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Alex from SE here. I wanted to transcribe Worm a few years ago too. IIRC the problem was that PG-AU had a post-1923 edition transcribed. The 1922 first edition
by acabal 7y ago
Alex from SE here. I wanted to transcribe Worm a few years ago too. IIRC the problem was that PG-AU had a post-1923 edition transcribed. The 1922 first edition is extremely rare. The Newberry Research Library in Chicago has a copy and I actually flipped through it once. But you can't check out those kinds of rare books. They can scan books for you but at a fairly steep cost and I didn't want to do that at the time.
Maybe the situation has changed since then! But I'd love to have that book in our catalog.
- toomuchtodo 7y agoWould I be able to take photos of the book pages if I'm in Chicago without checking it out (on prem capture)? I am familiar with using a DSLR to non-destructively capture book contents, and am willing to make the time to do so. Looks like you even get 2 hours of parking for free!
- acabal 7y agoPossibly, you should ask them. However most decent OCR requires a flat top scanner or (in the case of rare books like this) a scanning device that holds pages firmly and takes pictures from above. I imagine that bringing your DSLR and doing it by hand for 200+ pages would be extremely tedious and error-prone.
- toomuchtodo 7y agoI have a portable cradle I can bring with me that will hold the camera above while I flip pages. I emailed Newberry Library, and will report back when I have more info.
- Jun8 7y agoI have time to allocate to this next week and am willing to help. Was at Newberry just last week for their monumental book sale.
- toomuchtodo 7y agoI will be in touch when I hear back!
- sgc 7y agoYou can get decent ocr from using thinner books to level the pages by supporting one side of a book as you flip and holding open with your hands. Source: I have ocred approx 200,000 pages this way for one of my websites. It is not the best, but it works surprisingly well as a poor man's just get it done method. Aim for at least 300 ppi and ABBYY can figure it out. 200 ppi still works well.
- Finnucane 7y agoThere’s three copies of the 1922 Cape edition listed for sale on abebooks right now, though you would have to cough up about $500 to get one. Was the text revised for the US edition?