I want the old language warts and all. I want to learn how words were expressed in a historical context. That teaches me more than just the words themselves, that transports you to their time.
I did a search in the Google Groups about 'modernization' and you get quotes like this coming up [0] (about William Wollaston's "The Religion of Nature Delineated"):
> I've got a first draft ready, after about a month's steady work. I could use some proofreading help, in three areas in particular:
> 1. general typos (the use of the long-s in particular I'm sure has led to several)
> 2. suggestions for improved use of commas. They did this weirdly in the 18th century, and I think a new edition could do well by bringing the practice up to date, but it isn't my strong suit
... and in reply ...
> then it sounds like we'll have to do some significant spelling modernization
So they've moved from just 'tasteful' to 'significant'.
I don't see how you can draw a line for this kind of thing. But I guess I don't know very much about the painful process up digitising old books.
I want the old language warts and all. I want to learn how words were expressed in a historical context. That teaches me more than just the words themselves, that transports you to their time.
I did a search in the Google Groups about 'modernization' and you get quotes like this coming up [0] (about William Wollaston's "The Religion of Nature Delineated"):
> I've got a first draft ready, after about a month's steady work. I could use some proofreading help, in three areas in particular:
> 1. general typos (the use of the long-s in particular I'm sure has led to several)
> 2. suggestions for improved use of commas. They did this weirdly in the 18th century, and I think a new edition could do well by bringing the practice up to date, but it isn't my strong suit
... and in reply ...
> then it sounds like we'll have to do some significant spelling modernization
So they've moved from just 'tasteful' to 'significant'.
I don't see how you can draw a line for this kind of thing. But I guess I don't know very much about the painful process up digitising old books.
[0]: https://groups.google.com/d/topic/standardebooks/etzVBgBo1VE...