ok folks, here's my book report on the "sitka" book
which was done over at fadedpage, and posted to p.g.
it's #31862 if you want to go and take a look at it:
> http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31862/31862.txt
***
i'll discuss the high points in the body of this message;
appended you'll find the data documenting these points...
***
1. ...stealth scanno...
the first thing to note is that a sharp-eyed proofer
caught a stealth scanno. my system, which relies on
spellcheck heavily, is susceptible to stealth scannos,
so i'm always interested in their frequency, and whether
or not they will cause a serious problem in comprehension.
in this book, there was 1 stealth scanno, so they were
infrequent in this book. further, it wasn't a bad one...
a "heeded" was misrecognized as "needed", so no big deal.
***
2. ...publisher corrections made; here's a list of 15...
rfrank made his digitization philosophy very clear here,
as he made a number of _corrections_ to the original book.
and i agree! i'm firmly against the "transcription" model,
which holds that we should merely reproduce the print-book.
i maintain we are _republishing_ the book, and therefore
i strongly believe we need to correct any errors we find.
and like me, roger doesn't bother with a "list of changes",
either. i don't think it's necessary to make such a list.
they're boring. just make the change and keep on moving...
however, there is one aspect to note about this, which is
that means rfrank sets a higher standard for his work, and
if we find errors in the p-book which he should've found,
then he is now accountable for having missed those errors.
***
3. ...more fixes, requiring research outside the book...
to his credit, rfrank went out of his way to check things,
so as to make sure that he was _only_ fixing actual errors,
and not introducing bad changes. sure, it's not too hard
to look up a sailor's name on wikipedia to spell it right,
or to check that a word means "an edit from the czar", but
it takes time, and it improves the output, so give kudos...
***
4. ...he even did "corrections" i might not have done...
as is often the case when you adopt a "re-publication"
philosophy as opposed to "transcription", some of the
changes that you make might not get universal agreement.
but that comes with the territory, so you roll with it.
***
5. ...and some i _certainly_ wouldn't have done...
and you continue rolling, even when disagreement is thick.
***
6. ...and yet he didn't do some that i woulda done...
everybody has their own opinions... :+)
i won't count these as "errors".
but _i_would_ do them differently...
***
7. ...and i disagree on how he did some formatting...
once again, everybody's got an opinion...
for the first 2 cases shown, i put a comma after
the period, just so the following lowercase letter
wouldn't throw a flag every time i did that check.
the third case is a bit more complicated...
i believe that the formatting rules used by rfrank
-- and d.p. in general -- are slightly misguided...
first of all, they are arbitrary, with wiggle-room,
which means they're hard to understand and interpret.
i think rules that are firmly grounded work better...
second, in many situations the rules instruct us to
put the formatting toggles _inside_ the word itself
(at least inside the punctuation which surrounds it).
in this case, for instance, the _italicized_ word
is placed inside some _non-italicized_ parentheses.
so an italic letter butts a non-italic parenthesis.
but _none_ of the rendering engines we have today
(like browsers and e-book apps) are capable enough
to make that look reasonably good, let alone nice.
indeed, most of the time it looks absolutely dreadful;
a shift from non-italic to italic (and back) is ugly.
so even when it doesn't "make sense" grammatically,
my recommendation is to italicize the entire string,
it looks better, so that's what i do; you should too.
***
8. ...the previous errors...
ok, now we get down to the brass tacks.
were there any errors in the posted book?
well, yeah. i've already pointed out 6.
they are repeated below, to refresh memory.
but there are more errors...
***
9. ...there are hyphenation differences...
rfrank has clearly shown that he is more than willing
to make changes to the book, so as to correct errors,
and for consistency. for instance, he changed several
cases of the name "wrangel", consistent to "wrangell".
so if we now _find_ errors or inconsistencies, even if
they were present in the original book, we'll hold him
accountable for not having made the proper corrections.
it's only fair.
and yes, the book had several hyphenation inconsistencies.
rfrank may have found and fixed some, i don't know, but
i _do_ know that there were some that he did _not_ fix...
do you like the word "sealion"? or is "sea-lion" better?
i like the second. the book was split 50/50. rfrank did
3 of them one way, then left the final 1 the other way...
i'd call the error-count 2, but you can call it 1, or 3.
there were 2 cases of "far-off" and 1 case of "far off",
so i'd go with "far-off", and raise the error-count by 1.
there was 1 "far-seeing" and 1 "far seeing". ironically,
they're both on the same page. talk about short-sighted.
call 1 of 'em an error.
there was 1 "guest-house" and 1 "guesthouse", so 1 error.
and 1 "ice-houses" and 1 "icehouses", so again, 1 error...
so let's say 6 hyphenation errors, due to inconsistency...
***
10. ...and the other consistency errors...
i show 11 other consistency errors, all on names...
feel free to argue about any of them. if you can
find someone who's willing to argue them, that is.
so far, 17 new errors...
***
11. ...and finally, the last 2 errors...
there was 1 case of some missed formatting,
as shown clearly in the scan for this page:
> http://z-m-l.com/go/sitka/sitkap025.png
_barabaras_,
barabaras,
^^^^^^^^^^
it's humorous to note that this missed italic was on
the same page as the missed italic i reported before.
but nobody said anything about "barabaras" earlier...
last but not least, 1 misspelled word: "gooch-heat",
which should have been "gooch-haet" -- wolf-house...
yes, it was printed wrong, but it shoulda been caught.
so 2 more, for a sum of 19 new errors, plus the original 6,
making a grand total of 25. that's twice my usual standard
-- 1 error per 10 pages -- but since _most_ of these errors
were also present in the p-book (along with many more which
were corrected by rfrank), i'd call this a good digitization.
***
in conclusion...
many people will say that most of these errors are trivial.
i wouldn't argue with them.
at the same time, i'm compulsive enough to fix the trivial.
i don't want any errors in my books. even "trivial" ones...
i'm guessing that roger will want to fix these errors too.
i'm also guessing that roger will say most of these errors
can be laid at the feet of the postprocessor, so that his
"roundless" system has passed this test with flying colors.
and, in a sense, he's right, in that most of these errors
_should_ be located within the realm of the postprocessor.
(or -- to once again stress my model -- the preprocessor.)
but to give the postprocessor the _luxury_ of enough time
to do the job of catching errors like these, we must have
the proofers perform as many duties as they possibly can.
when a page can conceivably be seen by only _one_ proofer,
then a postprocessor simply can't have enough faith that
each page is correct, and will inevitably perform checks
they would not do if they believed every page was solid...
if you're worried about simple things like missing italics,
you just won't have the focus to look for more subtle stuff.
use your proofers to make sure every page is rock-solid.
give the postprocessor the luxury to _polish_ the book...
-bowerbird
p.s. here's a "bonus error", thrown in for good measure.
"blockhouse" isn't capitalized elsewhere in the book, and
if we did capitalize it here, we'd capitalize "upper" too.
> near the site of the upper blockhouse. Her successor,
> near the site of the upper Blockhouse. Her successor,
> ===========================^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
===============================================================
1. ...stealth scanno...
> and was needed. Captain A. Holmes A'Court,
> and was heeded. Captain A. Holmes A'Court,
> ========^=================================
2. ...publisher corrections made; here's a list of 15...
> Narative of a Voyage Round the World.
> Narrative of a Voyage Round the World.
> ===^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> pupil.'
> pupil.'"
> =======^
> an air of prosperity prevaded the place.
> an air of prosperity pervaded the place.
> ======================^^================
> Her successor, the sceond Princess
> Her successor, the second Princess
> ====================^^============
> in these waters bought skins for mere trifles, some for
> in these waters, bought skins for mere trifles, some for
> ===============^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> bath house
> a bath house
> ^^^^^=^^^^
> island but
> islands but
> ======^^^^
> ungents, combine to make
> unguents, combine to make
> ===^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Hudson Bay Co. the Russian ships that sailed
> Hudson's Bay Co. the Russian ships that sailed
> ======^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> of the educational institution of Sitka.
> of the educational institutions of Sitka.
> ========================^^^^^^^
> The liquid refreshments serve to him
> The liquid refreshments served to him
> =============================^^^^^^^
> the villianous liquor called "hoochinoo"
> the villainous liquor called "hoochinoo"
> ========^^==============================
> island to the broad Pacific. What were the thoughts
> islands to the broad Pacific. What were the thoughts
> ======^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> or "Ranche," there is choice of two streets,
> or "Ranche," there is a choice of two streets,
> ======================^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> and three who names I do not know.
> and three whose names I do not know.
> =============^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
3. ...more fixes, requiring research outside the book...
> Priest Vasili Michaeloff Ocueredin,
> Priest Vasili Michaeloff Ocheredin,
> ===========================^=======
> of the harvest. Her captain, Entienne Marchand,
> of the harvest. Her captain, Etienne Marchand,
> ==============================^^^^=^^^^^^^^^^^
> ukaze,
> ukase,
> ===^==
4. ...he even did "corrections" i might not have done...
> all the Russians to the Republic
> all the Russias to the Republic
> ==============^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> of the American troops, Gen. Jeff C. Davis,
> of the American troops, Gen. Jefferson C. Davis,
> =================================^^^^^^^^^^
> is called Kosters Trail. The first
> is called Koster's Trail. The first
> ================^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
5. ...and some i _certainly_ wouldn't have done...
> articles, carved with totemic design
> articles, carved with totemic designs
> ====================================
6. ...and yet he didn't do some that i woulda done...
> --The Author
> The Author
> ^^^^^^^^^^^
> in the Bering Sea,
> in Bering Sea
> ===^^^^^^^^^^
7. ...and i disagree on how he did some formatting...
> to the Hudson's Bay Co., the Russian ships that
> to the Hudson's Bay Co. the Russian ships that
> =======================^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Total, 400. Ib., p. 52.
> Total, 400. Ib. p. 52.
> ===============^^^^^^^
> of New Archangel _(Novo Arkangelsk),_
> of New Archangel (_Novo Arkangelsk_,)
> =================^^===============^^^
8. ...the previous errors...
> _yukali_ (dried salmon),
> yuhali (dried salmon),
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> _prazdnik_ (holiday)
> prasdnik (holiday)
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> _Sheetkah_,
> Sheetkah,
> ^^^=^^^^^
> Seattle Intelligencer, December 14th, 1868;
> Seattle Intelligencer, December 14th. 1868;
> ======================^^^^^^
9. ...there are hyphenation differences...
sea-lions (#19, but at line-end)
sealion (#29)
sealion (#48)
sea-lion (#101)
> and sea-lion meat from Kodiak, and
> and sealion meat from Kodiak, and
> =======^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> adorned with sea-lion heads
> adorned with sealion heads
> ================^^^^^^^^^^
far off (#35)
far-off (#42)
far-off (#80)
> in the far-off possession of the Czar.
> in the far off possession of the Czar.
> ==========^===========================
far seeing (#16)
far-seeing (#16) (yes, inconsistent on the same page)
> wealthiest and most far-seeing of the leaders
> wealthiest and most far seeing of the leaders
> =======================^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> being entertained in the guest-house were
...but yet...
> went to the guesthouse of the kwan. All the
> The ice-houses were near the outlet of
...but yet...
> icehouses was laden on the ship 250 tons, and
10. ...and the other consistency errors...
> in Chicagof Island, sent his ship's boat
> in Chichagoff Island, sent his ship's boat
> =======^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Admiral Chicagof, Minister
> Admiral Chichagof, Minister
> ============^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> and Chicagof." (A Voyage Round the World, Lisianski, p. 235.)]
> and Chichagof." (A Voyage Round the World, Lisianski, p. 235.)]
> ========^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> of Golden California. Captain Hagemeister came to relieve him,
> of Golden California. Captain Hagmeister came to relieve him,
> =================================^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> of St. Michael
> of St. Michaels
> ==============
> stir the lust for vengeance. The Keeksitties,
> stir the lust for vengeance. The Keeksittis,
> ==========================================^^
> [Footnote 19: Globokoe Lake was sounded to
> [Footnote 19: Golobokoe Lake was sounded to
> ===============^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Prince Dmitri Maksoutoff, Dec. 2, 1863, to Oct. 18, 1867.]
> Prince Dmitri Maksoutof, Dec. 2, 1863, to Oct. 18, 1867.]
> =======================^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Annahootz, the friendly Kokwanton war chief,
> Annahootz, the friendly Kokwantan war chief,
> ===============================^============
for these two, we'd have to research which variant is correct:
...in one place, we have one spelling...
> the mouth of the Indian River, or _Kolosh Ryeku_.
...but in another place it's spelled differently...
> the river, known as the _Kolosh Ryeka_, by the Russians
...in one place, we have one spelling...
> Captain Leontius Andreanovich Hagemeister
...but in another place it's spelled differently...
> Leonti Andreanvich Hagemeister, Jan. 11, 1818, to Oct. 24, 1818.
...getting now down to some smaller points...
...for consistency, and clarity, i'd change these lines...
> Total, 400, Ib. p. 52.
> their own account. Id. Vol. 2, p. 38.
...i would use "ibid" in both, replacing the "ib." and "id."...
...but i wouldn't call a "failure" to do this "an error"...
...for consistency, i would also change this reference...
> Russian American Archives. Corr. Vol. I, p. 275.
...so that it matched with this reference...
> Russian American Archives, Correspondence, Vol. II, No. 108.
...but i wouldn't count a "failure" to do so as "an error"...
...and, to finish off this consistency section...
...i'd do research to find out how these archives are named...
> Russian American Archives. Corr. Vol. I, p. 275.
> their own account. Id. Vol. 2, p. 38.
...because in the top line, it's "vol. i", roman-style...
...while in the bottom line, it's "vol. 2", arabic-style...
...obviously, one of these versions is incorrect...
...but so much for the trivial obsessive-compulsive points...
11. ...and finally, the last 2 errors...
_barabaras_,
barabaras,
^^^^^^^^^^
gooch-heat
gooch-haet
========^^