate closer scrutiny should be applied in selecting an archive imo than just "it had the most downloads".

    ... and as a second point, the 1912 & 1916 Google Books copies of this book have straight "color" images - this selection has color images only to the degree allowed by the skewing added by the fake "tan" backgrounds applied post imaging to mimic old or yellowed pages.

    Personally, I'd like to see a better selection for use as the base source file for this work; otherwise, some other work might be a better choice overall. -- George Orwell III (talk) 03:01, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

I take George's point. However the 7th edition is the last edition of the original version. The 1912 edition seems to be the first of the revised versions. At some stage we will want both versions. IA has a quite a few copies of the original version from 1st to 6th edition. The Revised Version linked to here is the most recently uploaded to IA. Why don't we go with this? That is, unless the 1916 edition is superior in some way (there's no copy of this on IA). Beeswaxcandle (talk) 08:07, 10 April 2013 (UTC)
Fwiw...
  1. 1916 Revised Edition Google Books (has many other ed. available)
  2. 1912 Revised Edition 'best looking @ IA imho (has a fair number of other editions avail. too)
After reading most of the author's comments/front matter, the differences between the 1895 thru 1910 editions are fairly minor in scope (though the swing in the number of total pages makes wonder about that claim). The revised editions also are also pretty much the same - only the Introduction section at the start goes from 30 something pages in the "old" to ~110 pages in the Rrevised. Of course the copies with faux, faded-backgrounds per page degrade not only the text but the images as well. -- George Orwell III (talk) 05:41, 11 April 2013 (UTC)
I've taken a look at the linked 1912 revised version. The formatting is far more complicated than the original version, and would be much too challenging to make a good PotM collaboration. --EncycloPetey (talk) 00:59, 11 April 2013 (UTC)
Then I'll shut-up now because I can't seem to wrap my head around how adding to what amounts to about the 14th or 15th online available copy between GooBoo & IA alone is of any benefit to anyone let alone en.WS (admittedly I've kept away from these selection processes for some time now). I guess busy work for sake of busy work is still better than the lack of group cohesion from month to month. Prost. -- George Orwell III (talk) 05:41, 11 April 2013 (UTC)
Sorry, I got pre-occupied by music and didn't get back to this and we're at the end of the month again. Because I'm used to the formatting of the 1912 version from floras I didn't see it has being difficult, but on reflection it probably is too complex for a PotM. I suggest as an alternative book on birds this book, which is a companion volume to the one we did on Mollusca in February 2012. (In the same series are volumes on mammalia, reptiles and fishes.) An initial random sampling of pages suggests that it is complete. Thoughts? Beeswaxcandle (talk) 06:12, 29 April 2013 (UTC)
Please upload it. I think there is no disagreement as we have already done a book from the same series.--Erasmo Barresi (talk) 18:12, 29 April 2013 (UTC)
Yes check.svg Done and it's in the templates. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 00:46, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

June 2013[edit]

We need to discuss and settle on a biography for June. I have to say I'm not enthralled by Hübmaier, so offer a few of alternatives. That said, if people want Hübmaier, I won't object further. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 06:10, 25 May 2013 (UTC)

  • Autobiography of Charles V [6] (Emperor at the time of Henry VIII)
  • Autobiography of Henry Williams Blodgett [7] (US Federal judge)
  • Autobiography of Giuseppe Garibaldi [8] - this is vol 1 of 3.
  • Autobiography of Anthony Trollope [9]
How about The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp (1908) by W. H. Davies, 318 pages. Or maybe The Journal of Sir Walter Scott, 639 pages. I must say, Blodgett's and Trollope's works look good to me. Clockery Fairfield (talk·contribs) 16:27, 25 May 2013 (UTC)
Another suggestion, from the transcription project: Life of Tolstoy by Romain Rolland. Sincerely —Clockery Fairfield (talk·contribs) 09:20, 29 May 2013 (UTC)
I was hoping to avoid Tolstoy given we have several biographies already. See Author:Leo Tolstoy#Works about Tolstoy. I'd rather we worked on someone we don't have anything for. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 09:55, 29 May 2013 (UTC)
I wasn't too keen on Tolstoy myself, only that it was the only biography I could find on the transcription project. So how about Paul Kelver? A (semi)autobiographical novel by Jerome K. Jerome, 433 pages approx. But I don't know whether autobiographical novels are included in Biographies…? Sincerely —Clockery Fairfield (talk·contribs) 10:23, 29 May 2013 (UTC)
Balthasar Hübmaier selected.--Erasmo Barresi (talk) 17:24, 31 May 2013 (UTC)

July 2013[edit]

SUPPORT —Maury (talk) 20:25, 12 January 2013 (UTC)
None of these really jumps out at me as "great", though all have merit. I'd really like to see us do a work on India, or at least on one of the Indian provinces. Would The Religion of the Kuvi-Konds: Their Customs and Folk-Lore (114 pp) fit under the geography topic? The Khonds are a little-known people of southern India. --EncycloPetey (talk) 21:17, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
I agree with your point on Burma, painted and described (1905)and the two Japanese books but what is the end goal in all of this? Should we focus upon nations a bit closer to us and learn about the Americas and our allies or are we choosing books because they seem like romantic far away places for amusing and casual reading? What is the criteria? In reference to India, it has hundreds of religions which I feel sure you are aware of. —Maury (talk) 05:44, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
We had been trying to do geography, not culture, not folklore for this topic matter, and for that we have previously looked for something with good images, as it populates Commons, adds an extra element of interest (see previous years examples). Re areas closer to home. Whose home? Most of us don't live in the US, and we usually have enough American focused works so this is the point of the geography topic in an area where we don't have works, or not likely to get works. Allies? What? Whose? When? This is about books that are available and suggested. Anyone is able to make suggestions, and we choose something. The whole purpose of POTM is to engender interest of the casual proofreader, popping past and enough to get them to poke their head in, and hopefully stay. — billinghurst sDrewth 09:34, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
Support

"Physical Geography" —Maury (talk) 01:09, 12 January 2013 (UTC)

Billinghurst, in reference to illustrations I have been preaching and trying to promote them for a long while now. In reference to Allies I refer to the Americas including Canada, and nations of middle and south America. Those are close to the USA and the USA has a huge immigration of peoples from all over Latin America. Thus the book Mexico as it is and was completed by several of us and illustrated which became a Featured Text. I also refer to Great Britain and all of her former colonies such as Australia, New Zealand, and perhaps even India. I would also include France. These are all far away from my home in the USA. I also mentioned the two very nice books on Japan. As for geography and culture they are not exactly the same thing as culture is often determined by geography. MarkLSteadman cites two "geographical" works below which include culture and they both are illustrated. EncycloPetey I think that "You" refers to me, so in reply I state that pure geography has nothing to do with people whether they are living or dead or never existed. It includes the study of volcanoes, undersea earthquakes, tectonic plate movements and likewise topics. Culture has it's own area of science which is why we have and use the word "culture". I am not trying to debate you fellows. I asked my question to see what others thought because I didn't know and would not assume to know what others think. Kind regards to some of the best people I have ever met on Internet and all of us with a common interest in learning and books. —Maury (talk) 18:30, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
Actually, I meant billinghurst, but what you describe as geography is actually geology. Geography does include the subfield of physical geography (erosion, rivers, topography, orogeny, etc.) but it also includes much, much more, such as population science, culture, urban planning, geomatics, and a host of other topics. You might want to read the Wikipedia article which, although a bit sparse, does a fair job of presenting the many aspects of geography. --EncycloPetey (talk) 21:53, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
You make a distinction between geography and culture that I have not previously seen. As quoted on Wikipedia, geography is "the science that studies the lands, the features, the inhabitants, and the phenomena of the Earth". [emphasis added] And, Maury, yes I am aware that India has many religions, of which we cover virtually zero. --EncycloPetey (talk) 10:25, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
The works that we've chosen in the past to fill in gaps in our Geography coverage have been broadly focused on an area of the world. The works cover physical geography along with the inhabitants and their cultures. It is these broader works that each year generate the most interest and we have completed the first work in less than a week in both of the last two years. A more narrowly focused work like the one on the Khonds (which overlaps with anthropology for me) doesn't seem to generate the same level of interest. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 22:23, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
Thanks for that reply. I've some idea at this point what makes a "good" or "bad" choice, but I don't have the experience that some others do. What do you think about a longer volume, such as the one Mark has suggested below on India and Indo-China? It's volume VIII of a larger work, so I wonder about the suitability a work that is both lengthy and at the same time part of a much larger work, even though I do like the topic. For the record, both of his suggestions do appeal to me. --EncycloPetey (talk) 22:27, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
One advantage of the regional break-up of the Reclus is that I would suspect that each volume would still be quite suitable on its own, although at the same time benefiting from the other volumes if they are ever completed (since they have a common author/approach). MarkLSteadman (talk) 22:59, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
Two other, longer possiblities are:
  • A volume from Elisee Reclus's Universal Geography (e.g. India[10]) (1876-1894) 700p
  • [11] The Lands of Silence: A history of Arctic and Antarctic exploration] (1921) 600p MarkLSteadman (talk) 11:55, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
One last suggestion if the Reclus is deemed unsuitable: Younghusband's Kashmir. MarkLSteadman (talk) 23:03, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Matthew Fontaine Maury's Geographical Series

(4 different books for school)

Maury's new elements of Geography for primary and intermediate classes

=== June 2013 & en.Wikisource Dedication Books ===

This was my father's birth month. He was a great man, a man of great honor and good deeds in Germany and Korea (5 major battle stars) and also when a civilian. He was a kind man, a determined man, a gentle (to mom & sis) and successful man, and always a military man giving me orders where he often would say something strange when I was young and so often disobedient; "This is going to hurt me more than it will you." I didn't understand that at the time but it always reminds me of Mark Twain when he said his father knew so little when he (Twain) was young and was amazed how much his father had learned so fast when Twain had become older." His funeral had around 2,018 visitors according to the Funeral home. In memory of my precious father ("Pops") I would like to suggest/beg and dedicate the following book. As I write this and remember that part of my life I recall my youth vividly and thus I suggest we all here should be able to suggest/dedicate a specific book in loving memory of our parents and perhaps do a small write-up as here with similar to what I am dong now. The book should be stated as a "Dedication" and last a long time on en.Wikisource. We should help each other on these dedication WS books. I feel the danged tears starting, my watery eyes, -- so I'll end now. (1st John 4:8)

copy/pasted below:


Maury's new elements of Geography for primary and intermediate classes / by M. F. Maury.

http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010759064

Author: Maury, Matthew Fontaine, 1806-1873.

Language: English

New York : American Book Co., c1907.

Subjects: Geography > Textbooks.

Physical Description: 138 p. : ill., maps ; 26 cm.

Original Format: Book

[ b/w & Color images of people and places —Maury (talk) 03:36, 12 January 2013 (UTC) ]

—Maury (talk) 20:22, 12 January 2013 (UTC)

Attempt to distill above discussion into a few options[edit]

We have several years' worth of suggestions here and need to narrow down for this year. I've listed here those that have interest by more than one editor. Please indicate your preferences below. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 00:49, 4 June 2013 (UTC)

Support Beeswaxcandle (talk) 00:49, 4 June 2013 (UTC)
  • Matthew Fontaine Maury's Geographical Series. These are general works on geography rather than area specific. (Not currently on IA, so not linked here.)

August 2013[edit]

  • Earlier in another forum there was a request for more works by women. I have found Author:Rosa Campbell Praed an early Australian colonial writer Her large bibliography covered multiple genres, and books for children as well as adults. She has been described as the first Australian novelist to achieve a significant international reputation (wikipedia). archive.org author search with a variety of works and sizes. Would be worth considering. — billinghurst sDrewth
  • Marriage as a trade (1909 American edition) by Cicely Hamilton cited as "trade aspect of marriage; i.e., wifehood and motherhood considered as a means of livelihood for women the business of getting or gaining a partner, and the business of marriage partnership, without reference to the paramount claims of love, or without considering love at all." 280pp, wouldn't take the whole month as it is a smaller in size. — billinghurst sDrewth 07:35, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

September 2013[edit]

October 2013[edit]

I think October begins the fiscal year in the US. Why not something on economics. I have just uploaded and added images to Stabilizing the Dollar (1920). It reads well. There are about 12 tables, 9 TOC pages, 9 index pages... but mostly text, and not very many footnotes. Not too daunting; something for everyone (except poetry). Londonjackbooks (talk) 16:33, 14 March 2013 (UTC)

Topic matter itself doesn't stimulate. To encourage me, I would want the work to be a seminal work, or by a prominent author, or produce something that highlights something. Part of a PotM is about enticing people into the system. — billinghurst sDrewth 03:56, 16 March 2013 (UTC)
I think that economics would be an interesting topic, I'm just not sure what type of book would be good. J.S. Mill's Principles of Political Economy and Alfred Marshall's Principles of Economics would be the standard, influential textbooks of economics. There are also the works of Ricardo, which with Smith, form the basis of Anglo-American classical economics, and the French writers Say and Bastiat. There were also many economists who wrote about economic history in the historical schools: Arnold Toynbee, William Ashley, Friedrich List. MarkLSteadman (talk) 04:58, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

November 2013[edit]

  • Validation month, no nominations required

December 2013[edit]

If football counts as a game, perhaps Association Football and How to Play It (1908). The Football Association in England is 150 years old this year. We also don't have much on the subject at the moment. - AdamBMorgan (talk) 01:24, 19 May 2013 (UTC)

Support. That's interesting, as I had already downloaded the DjVu for that book some time ago... intending to work on it at some time. Sounds like a good choice, though it might not last the whole month. --EncycloPetey (talk) 14:22, 21 May 2013 (UTC)
Support, for all of the reasons above, plus it's a great book overall. Clockery Fairfield (talk·contribs) 15:24, 21 May 2013 (UTC)

Books parked for consideration[edit]

Noting the list at the top of the page too

I was having a look at our copy of Thackeray's "Vanity Fair" a renowned and significant piece of English literature, and I notice that 1) ours is incomplete, and 2) it comes without the images which are integral the poignancy and significance of the work. While it is in two volumes, I would like to gauge thoughts on getting a good quality version of images up for PoTM. There is also a LibriVox edition that can be paired with this, though I haven't found their reference to which version they use. To note that there is a Gutenberg edition which means that it is not new subject matter. — billinghurst sDrewth 23:45, 21 October 2011 (UTC)

  • Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeny. In an effort to find some popular public domain publications for inclusion here at WS, I found that the HTML version of this book is the most-downloaded text at the Internet Archive. Plus, someone has already gone to the trouble of extracting and cleaning the images [12]. There is a tiny amount of text cut off on pages 63-64, but the missing letters can be determined from context and from the Archive.org HTML version --Eliyak T·C 22:52, 20 April 2012 (UTC)
Pros:
(a) It's a key work of a great English writer;
(b) Johnson's text will be fun to read;
(c) It will add biographies of several writers.
Cons:
(a) It's in multiple volumes, so we might have to start with just the first one and see what transpires;
(b) There will be many uses of long-s and the like;
(c) We may not be able to get a first edition to work from, and I'm not sure that I could find a complete set of a single edition in IA.

Would a work of this sort ever be a good selection for PotM, and why or why not? --EncycloPetey (talk) 03:12, 15 October 2012 (UTC)


      • I personally consider the statement above by Burtoniana, "I am not competent to do this work myself but would gladly avail myself if there were help", to make an excellent point. Working alone on any book is fading from me. I strongly prefer another, or others plural, to assist in what I do not know and presently cannot do. In short, feelings of quitting WS keep coming to me. Perhaps because I have the same situation as User Burtoniana and/or perhaps because even when a work has been completely proofread the pages never get validated (&c, + Chapters and Mainspace added). I greatly prefer having a partner to handle what I cannot or do not want to do. I have placed several volumes on WS that remain not validated. In my thinking all works should be validated and not long ago I have asked twice about this but it does not happen. There is a great difference when working with my friend in Mexico. He does what I cannot do and too, while he works with the text I work with the images. It splits the work in two parts. I validate or do not validate his work and he does the same with my work. When I need something special I email him to please do something I know he can do including any validating. Sometimes Mpaa or Moondyne come behind us when we think we are completely finished and make some suggestions and corrections. An example of this is the book, "The Clipper Ship ERA..." where Moondyne came after we were done and were then assisted. That FELT like a "god-send" after working for perfection for the book. It is now a beautiful book! I once much preferred working alone -- but no longer -- and especially when it comes to the lack of a validated page. It at least takes two to proofread and then validate. I strongly dislike unvalidated works. I feel uncomfortable with the many of them. —Maury (talk) 12:35, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

Suggestion for Proofreads of the Month[edit]

Suggestion for Proofreads of the Month

I often see a banner that states: There are no works on Wikisource by this author. If you'd like to add a new text, please review Help:Adding texts. The 2nd one that I saw today was about a "British Naval surgeon, zoologist and palaeontologist." Why not consider placing at least one work of these Authors that have no works on en.WS? In this particular situation I came here to present this idea and this author, http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:George_Busk I read about this fellow when reading and marking "validated" in a work done by Billinghurst. I found a new work unlisted on an author page, via also a Billinghurst mention and a link Billinghurst left in his text that showed me a very good book to add. That was sometime yesterday and I don't recall the details as I type this but I can find it.

Back to the former, this way we can fill in some blanks where we have "Authors", and this particular fellow has an excellent article on en.WPedia plus there is a photograph to add to a completed-looking work. I do not believe we should have "Authors" without an authored works when we can change that situation by adding them as a proofread of the month. Kindest regards to all and a Happy November 2nd. Maury ( —William Maury Morris IITalk 11:45, 2 November 2012 (UTC)

Vanity Fair 1848 novel images[edit]

For those who are interested in using this book as the POM in the coming months, I completed the cleaning & upload of all the images to the Commons Vanity Fair (novel) category page. — Ineuw talk 00:26, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Hurray! Thank you, Ineuw! But I do have a question and that is while most images are a nice gray scale why is it that a very few have a yellow tint to them? I uploaded images and I did some other experiments while text layers were not working and these experiments were successful including my typing in the page scans you upload. I thought they might get over-written, I expected it, but they did not and thus the importance of experimenting. It is now a realith that an entire book, with all illustrations, can be placed on-line during the no text-layer black-out. —Maury (talk) 04:21, 7 December 2012 (UTC)
The yellow images are not my work and they are used on numerous wiki sites.— Ineuw talk 05:09, 7 December 2012 (UTC)
I had wondered because your images are never like those yellow images. I figured you had not worked on those. It doesn't really matter at this point in time though because no text layers exist in that book you placed on-line. All of your image work was for nothing until that text layer exists on the pages. —Maury (talk) 14:56, 7 December 2012 (UTC)
Maury, they are duplicates (and one triplicate) and have nothing to do with our work. My image designations are based on the djvu numbers e.g: File:Vanity Fair D076.png. Also the description specifies that it's part of a Wikisource project. — Ineuw talk 15:04, 7 December 2012 (UTC)
Right you are. I don't know why I did not notice that. I suppose I was looking at details of only the images themselves. I have inserted several of your images in pages here -- those images that are full page images -- and everything was going perfectly smooth with them because of your naming of the images worked with the .djvu page numbers on the book. My apologies for not noticing that albeit only recently while awaiting the text-layers to appear in the book. Happy Holidays to you and your family, —Maury (talk) 15:23, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Author:John Lloyd Stephens (listed on en WS)[edit]

Author:John Lloyd Stephens wrote several grand books and they are illustrated. Let us choose something a bit more exciting lest we have an *another* unfinished work. —Maury (talk) 18:40, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

Queen Mab, if there is an opening[edit]

I know we've passed poetry month but if there is an opening later in 2013, I think Queen Mab by Percy Bysshe Shelley might be appropriate. I've been working on a list of upcoming anniversaries and noticed both that we don't have any copy of this work at all and that this year is the 200th anniversary of its first publication. I haven't found an 1813 version online yet but this is an 1821 edition (which therefore may be one of the leftover 1813 editions: the work was illegally repackaged and reprinted in 1821, which was the first public, mass-market edition). - AdamBMorgan (talk) 17:37, 18 May 2013 (UTC)


The Book of the Homeless[edit]

The Book of the Homeless (index) was put together by American novelist Edith Wharton to raise money for homeless World War I refugees. She collected material from many of the best writers, artists and musicians of her time: Sarah Bernhardt, Rupert Brooke, Joseph Conrad, John Galsworthy, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Igor Stravinsky, William Butler Yeats, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Auguste Rodin, and so on. Also Theodore Roosevelt.

I have got what I wanted out of this — a Henry James essay not available elsewhere — and won't be finishing it off. But it struck me that this is an interesting short work that is likely to provide challenges to a broad cross-section of us: there's prose and poetry to be transcribed, including some in French, many images to be restored, and several musical scores to be transcribed.

In short, if you guys are ever looking for an interesting and challenging short work to proof, I commend this one to you.

Hesperian 03:04, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

Good candidate for our January quirky books month. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 03:12, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
Hesperian & Beeswaxcandle, 11 November 1918 is when World War I. ended and therefore it could be a good book for that same month of November 2013. Kindest regards, —Maury (talk) 03:35, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
It could certainly be a good book for November. However, isn't November a validation month? An alternative could be to keep it for January, as Beeswaxcandle said, or maybe for August (double purpose: Wharton died in August, and a book by a female author is required. —Clockery Fairfield (talk·contribs) 11:08, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Wikisource_talk:Proofread_of_the_Month&oldid=4481340"