Entries from October 2004 ↓

The Indiscretion of the Duchess: Being a Story Concerning Two Ladies, a Nobleman, and a Necklace. By Anthony Hope. An adventure in France by the author of The Prisoner of Zenda. My second complete project.

The Art of Letters, by Robert Lynd. I nearly forgot I did this book. Essays on literary criticism, as well as advice on how to review books.

On October 8, 2004, the international community of [Distributed Proofreaders][] enriched the online public domain with the largest single contribution in the project’s four year history. Through the organized collective efforts of volunteers throughout the world, Distributed Proofreaders made available 50 diverse and significant written works consisting of over 13,000 pages. Entrusted into the care of the Project Gutenberg Archive, these legacy works are now accessible free of charge to Internet users around the globe.

The inspiration for this coordinated effort was the nearing completion of Distributed Proofreaders’ 5,000th distinct work. Within the span of a mere four years DP–as the project is called by members–succeeded in transforming 5,000 unique published works into formats that can be viewed by a variety of electronic devices. The secret to this prolific output is the innovative production process of DP which employs several thousand volunteers all working towards a single objective, expanding the availability of written works in the public domain. Once completed, these machine readable texts are placed within Project Gutenberg where they remain available without cost.

As a demonstration of the varied strengths of the Distributed Proofreaders production model, the 50 titles of this commemorative collection were selected from amongst its most challenging and complex projects. The accomplishment of this milestone is a source of great pride to the diversified and dedicated membership of DP. The intent of the 5,000 Collection was to produce for the world a gift of immense value that would dramatically exemplify the best of which Distributed Proofreaders is now capable. A mere cursory reading of this wealth of titles stirs up a sense of excitement and wonder at what is possible when enough like-minded people join together in creative endeavor.

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Punch, or the London Charivari, July 17, 1841. Volume 1, Number 1. Tons of jokes that are still relevant, even if you don’t know the people involved. I’m especially proud that it’s part of the DP5k collection.

An American recently solved a mystery which had confused and amazed a wedding party in Rome. The bride was the daughter of one of the most noble Marquises of old or modern Rome, and the groom was the scion of another noble house. When the wedding contract had been signed, the groom took the hand of his young wife in his own and kissed its fingers. She smiled at this, and allowed her hand to rest where he had placed it. But in a moment, to the dismay of the company, a voice was heard, as from her lips, saying: “Impertinent! how dare you touch my hand? Be off, fool.” Still she smiled as before, and her lover gazed upon her face in dismay. Suddenly she seemed to laugh, and it was a dry and ironical laugh that startled people more than the words they had heard before. “Has the girl gone mad?” some one asked. She fainted, and her friends gathered closely around the sofa on which she had fallen. At this moment a young American, described as “of great learning, but generally very taciturn and almost timid in manner,” offered to examine into the cause of the strange occurrences, and approached the sofa. Casting his eyes on and around the sofa, and then about the room, he proceeded to crawl along the floor on his hands and knees until he came to a large ottoman. Behind this he found a young servant who had been dismissed from the house that morning, and went away declaring that she would be revenged. By some means she had found her way into the parlor and concealed herself behind the ottoman. Being a ventriloquist, she was able there to speak in a tone of voice which was naturally attributed to the bride.–N.Y. Tribune.