Have you ever purchased a public-domain eBook?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I'm assume this was after you voted?

I voted no before posting in the thread. The copy of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea that I have is not public domain. The translation is too recent.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

The Public Domain translations are serviceable, but I really do wish someone would commission a fresh translation from the original Klingon.

Makes sense, given that in pretty much all his most famous works, the theme seems to be "EVERY day is a good day to die"

[ownedbycats]

honestly, I'm a bit confused on the "it's not public domain because it's a copyrighted translation" argument — because in most cases, you can decide to go with a non-copyrighted trranslatiaon.

[ekbell]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

honestly, I'm a bit confused on the "it's not public domain because it's a copyrighted translation" argument — because in most cases, you can decide to go with a non-copyrighted trranslatiaon.

In many cases, going with a PD domain translation means going with a decidedly inferior option. And it is never going to be the same, simply because no two translations are quite the same.

In regards to the first statement, editorial and translation policies in the 19th century were significantly different than current norms.

For some books, such as most of Jules Verne, the PD domain translation is simply so truncated as create a vastly different reading experience.

For other books, the 19th century translators would refuse to translate anything sexual or referring to indelicate body functions. For example, the PD transcription of Pepys's diary not only removes his sexual escapades but also all references to his wife's 'courses'. My daughter was frustrated by the fact that one 19th translator of a Latin book just dumped in untranslated Latin whenever the original author was discussing something the 19th century translator thought inappropriate but at least they were honest enough to keep the material even if they wouldn't translate it.

And then there are the 19th century translators who would translate old books into what they thought was an appropriate style, sometimes this would be anachronistic English, sometimes it was simply more formal and flowery then the 'bad' style of the original.