On Sat, 13 Nov 2004, Tony Baechler wrote:
At 10:54 AM 11/12/2004 -0800, you wrote:
At 06:23 AM 11/12/2004 -0800, you wrote:
Actually, it's pretty easy to find all the original Project Gutenberg eBooks, as well as the newer versions, because so many places keep them, usually in the thousands for any of our eBooks that have been out for even a week.
Hello. Actually, I've had a hard time finding any of the very early editions of PG files. There are some old files in the etext90
On Fri, Nov 12, 2004 at 07:11:46AM -0800, Tony Baechler wrote: directory,
but not edition 10 of the first several ebooks. I would be interested to find the very first edition of when10.txt or whatever it was called as MH posted it. Even the old GUTINDEX.* files have been removed, with the earliest being GUTINDEX.96 when it used to be GUTINDEX.90.
Michael might have some of the older files. There are a few sources, like old Walnut Creek CDs, that might also be able to help.
I could look through my old collections of CD and floppy eBook collections if this is truly important, but you should be advised that the originals of all the earliest eBooks were ALL IN CAPS, and with limited punctuation, since they were typed in on TeleType 33 machines. It would be fun to see if anyone could change them back to the originals, and if the blogosphere that caught Dan Rather could possibly check all the punctuation marks to prove that such a document COULD have been typed on a TeleType 33. Of course, I still have mine here in the basement, and might be able to fake it better than anyone could disprove. However, the whole idea of finding the original files doesn't mean a lot to me. . .but I think the first file was just named "when". . .without any number or any extension. [However, that could have been changed by the system administrators when they moved it to 9-track tape. . .which was done by file location, as I recall, rather than by file name. i.e., give me the file that starts at 1240 feet on tape number 1642. . . . That was the kind of instruction we received back in 1971 when someone wanted the Declaration of Independence.
I do not have every old Walnut Creek CD ever published, but I do have one and it does not have any of the older files either. I first started using PG in 1995 and even then the very early files from 1971-89 were not generally available. The oldest file, at least as far as apparently the oldest PG header that I am aware of is plboss10.zip. I'm not sure if edition 10 is still available but I have it.
I probably still have copies of the first one. . .I think it was an odd green color. . .but, again, it's only of sentimental value as a collectors' item, as far as I am concerned. I wonder if they will appear 100 years from now on "Antiques Roadshow?" ;-)