Would you be willing to help APM and Puritan Writings??

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C. Matthew McMahon

Christian Preacher
I am underway with the second Puritan CD in translating writings.

I have finished Elisha Coles entire work on Sovereignty, and am working on the raw text file of William Whitaker's book on Disputations on Holy Scriptures, as well as a sermon by Anthony Burgess.

I want to have translated a number of works from old English. If anyone has some extra time and would like to help out, I could send you a .pdf file to translate.

How much time does it take?
You would trasnscribe from old English into modern English about 20-30 pages or so. Oftentimes the text is tough to read, and it takes a little efforts to work through it all. (It is in old English. "s" looks like "f" and "v" looks like "u" etc.) And it helps if you can type.

If anyone is interested, let me know. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
That sounds interesting...I'm willing to help...or at least give it a shot.

Is there any time deadline you're working with? Is it basically changing the archaic spelling, so it's more readable? Or are you changing the archaic words as well?
 
I'd be glad to help. I'm used to the old English spelling (or should I say "fpelling?"), having grown up around the old Geneva Bible and other old English works.

When transcribing, do you want only these old spelling forms updated? Or do you want entire sentences modernized?
 
Hey Matt, I heard through the grapevine that you were attempting to reprint the works of William Twisse at one time. Is this true?

Patrick

[Edited on 12-9-2003 by puritansailor]
 
For those who gave me a "yes I want to help" here is the deal:

I have a number of PDF files that contain public domain works because the time frame is over 150 years.

Yes, they are old English, and I would be looking for you to translate them word for word, not to modernize them. In other words, not a whole lot of thinking about the text, just typing the text out.

I do not have a time frame, perse. If all of you helped with one piece each, that would obviously help move this up that much quicker.

You will be credited in the piece that you typed out for having done that work.

For the most part it is very readable and it is just the archaic English you need to grapple with. I would not want you to type out the word "use" (for example) as "vfd" - that would be defeating the point. In old Englsih the word is spelled "vfd". (You know, v = u, etc.) I would want you to type out the modern English equivalent = use. Does that make sense? But I do not want you to update the whole sentence into modern vernacular. You don't need to do that. I will be going over the whole CD and modernizing certain things, but keeping the original intent later on.

I will also give you all a free CD when its done. :smile:

Here is what I need each of you to do - it will help me as you continue typing things out and staying in touch. Send me an EMAIL at [email protected] and I will reply to that email to you and send you a PDF file attached. They are not very big. (About 30-60k or so). You will need Adobe Acrobat to view the file (and that is free on the Internet or I can sent you the current version).

In the email to me - for the subject - write "EMAIL FOR PDF FILE" so I know that it came from you.

Here is an important rule - you cannot allow this to take time away from your family, or important activites (devotions, church, etc). This is something you want to do in your spare time.

As soon as you send me the email, I will get you started!

Thanks, everyone, for your willingness to help.

William Twisse - yes! As a matter of fact, I can send you one of Twisse's files and you could start on it (but it is a bit longer than a sermon and would take a while). I finished his 4 catechisms on the last CD - which is availble right now. If I can get all his works done, then I will compile them on one CD and then try to have a book publisher publish them later.

[Edited on 12-10-2003 by webmaster]
 
Matt:
Do I have to be able to work on it in a PDF file, or can I send it to you in rtf? I have a read-only version of Acrobat, I think; you know, the one you can download for free from almost any site. Isn't it version 6.1, or is it 7 now? Am I still technically eqipped for the work?
 
Sorry, I should have made that clear too. No, you do not have to work on the piece in PDF format. You just need to read it. RTF, DOC, TXT any of those are fine. Just so I can open it on my end when you email it.
 
Matt:
OK, I'm in. "Expect the first visit when the clock strikes one." Oops, it already did. "I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date."
 
[quote:97d59bbb0f][i:97d59bbb0f]Originally posted by webmaster[/i:97d59bbb0f]
William Twisse - yes! As a matter of fact, I can send you one of Twisse's files and you could start on it (but it is a bit longer than a sermon and would take a while). I finished his 4 catechisms on the last CD - which is availble right now. If I can get all his works done, then I will compile them on one CD and then try to have a book publisher publish them later.
[/quote:97d59bbb0f]

Which work do you wish to send and how long is it? I would like to help but time is scarce here but i will have some time in January to sit down and work on something like this.
 
The smallest work by Twisse I have is 100 pages. He is lengthy.

Correction on the size of the PDF files. They run about 1-3 megs because they are images and not text. If they were text this would be allot easier. So give it a minute when you check your emails and it downloads to you. Save it in a safe place, and be sure to back up your typing to a floppy or disk.

[Edited on 12-10-2003 by webmaster]
 
One other note - if you have margin notes, then add those margin notes in the text in the right spot with parathesis - Example:

"And God siad that violating such a commandment is sin ("whatever the margin note is" and the Scriptures with it if there are any- Exodus 20:10)."
 
[quote:2810641ad4][i:2810641ad4]Originally posted by webmaster[/i:2810641ad4]
One other note - if you have margin notes, then add those margin notes in the text in the right spot with parathesis - Example:

"And God siad that violating such a commandment is sin ("whatever the margin note is" and the Scriptures with it if there are any- Exodus 20:10)." [/quote:2810641ad4]

Matt, the one you sent me has margin notes in another language. What do I do with that? I think some is Greek, and some is Latin.

And what do I do with words I can't make out? Is there such a word as "tenets" spelled "tenents" in old English?

Is there such a man as Mr. John Saltmarsh? Is that the man referred to? I can see that this is going to take some doing. Don't worry, I'm up for it; even if I seem to be wimpering right now.
 
[quote:50ccd9ce8a][i:50ccd9ce8a]Originally posted by blhowes[/i:50ccd9ce8a]
While we're waiting for the pdfs, I thought I'd do a search on the old english alphabet to see what it looks like. Here's a page that might be helpful if you're (like me) not familiar with the [u:50ccd9ce8a]old english alphabet[/u:50ccd9ce8a].

Bob [/quote:50ccd9ce8a]

:p I have the 1810 Noah Webster Dictionary.
 
Webmaster...Since you've done this before...Do you have any particular programs you use, things you do, that you find makes it easier or saves time?

On another note: Do you want us to stay true to the capitalization and the italics?



[Edited on 12-11-2003 by ChristianasJourney]
 
Anything you cannot make out I put a XXXXXXXXX there to go back to it after. Do that amd I will work it out. If you have greek and Latin in the margin then write out the Latin but use GGGGGGGGG for a greek word - I can fix that later.

I usually use Adobe and Microsoft Word.
I split the screen so that Word takes up half my computer Screen abnd Adobe the other half. I read them text and type as I go. I have found that easiest.

If the capitalization is normal for modern English, yes, bbut alot of the Old English is a bit whacky, so fix that.

Think of it this way - take the old document and make it readable in whatever way you need to, even though it will still be "old time enlgish" in modern English. :bouncing:

[Edited on 12-11-2003 by webmaster]
 
Just out of curiosity...are we all working on the same book? Are we all working on different books? How many books/sermons are currently being worked on?
 
There are 7 different treatises and sermons being done. they are all from different people.

On the next round (if people are still up for it) I will send one attachment to everyone and have us all work on a certain number of pages of one particular work. (There is a work by Samuel Rutherford that may fit the bill perfectly.)

Joshua - I'll send it later today when I get home.
 
[b:e61b865c4e]Matthew wrote:[/b:e61b865c4e]
There are 7 different treatises and sermons being done. they are all from different people.

For example, I'm working on a sermon called "A Sermon Against Lukwarmenesse in Religion" by Henry Wilkinson, written in 1640. What a blessing it is to work on the sermon. And its just the kind of sermon that I needed to "hear". Isn't the Lord good!

What are the rest of you "guys" working on?

Bob

[Edited on 12-12-2003 by blhowes]
 
Joshua, I just sent yours again.

I am working on "God's Soveriegnty" by Elisha Coles (a 300 page book). Just about finished. Also working on "Disputations on Holy Scripture" by william whitaker (a 600 pager) - not finished with this one yet.
 
I am working on William Gataker"s [u:c0243062e2]Antinomianism Discovered and Confuted AND Free Grace as it is held forth in God's Word[/u:c0243062e2]. I think I've gotten quite far just in translating the title.:biggrin:
 
A couple things:

How can I select all the pdf text and transfer it to word?

It would be cool to not only compile these great works on disc but also make tract discs that we can give to people of the digital age.


Where did you find this gold mine matt?

blade
 
Blade,

This is actually the point of the project - you cannot transfer them to Word. They are images not text. That is why I have "hired" you all out to help me in typing these out so we can put them in Word form and then I can put them together in a collection for The Writings of A Puritan's Mind Volume 2. (This is what I did alone for volume 1 with all the works I labored over last year...)

I have this gold mine from an offer that expired a few months ago with a ministry in Canada (SWRB). They had some books donated to them, and offered the collection on CD. Its too bad some "legal" stuff seemed to stop their ability to use them. So, they encouraged me (and others) to do what I am doing with them now. Type them out and offer them. Its VERY tedious if you do it alone though, and the larger works (the books) are tough because they take SOOOOOO long to do.
 
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