Wikisource talk:Proofread of the Month

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archived suggestions

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.

List of suggested works not actioned Index:A Compendium of Irish Biography.djvu Index:Documents from the Den of Espionage.djvu Index:How and Why Library Index:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 1 (2nd edition).djvu Index:The Life of Thomas Linacre.djvu Index:The Methodist Hymn-Book Illustrated.djvu Index:Victory at Sea - William Sowden Sims and Burton J. Hendrick.djvu (done)

Links Coding 'Now' snapshot of PotM Wikisource:Proofread of the Month/validation works Module:PotM/data

Short works requiring validation

• Index:ComstockInertia.djvu ‎[21 pages]
• Index:Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act (India) 1994.djvu [16 pp.]
• Index:Daphnaïda.djvu [22 pp., three with images]
• Index:Memoir of B. D'Israeli.pdf [4 pages]
• Index:Carl Schurz, Education of Orphan Children.pdf [2 pages]
• Index:Letter from Henry Cook to John Hill Munday [3 pages]
• Index:Improbability, or, The batchelor's dislike to a married life.pdf [8 pages]
• Index:Bee-keeping not a nuisance ... History of the lawsuit entitled Z. A. Clark vs. the city of Arkadelphia, Arkansas, and defended by the "National bee-keepers' union." (IA beekeepingnotnu00nati).pdf [8 pages]
• Index:The Commercial Future of Baghdad (1917).djvu [7 pages]
• Index:State vs. National Control of Public Forests.pdf [8 pages]

Have problematic pages

• Index:Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Amendment Act 2002.pdf 5 pp

Translations, not eligible for simple listing

• The Translation of Deformable Electrons and the Theorem of Conservation of Angular Momentum 2p
• On v. Ignatowsky's Treatment of Born's Definition of Rigidity II 2pp
• Index:EhrenfestStarr2.djvu 3 pp
• Index:LorentzRelatieveBeweging.djvu 6pp.
• Index:MinkowskiRaumZeit 14pp.

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

*

it:Wikisource:Rilettura del mese/Testi brevi

• Little works page
• Wikisource:Proofread of the Month/validation works

A list of potential PotM candidates

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)

My person opinion, If people keep bringing in projects (and I have seen it) then they should do a good part of the editing. Some, whoever they are, bring in works for others to do and the work-load adds up. Too, if the texts are brought in and left for others, then others may not like the topic so the work load keeps building up. It would be nice to know [who] likes what to work on. *I* like history and specifically illustrated history* but not children’s books or poems. I have several more volumes to do and more I want to do after that. This way I work on what I brought in, or have another bring in because he/they like the same kind of work. --Maury (talk) 01:33, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

2025

Keep in mind works that will enter PD on 1 January 2025, but do not upload files for such works until 1 January. --EncycloPetey (talk) 17:35, 19 September 2024 (UTC)

2025 List

Month

Work

Category

Status

January

The cat. Its natural history, varieties, and management and

Precious Stones

Quirky

Done (started 2025-01-01, proofread 01-04, validated 01-07) and
Lapsed (started 01-07)

February

Towards a New Architecture

Fine arts

Active (started 02-01)

March

Wikipedia:WikiWomen's History Month / Woman author

April

Poetry / Drama

May

Geography

June

Fiction: Novel

July

Anthropology, Mythology, or Religion

August

Biography

September

Science/Technology

October

Fiction (SF/Fantastical/etc.)

November

Language

December

Fiction: Short story collections

January 2025: Quirky

• The cat : its natural history; domestic varieties; management and treatment (with illustrations) (1887) by Philip M. Rule, (external scan) --EncycloPetey (talk) 00:53, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

  (Running conversions, will put up soon.) — Alien  3
  3 3 12:06, 1 January 2025 (UTC)

  Done at Index:The cat. Its natural history, varieties, and management.djvu. Note: I am unsure under which title it should be put in mainspace:

  • The cat (Rule) - if we don't include the subtitle
  • The cat. Its natural history, varieties, and management - as it is listed on the cover
  • The cat : its natural history; domestic varieties; management and treatment - as it is listed on the title page.

  — Alien  3
  3 3 16:41, 1 January 2025 (UTC)

The Cat will finish in the next few days. I suggest Index:Handbook of Precious Stones.djvu as the next work. The page problems it had back in PotM 2013 have been resolved and it would be good to move it on. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 21:36, 3 January 2025 (UTC)

Put on. — Alien  3
3 3 19:36, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

February 2025: Fine arts

I nominate Towards a New Architecture, a collection of essays by Le Corbusier translated in 1927 by Frederick Etchells. There are two scans of the first edition on HathiTrust; the chosen scan would have to be uploaded locally because the work is still copyrighted in France. Prospectprospekt (talk) 20:28, 26 October 2024 (UTC)

Endorse. I have heard much about this man, people love him or hate him. Clearly he has had a profound influence on modern architecture. —FPTI (talk) 07:49, 26 November 2024 (UTC)

We may have a scan issue: I can find two [1][2] pre-1930 scans of it, but they are both reprints from the second half of the 20th century. Are these copyrighted? — Alien  3
3 3 08:47, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

I wouldn't touch the first IA one. It's one of the works that had copyright information changed when uploaded; note the 1922 on the back of the title page. The second scan is usable; it's a US work with no copyright notice, and it wasn't registered with the copyright office within five years. What's wrong with the HathiTrust scans, though? We'd might want to do the second HT one with images from the first.--Prosfilaes (talk) 20:19, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

My reasoning for seeking other scans was that the first one is badly cropped, and the second has google tags all over it, that are always a pest when proofreading.

Thank you for the information on the IA scans. I propose using the second one. — Alien  3
3 3 20:32, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

I think we should transcribe the first scan because the second one is probably a later reprint. All contemporary reviews I can find list Payson & Clarke as the publisher, and Payson & Clark later became Brewer and Warren. prospectprospekt (talk) 00:15, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

So I made a djvu of the first link and I installed the js to upload large files but the script only works in the File namespace; meaning it needs to exist already before I can upload. Should I upload a single page djvu first to create the File; or, hopefully, an admin can create it. File:Towards a New Architecture.djvu is where I was trying to put it.--RaboKarbakian (talk) 00:56, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

@RaboKarbakian before uploading the djvu, could you replace page 263 in the first scan (page 235 in the book), where some words are cropped out, with the page from the second scan? You might need to do the same with page 267 (239), because some portions of the images are obscured. I have already uploaded the first scan at File:Towards a New Architecture (Le Corbusier).djvu, which does not have a text layer; feel free to overwrite that. prospectprospekt (talk) 19:08, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

• Put on. — Alien  3
  3 3 13:21, 1 February 2025 (UTC)

March 2025: Woman author

• A Room of One's Own (external scan) by Virginia Woolf will enter PD in the US in 2025 (it is already PD in the UK). The Wikipedia article describes it as an extended essay in which "[she] uses metaphors to explore social injustices and comments on women's lack of free expression." --EncycloPetey (talk) 01:00, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

  Endorse. FPTI (talk) 16:11, 23 September 2024 (UTC)

  Re-endorse, this just came up blindly in conversation today. It's clearly an influential novel and we ought to have it. FPTI (talk) 09:52, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

  It's not a novel. --EncycloPetey (talk) 18:44, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

  Seems a good choice. -- Beardo (talk) 05:55, 21 December 2024 (UTC)

  Note that the copy on IA is the 1931 edition, but that I find no evidence the new edition was ever copyrighted. I find no evidence of a renewal for the 1931 edition in the Stanford database, nor do I find an initial registration for the 1931 edition in the 1930, 1931, or 1932 listings in the Pennsylvania copyright records scans. So the 1931 edition was presumably covered only by the original copyright in 1929, without ever receiving separate protection, and thus its protection expired along with the copyright of the 1929 edition. --EncycloPetey (talk) 11:41, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

  • A copy has been uploaded to Commons from a different scan: (Commons file) This is self-labelled a 1937 reprint by the publisher, leaving it unclear whether it is a reprint of the original edition or of the "new" edition of 1931. I am unfamiliar with the 1931 revisions, and so do not know how to determine which edition this is. --EncycloPetey (talk) 20:34, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

  The Princeton University Library has a scan of the 1929 Hogarth Press edition. The choice is between that and the Harcourt edition, which is the one we have uploaded. prospectprospekt (talk) 04:11, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

  The linked edition is actually just the one published by Hogarth in the US. Hogarth published another edition in the UK. prospectprospekt (talk) 05:34, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

  I think we should use the scan of the Hogarth edition found by MarkLSteadman at https://www.lse.ac.uk/library/assets/documents/rare-books/45-A-Room-of-Ones-Own.pdf, though we may need to redact the ex libris and the library checkout card if it is above TOO. prospectprospekt (talk) 17:04, 16 February 2025 (UTC)

  I'd generally call the ex libris as de minimis and not worry about it in the scan. The library check card is clearly below TOO in the US and I'd be surprised even in the UK if it was above.--Prosfilaes (talk) 12:06, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

  Strongly endorse the general idea, but agree with the sense that identifying the most suitable edition should be a priority. -Pete (talk) 07:12, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

  We're one month away from the start of March. Can we use the 1931 edition, because it's published too late to be in public domain in the United States? I do not find a separate copyright for the US for the later edition, and Virginia Woolf's death is more than 70 years ago, so none of her published works will be under UK copyright. We do not have a copy of the first edition from the UK. We do have a 1929 US edition we can use, or we can go with the 1937 UK edition, and someone can craft a usable file from the UK Hogarth edition at Princeton. We need a decision soon, or decide on a different work. --EncycloPetey (talk) 22:40, 23 February 2025 (UTC)

  We do have know the location of a copy of the first edition from the UK. prospectprospekt (talk) 22:48, 23 February 2025 (UTC)

  Is there any reason not to use the 1929 US edition that you linked ? -- Beardo (talk) 00:57, 24 February 2025 (UTC)

  It's originally a UK publication, and Woolf is a prominent UK author. Proofing a US edition, rather than one from the UK, will seem second-rate to some folks. --EncycloPetey (talk) 02:34, 24 February 2025 (UTC)

  Yes, but wikisource is based around US copyright rules - personally, I see no problem to use a US edition. A UK edition can be added later, surely ? Or do you prefer to obtain a UK edition ? -- Beardo (talk) 03:25, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

  I'm sorry if you did not understand my previous reply. I don't know how to make that reply clearer. --EncycloPetey (talk) 15:26, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

  Calling the cognitive abilities of a fellow wiki worker is never a good practice, especially when there is neither basis for nor utility in doing so...and above all, is something someone occupying a position of trust should avoid. I urge you to reconsider the above comment. (As for the substance I understand yours and Beardo's positions perfectly, and I have no preference one way or the other. If you or somebody else does the legwork of finding a good UK version, sure, no problem using that one If that doesn't happen, I disagree with your concerns about the theoretical "second-rate" concern, I think using a US edition is fine.) -Pete (talk) 22:25, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

  Please do not accuse me of things I did not do. Please read my comment again; the only ability I "called" is my own ability to make my position clear. --EncycloPetey (talk) 22:39, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

  @Pete - thank you.

  @EncycloPetey - no problem. I hope that other users understood you. -- Beardo (talk) 02:18, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

  While I have a general preference for UK editions for UK authors, US editions for US authors, the key thing is that the Hogarth Press was a publishing effort lead by the Woolfs, as it says "Published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf," and therefore tracing the various revisions across impressions and editions is of especial interest. MarkLSteadman (talk) 14:19, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

  I want to add the LibriVox recordings of the work to the finished transcription; these recordings are of the 1931 Hogarth Press edition, which has the same pagination as the 1929 edition. It's possible that there are subtle differences in text in the Harcourt edition, like there are in Orlando: A Biography, that would make including the LibriVox recordings more questionable. prospectprospekt (talk) 02:40, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

Another suggestion, though I still think A Room of One's Own is an excellent choice. Margery Kempe is considered to be the first woman autobiographer in the English language, and her book was lost for about 400 years. This Guardian story from 2014 tells the story, but unfortunately I'm not able to find the (dead-)linked British Library digitization of it. So, finding the source material could take a little work. But the Middle English Texts Series website has a transcription and more. This might be a bit ambitious for a PotM, but it seems like an important work. (One page of it is on Commons.) -Pete (talk) 02:21, 8 February 2025 (UTC)

(A related question, but outside the scope of this page. I don't find any info at WS:WWI about Middle English, and the discussions that come up on a search are from pre-2010. They seem to be generally favorable toward including Middle English texts here, but...they're just discussions, not formalized policies, and they're far from recent. Does anybody know about more recent consideration of this issue, and could point me toward it? -Pete (talk) 02:30, 8 February 2025 (UTC))

I'm pretty sure that middle english is in scope. e.g. at WS:PD#Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Middle English), no objection was raised about its being in middle english, only about its faithfulness being doubtful. — Alien  3
3 3 06:37, 8 February 2025 (UTC)

In addition to Modern English, the English Wikisource includes Middle English, Old English, and Scots. --EncycloPetey (talk) 16:32, 18 February 2025 (UTC)

Middle English transcriptions would indeed be too ambitious for PotM. --EncycloPetey (talk) 22:32, 23 February 2025 (UTC)

April 2025: Poetry / Drama

How about Emily Dickinson's Further Poems (start transcription)? It enters the public domain next year. It might be too long, though. After what we've done recently, no, it's fine. — Alien  3
3 3 13:27, 26 October 2024 (UTC)

I suggest The collected poems of G.K. Chesterton. It's longer, but pages 199-288 are just The Ballad of the White Horse, which I added last year, and wouldn't mind going through again in a couple days. —FPTI (talk) 10:09, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Shouldn't we avoid featuring an author for two months, three months apart? — Alien  3
3 3 10:17, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Dickinson might be a better choice; I'm on a bit of a Chesterton kick right now and am just making suggestions, since there's only one so far. FPTI (talk) 10:28, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Nah, @Alien333 is right. Frankly, I'd rather proofread those poems all by myself. I vote for Dickinson. FPTI (talk) 10:29, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

May 2025: Geography

• Oregon Geographic Names (1952) Most U.S. states likely have such a work; this one has a compelling history. It was initiated as a serial in the Oregon Historical Quarterly in 1925; the author self-published the first book edition a few years later; the author's wife (a librarian who had served as the Quarterly's editor) published this third edition posthumously in 1952. His ancestors have continued to update and republish the work. It's somewhat unusual to have such a recent work lapse into the public domain; a high-quality, searchable transcription at Wikisource would be more readily accessible than later, copyright-encumbered editions, and would likely be valued by amateur and academic researchers alike. -Pete (talk) 07:10, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

  Endorse. — FPTI (talk) 07:12, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

June 2025: Fiction: Novel

I suggest The Saga of Billy the Kid (1926) by Walter Noble Burns--RaboKarbakian (talk) 15:20, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

• Endorse. Earliest telling(?) of a major legend of the U.S. west. -Pete (talk) 07:26, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

July 2025: Anthropology, Mythology, or Religion

I suggest Orthodoxy or Heretics, by G.K. Chesterton. Both are frequently considered some of the best works of Christian apologetics of all time. Alternatively, I suggest Essays on catholicism, liberalism and socialism, as I've heard of it mentioned as an influential book several times. --FPTI (talk) 16:11, 23 September 2024 (UTC)

A possibility: The Negro in American Fiction (1937) (external scan) by Sterling A. Brown, an American professor, folklorist, literary critic, and the first Poet Laureate of the District of Columbia. Right now, we have only a few of his early poems, but none of his other writings, as most had their copyright renewed. --EncycloPetey (talk) 21:48, 18 February 2025 (UTC)

August 2025: Biography

I suggest The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World. It was on the Community Challenge last year, then fell off the board when I was on page 179, so there's 6/10 left to be proofread. It's an interesting and entertaining biography, day to day, and it's not a terribly difficult text. Just fell off my radar. No free ebook versions exist of it online. — FPTI (talk) 10:42, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

• Endorse. Compelling story, unusual accomplishment. Note the extensive Wikipedia bio of the author. -Pete (talk) 07:24, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

  Looking at it, it seems like there's a graphic novel biography of him that's a couple years behind schedule. It would be great to be able to provide a free ebook of it by the time that the comic book is published. — FPTI (talk) 07:32, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

What about The Bronx and Its People, a three-volume encyclopedia/history book on notable people in the Bronx? (Vol. 1, 2, and 3 on the Internet Archive) Norbillian (talk) 03:26, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

This would be a great work to have, but each volume being 600 pages (and those pages aren't small), it might be too long for a monthly challenge. FPTI (talk) 07:54, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

Biographical collections from this era were often pay-to-play, i.e. people would buy an entry, or be required to purchase a certain number of copies, etc. Its Foreword gives the appearance of a serious work, but it does not go as far as, for instance, Women of the West/Preface with its bold-faced assertion that there was no pay-to-play involved. It would be difficult to fully research this question. Without knowing more, I would hesitate to assess it as having high historical value overall. Hosting it here is good, but I'd hesitate to promote it as a major collaborative project. -Pete (talk) 16:02, 3 February 2025 (UTC)

September 2025: Science/Technology

I would suggest The Radio Amateur's Handbook (1958) https://archive.org/details/radioamateurshan0000unse_v6a4 , but only after it's PD status is verified .--RaboKarbakian (talk) 11:03, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

Wouldn't that be a bit large? 700+ plus seems a bit too much for a POTM.

On PD status: this is copyrighted 1958, and the listed renewals do not include a work published in 58, so I think it is. — Alien  3
3 3 11:40, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

It is large. Large like the unfinished Index:The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage.djvu which was POTM June 2010 and that I am glad is here. At least 50 pages are advertisements. It is ham radio for vacuum tubes; which I think is the reason that the copyright was not renewed. The ads are also for vacuum tube technology. It has a lot of images, also (another drawback like its size): photographs, diagrams, and electronics advertising dodads. This is the end, somewhat, of the technology of the current PD-year.--RaboKarbakian (talk) 13:36, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

I suggest Index:VN First Draft Report EDVAC Moore Sch 1945.pdf by John von Neumann. Without this paper, we wouldn't have computer today. Related wikipedia article: First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, Von Neumann architecture. Ivan530 (talk) 18:15, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

October 2025: Fiction (SF/Fantastical/etc.)

I suggest Erewhon. Our copy is currently not backed by any source, and I've heard it's a great novel. A grocery chain named after it is currently all the rage in LA, so maybe now is a good time! —FPTI (talk) 09:57, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

scan here(transcription project) — Alien  3
3 3 10:12, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

The Index:Erewhon - Butler - 1872.djvu now exists. --EncycloPetey (talk) 15:27, 7 February 2025 (UTC)

There are 3 scans available:

1. An 1872 scan from California libraries (transcription project)
2. An 1872 scan from the Smithsonian (has the original cover still) (transcription project)
3. A 1923 illustrated edition (start transcription)

I don't think I would have bothered to make a djvu if I had seen IL's previous djvu; but that said, the Smithsonian scan is the better of the two 1872 scans due to the original cover being present. But illustrated is cool too! No vote from me for this!--RaboKarbakian (talk) 15:46, 18 February 2025 (UTC)

November 2025: Language

Are constructed languages fair game? International Language Past, Present & Future (external scan) discusses Volapük and Esperanto. SometimesUsesWikis (talk) 06:12, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

What about The Language and Sentiment of Flowers (transcription project) by L. V.?

December 2025: Fiction: Short story collections

Selma Lagerlöf's works aren't especially well-covered on English Wikisource. For this month I would suggest a translation of Invisible Links (external scan) or The Girl from the Marsh Croft (external scan). SometimesUsesWikis (talk) 06:12, 23 January 2025 (UTC)