InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions

Wed Jan 9 06:20:49 CET 2008

Cafe,

Does anyone have personal experience with the EasyRead
paperbacks issued by ReadHowYouWant.com?

I'm curious about the quality of their printed books, which
run from about US$9.99 - US$14.99, and are sold directly by
the publisher (Objective Systems Pty Ltd of NSW, Australia)
and by amazon.com.

As far as I can tell, ReadHowYouWant.com paperbacks
typically come in 7 formats

	EasyRead Edition
	EasyRead Comfort Edition
	EasyRead Large Edition
	EasyRead Large Bold Edition (aka Large Type 16pt
	  Bold Edition)
	EasyRead Super Large 18pt Edition
	EasyRead Super Large 20pt Edition
	EasyRead Super Large 24pt Edition

with the 1st three set in Verdana, and the remaining four
set in a combination of TiresiasLPfont and MicrosoftSansSerif.

All the 2006 EasyRead editions use an uninspired layout
template, and I expect have been designed to suit some kind
of print-on-demand digital publication model.

My own sudden interest in EasyRead publications has to do
with the fact that ReadHowYouWant.com is now printing C17
texts as part of their "Classics Library," including two
titles by Margaret Cavendish, duchess of Newcastle:
_Assaulted and Pursued Chastity_ and _The Description of a
New World, Called The Blazing World_.

Although the ReadHowYouWant.com copyright notice for all
2006 editions of both Cavendish books reads:

	"The text in this book has been downloaded from the
	internet and has been extensively edited and
	typeset.

	"Copyright c. 2006 Objective Systems Pty Ltd ACN 085
	119 953"

there is little evidence of much real editorial work having
been done here. Indeed, one searches in vain (in both the
PDF "preview" files offered by the publisher:

<
http://www.readhowyouwant.com/pcsWebUI/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=10243# 

>
<
http://www.readhowyouwant.com/pcsWebUI/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=10858# 

>

and in the "SEARCH INSIDE" feature offered by amazon.com:

<
http://www.amazon.com/Assaulted-Chastity-EasyRead-Margaret-Cavendish/dp/1425067123/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199321687&sr=1-1 

>
<
http://www.amazon.com/Assaulted-Pursued-Chastity-EasyRead-Comfort/dp/1425067808/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199321687&sr=1-2 

>
<
http://www.amazon.com/Assaulted-Pursued-Chastity-EasyRead-Large/dp/1425068480/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199398322&sr=1-3 

>
<
http://www.amazon.com/Assaulted-Pursued-Chastity-Large-Print/dp/1425066445/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199398322&sr=1-7 

>
<
http://www.amazon.com/Assaulted-Pursued-Chastity-EasyRead-Super/dp/1425001688/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199398322&sr=1-5 

>
<
http://www.amazon.com/Assaulted-Pursued-Chastity-EasyRead-Super/dp/1425016405/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199250334&sr=1-4 

>
<
http://www.amazon.com/Assaulted-Pursued-Chastity-EasyRead-Super/dp/1425032303/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199398322&sr=1-6 

>
<
http://www.amazon.com/Description-World-Called-Blazing-EasyRead/dp/1425017851/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199401120&sr=1-8 

>
<
http://www.amazon.com/Description-Called-Blazing-EasyRead-Comfort/dp/1425020410/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199401120&sr=1-5 

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<
http://www.amazon.com/Description-World-Called-Blazing-EasyRead/dp/1425023150/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199401120&sr=1-6 

>
<
http://www.amazon.com/Description-New-World-Called-Blazing/dp/1554806836/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199401120&sr=1-7 

>
<
http://www.amazon.com/Description-New-World-Called-Blazing/dp/1427012148/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199820197&sr=1-1 

>

) for any discussion of editorial responsibility, period.

This is particularly interesting to me in light of some
changes to the copyright notice introduced with the only
2007 edition listed above:

<
http://www.amazon.com/Description-New-World-Called-Blazing/dp/1427012148/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199820197&sr=1-1 

>

(here you can view the copyright page using amazon's SEARCH
INSIDE feature).

This is how the new copyright notice reads:

	"The text in this book has been formatted and
	typeset to make reading easier and more enjoyable.
	Spelling and punctuation have been modernized and
	standardized, and hyphens have been avoided when
	possible. Obvious typographical errors have been
	corrected. In addition, the text has been formatted
	to the specifications indicated on the title page.
	The original text is out of copyright. The edited
	text in this edition and the formatting are the
	copyright of Objective Systems Pty Ltd ACN 085 119
	953."

While I accept that the formatting of EasyRead texts clearly
falls within their copyright, I do NOT believe they have
any right to copyright "the edited text in this edition."

After all, someone else did the transcription from the C17
original (which I can guarantee involved a *substantial*
amount of value-adding labor!), and it's not enough to just
vaguely claim that you "downloaded" the text from the
internet ... then proceed to copyright someone's else's work
and profit from it.

There are several modern editions of Cavendish's _Blazing
World_ floating around (it resonates with modern readers,
unlike, say, some of MC's more intense works of science
which have yet to see the light of day ;-).

So Objective Systems Pty Ltd could have taken their text
from any one of these, and IMHO, they ought to tell us their
source.

There are several reasons for such disclosure, including the
fact that MC's texts are notoriously "unstable." E.g., there
were at least 3 17th-century issues of MC's _The Blazing
World_, which was originally appended to a scientific work
titled,

	_Observations upon Experimental Philosophy: To Which
	Is Added the Description of a New Blazing World_

(London, 1666 and 1668). _The Blazing World_ was also issued
as a stand-alone publication in 1668, and for this edition,
MC wrote a new 2-page preface ("To all Noble and Worthy
Ladies") containing critical information about the text, and
her intent in writing it.

Since "To all Noble and Worthy Ladies" is short, and not
included in the ReadHowYouWant.com EasyRead editions (which
reprint only the original preface "To the Reader"), I will
pass on (free of charge ;-) my own transcription of the 1668
replacement preface for everyone here:

	"To all Noble and Worthy Ladies.

	"This present _Description of a New World_, was made
	as an *Appendix* to my _Observations upon
	Experimental Philosophy_; and, having some Sympathy
	and Coherence with each other, were joyned together
	as Two several Worlds, at their Two Poles. But, by
	reason most Ladies take no delight in *Philosophical
	Arguments*, I separated some from the mentioned
	_Observations_, and caused them to go out by
	themselves, that I might express my Respects, in
	presenting to Them such *Fancies* as my
	Contemplations did afford. The First Part is
	*Romancical*; the Second, *Philosophical*; and the
	Third is meerly Fancy; or, (as I may call it)
	*Fantastical*. And if (*Noble Ladies*) you should
	chance to take pleasure in reading these *Fancies*,
	I shall account my self a *Happy Creatoress*: If
	not, I must be content to live a Melancholly Life in
	my own World; which I cannot call a *Poor World*, if
	*Poverty* be only want of *Gold*, and *Jewels*: for,
	there is more *Gold* in it, than all the *Chymists*
	ever made; or, (as I verily believe) will ever be
	able to make. As for the *Rocks of Diamonds*, I
	wish, with all my Soul, they might be shared amongst
	my Noble *Female Friends*; upon which condition, I
	would willingly quit my Part: And of the *Gold*, I
	should desire only so much as might suffice to
	repair my Noble Lord and Husband's Losses: for, I am
	not Covetous, but as Ambitious as ever any of my Sex
	was, is, or can be; which is the cause, That though
	I cannot be *Henry* the Fifth, or *Charles* the
	Second; yet, I will endeavour to be, *Margaret* the
	*First*: and, though I have neither Power, Time, nor
	Occasion, to be a great Conqueror, like *Alexander*,
	or *Cesar*; yet, rather than not be Mistress of a
	World, since Fortune and the Fates would give me
	none, I have made One of my own. And thus,
	believing, or, at least, hoping, that no Creature
	can, or will, Envy me for this World of	mine, I
	remain,

	"Noble Ladies,
	"Your Humble Servant,
	"M. Newcastle."

Not only do I question ReadHowYouWant.com editorial choices
about which C17 copy-text to use, how much to modernize and
"correct" it, etc., I take issue with the design of the
EasyRead editions.

Unfortunately, _The Blazing World_'s front matter is not
included as part of amazon.com's SEARCH INSIDE selection, so
if you want to see how it's been formatted, you'll need to
download a preview PDF of the EasyRead Large Bold version
(set in 16pt TiresiasLPfont) from the ReadHowYouWant.com
website:

<
http://www.readhowyouwant.com/pcsWebUI/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=10858# 

>

Page 1 of the PDF is a 12-line poem ("To the Duchesse ...")
which is left-justified in the C17 originals, but centered
in the C21 EasyRead editions, and I'm not sure why the
anonymous editor(s) at ReadHowYouWant.com chose to do it
this way.

The centered text is not, to my mind, a readability improvement.

One thing they did pretty well during the 17th century was
to lay out -- often quite beautifully -- text-heavy pages in
large-sized type.

For purposes of comparison, I've temporarily posted a
facsimile of the page from the original stand-alone 1668
edition of _The Blazing World_ at my website:

<
http://www.she-philosopher.com/home/temp/MC_BWorld1668_preface1.gif 

>

In addition to the changed alignment of the text, notice the
difference between how the title of the poem is handled in
the 1668 original vs. the 2006 EasyRead reprint. This, too,
is poorly done, as far as I'm concerned.

Surely it's possible to come up with a design template --
able to accommodate a range of type sizes -- that more
closely retains the look-and-feel of the original printed poem?

And I question other ReadHowYouWant.com design decisions as
well, especially the artwork for front and back covers.

The EasyRead covers for MC's _The Blazing World_ are not
included in the ReadHowYouWant.com PDF previews, so for
these, you'll have to use amazon.com's SEARCH INSIDE feature
(see above URLs).

All the 2006 EasyRead editions of _The Blazing World_ use
the same cover design (with orange and green backgrounds to
more easily differentiate formats). Of note, the one 2007
edition of _The Blazing World_

<
http://www.amazon.com/Description-New-World-Called-Blazing/dp/1427012148/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199820197&sr=1-1 

>

sports a newly-designed cover, but features the same cover
illustration. I find the illustration anachronistic (looks
to be something from _Alice in Wonderland_ ???), and would
rather have seen a simple period-style fleuron deployed
artistically on the cover, than such an inappropriate graphic.

Plus, on the back cover (of all EasyRead titles for Margaret
Cavendish), we have a picture of MC which is NOT in fact her
portrait, but a painting of MC's elder sister, Mary Lucas
(c. 1635).

(FWIW, the original "School of van Dyck" painting is held by
the National Gallery of Victoria, in Melbourne, Australia,
and is catalogued as a portrait of Mary Lucas. However, it
was at some point misidentified by art historians and the
early C20 scholar Douglas Grant, with this error further
propagated by Kathleen Jones, whose non-scholarly biography
of MC in 1988, _A Glorious Fame_, featured the image on its
cover.)

As for the EasyRead editions of MC's _Assaulted and Pursued
Chastity_, I have a similar list of criticisms.

For starters, there is no mention anywhere that this is a
tale excerpted from MC's _Natures Pictures drawn by Fancies
Pencil to the Life_ (pp. 394-514 of a 718-page book, not
counting front matter). And again, there is no indication of
which copy-text was used (a transcription of the 1656 or
1671 edition of _Natures Pictures_?), and why.

Moreover, the ReadHowYouWant.com reprint opens with verses

	Thus in this Semy-Circle, wher they Sitt,
	Telling of Tales of pleasure & of witt,
	Heer you may read without a Sinn or Crime,
	And how more innocently pass your tyme.

that are NOT part of the 1656 or 1671 printed text of
_Assaulted and Pursued Chastity_; rather, these serve as the
gloss to a (very rare) frontispiece engraving found in only
*some* C17 copies of _Natures Pictures_.

Nor were these verses written by MC, so strictly speaking,
they shouldn't head up her "Preamble" (a reader cue used for
her prefatory remarks in the 1671 revised edition of
_Natures Pictures_, although not in the EasyRead versions)
... especially with no explanation of such a peculiar
editorial intervention.

And again, the pic used for the front cover of EasyRead
editions of _Assaulted and Pursued Chastity_ has *nothing*
to do with MC or her works, prompting me to wonder: why
not use the frontispiece engraving, that has a real
connection with the work, instead?

For those of you who are curious about the frontispiece,
engraved by Peter Clouwet (aka Petrus Clouet), after a
design by Abraham van Diepenbeke, I've temporarily posted a
facsimile to my website:

<
http://www.she-philosopher.com/home/temp/MC_NaturesPix1656_frontispiece.gif 

>

And, of course, there's a story behind the frontispiece that
should be told also. The engraving actually deviates from
the earlier Diepenbeke study in significant ways -- all
part of the complicated visual rhetoric of MC's texts,
designed to convey multiple messages to multiple audiences.

Diepenbeke's original study, which was probably commissioned
by Margaret and William for use in their publications, shows
Margaret (seated far right, wearing the poet's garland of
bay leaves) as the animated teller of the "Tales of pleasure
& of witt" described in the frontispiece gloss. In the
original study, it is Margaret who holds up her hand,
commanding the attention for her audience.

But in the engraving (which would have been sold separately
as a stand-alone print, as well as bound into some --
especially presentation -- copies of MC's texts), Margaret's
husband William (seated next to her, and similarly crowned
with a laurel wreath) becomes the active narrator. In the
engraving, it is William who gestures for audience attention
with a pointing finger.

Nonetheless, this visual concession to patriarchal rule
(Margaret's critics had accused her of entrenching on "the
male prerogative" with her publications, and both she and
her husband were at pains to defend her against this charge)
is neatly undercut by the text that follows. In Margaret's
verses describing the frontispiece (from the 1656 ed. of
_Natures Pictures_), she reclaims her role as narrator:

	My lord and I here in two chairs are set,
	And all his children, wives and husbands, met,
	To hear me tell them tales as I think fit,
	And hope they're full of fancy and of wit.
	Ladies, I ask your pardons, mercies, I,
	Since I talk all, and many ladies by.

So, if any verses are to be inserted at the head of MC's
_Assaulted and Pursued Chastity_, it should be these 6
lines, I think, and not the 4-line gloss to the frontispiece
(which was probably written by William).

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com