How-To get Gutenberg-DE HTML to calibre (EPUB)?

robert · 11-06-2023, 06:44 PM

Hi, I just bought the Gutenberg-DE edition 16.

I want to convert my favorite books to Epub and transfer them to my Kobo Libra 2.

Sounds too easy?

Well, http://www.epub2go.eu/ does the job from the online Gutenberg-DE repository.
However, it is not from the locally installed version.

I just pulled the index.html of a book of interest to calibre; it tells about 'importing metadata' and stalls (well, after 20 min at 0%, I gave up).

Any experience or tricks on how I can do it?

Note: I already complained to the Gutenberg-DE service about why they cannot make it a bit easier, e.g., by a calibre plugin..

kovidgoyal · 11-06-2023, 10:09 PM

I dont know what gutenber-de is, but assuming its a colelction of HTML files, just let calibre run it has to parse all the html files looking for images/stylesheets/links etc so for a large colelction it will take time.

Capricorn · 11-07-2023, 02:30 AM

It can be found here: https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/
11789 Books from 2476 Authors in HTML-Format will take a LONG time to convert to Epub.

msel · 11-07-2023, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robert

I just pulled the index.html of a book of interest to calibre; it tells about 'importing metadata' and stalls (well, after 20 min at 0%, I gave up).

Hello robert,

a) have you tried to open the Index.html with the calibre E-Book-Editor? (Right Click - Open With - E-Book editor)?

b) The books are on CD - right? Perhaps you must copy the book first from the cd on a local drive.

Greetings, Maria

DNSB · 11-07-2023, 04:24 PM

If Gutenberg.de is supplying the html books in .zip files which Gutenberg.org is fond of doing, I've found that I needed to unpack the .zip file into a temporary directory and then import it to calibre. I ended up using 7Zip and calibre from the command line the one time I tried to import ~200 books using a loop in a batch file to step through the directories.

Quoth · 11-07-2023, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNSB

If Gutenberg.de is supplying the html books in .zip files which Gutenberg.org is fond of doing, I've found that I needed to unpack the .zip file into a temporary directory and then import it to calibre. I ended up using 7Zip and calibre from the command line the one time I tried to import ~200 books using a loop in a batch file to step through the directories.

Something similar with a free Baen Books CD ISO download, which had seriously weird stuff in it. I think downloaded nearly 15 years ago and forgotten till recently.

I suppose we are lucky Gutenberg aren't solely offering plain text, which they did before adding HTML and mobi (not called old Kindle till later).

robert · 11-07-2023, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capricorn

It can be found here: https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/
11789 Books from 2476 Authors in HTML-Format will take a LONG time to convert to Epub.

Hi, I want to import a single book. Now I try it on my Gaming Laptop. Let's hope...

robert · 11-07-2023, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by msel

Hello robert,

a) have you tried to open the Index.html with the calibre E-Book-Editor? (Right Click - Open With - E-Book editor)?

b) The books are on CD - right? Perhaps you must copy the book first from the cd on a local drive.

Greetings, Maria

Hi Maria,
Yes, I first copied the .zip Download (7.6 GB) to my SSD drive and unzipped it.
Now I try opening it with the Calibre epub editor. Quite annoying. Why don't they offer epubs or a decent converter/ Calibre plugin a la epub2go?
Best, Robert

robert · 11-09-2023, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNSB

If Gutenberg.de is supplying the html books in .zip files which Gutenberg.org is fond of doing, I've found that I needed to unpack the .zip file into a temporary directory and then import it to calibre. I ended up using 7Zip and calibre from the command line the one time I tried to import ~200 books using a loop in a batch file to step through the directories.

Hi, I tried that now as well and maybe I got a hint why this takes forever:
~~~
rob@robert-winkler-Lenovo ~/d/g/a/judas> ebook-convert index.html andrejew_judas.epub
1% Eingabe wird zu HTML konvertiert*…
InputFormatPlugin: HTML Input running
on /home/rob/dataspace/gutenberg-edition16/andrejew/judas/index.html
Language not specified
Building file list...
IgnoreFile('/home/rob/dataspace/gutenberg-edition16/info/texte/Vom-Antiquariat-zum-E-Text.pdf is a binary file')
IgnoreFile('/home/rob/dataspace/gutenberg-edition16/plautus/asinaria/asinaria.pdf is a binary file')
IgnoreFile('/home/rob/dataspace/gutenberg-edition16/plautus/epidicus/epidicus.pdf is a binary file')
IgnoreFile('/home/rob/dataspace/gutenberg-edition16/plautus/mercator/mercator.pdf is a binary file')
IgnoreFile('/home/rob/dataspace/gutenberg-edition16/plautus/mostell1/mostell1.pdf is a binary file')
~~~
etc.

This indicates that calibre is scanning through all the directories?

By chance, do you have a working script to process a single directory?

DNSB · 11-09-2023, 04:19 PM

What does index.html contain? Can you post an image of the structure of the .zip file? One publisher used to include an index.html on their CD's that contains all the ebooks & formats on the CD so you needed to import from the subdirectories to get the ebooks.

robert · 11-12-2023, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNSB

What does index.html contain? Can you post an image of the structure of the .zip file? One publisher used to include an index.html on their CD's that contains all the ebooks & formats on the CD so you needed to import from the subdirectories to get the ebooks.

Hi DNSB,
An example index.html (in the subdirectory of the book) looks as follows. Yes, I would import the books 1x1 from the subdirectory.

Spoiler:

Capricorn · 11-13-2023, 02:28 AM

When I look at the "Impressum" webpage of the website where you bought it, it is clear that it is not gutenberg.org that manages it, but a private publisher. On this page they state they can deliver the stuff in epub - see https://www.abc.de/
So, ask them to send it all to you in epub format instead of html.

robert · 11-14-2023, 03:42 PM

With https://github.com/JohnButzel/Gutenberg2Epub you can extract a book from Gutenberg-DE online or local. The resulting output is compatible with Calibre and an ebook Reader (tested on a Kobo Libra 2).

Thanks a lot to the author!!!

11-06-2023, 06:44 PM	#1
robert Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2023 Device: Kobo Libra 2	How-To get Gutenberg-DE HTML to calibre (EPUB)? Hi, I just bought the Gutenberg-DE edition 16. I want to convert my favorite books to Epub and transfer them to my Kobo Libra 2. Sounds too easy? Well, http://www.epub2go.eu/ does the job from the online Gutenberg-DE repository. However, it is not from the locally installed version. I just pulled the index.html of a book of interest to calibre; it tells about 'importing metadata' and stalls (well, after 20 min at 0%, I gave up). Any experience or tricks on how I can do it? Note: I already complained to the Gutenberg-DE service about why they cannot make it a bit easier, e.g., by a calibre plugin..

11-14-2023, 03:42 PM	#13
robert Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2023 Device: Kobo Libra 2	SOLVED: conversion of Gutenberg-DE HTML to epub With https://github.com/JohnButzel/Gutenberg2Epub you can extract a book from Gutenberg-DE online or local. The resulting output is compatible with Calibre and an ebook Reader (tested on a Kobo Libra 2). Thanks a lot to the author!!!

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11-06-2023, 10:09 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 44,565 Karma: 24495948 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	I dont know what gutenber-de is, but assuming its a colelction of HTML files, just let calibre run it has to parse all the html files looking for images/stylesheets/links etc so for a large colelction it will take time.

11-07-2023, 02:30 AM	#3
Capricorn Belgian Pommes Frites Posts: 116 Karma: 532 Join Date: Jan 2012 Device: Pocketbook Touch HD	It can be found here: https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/ 11789 Books from 2476 Authors in HTML-Format will take a LONG time to convert to Epub.

11-07-2023, 04:24 PM	#5
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 40,603 Karma: 157444382 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	If Gutenberg.de is supplying the html books in .zip files which Gutenberg.org is fond of doing, I've found that I needed to unpack the .zip file into a temporary directory and then import it to calibre. I ended up using 7Zip and calibre from the command line the one time I tried to import ~200 books using a loop in a batch file to step through the directories.

11-09-2023, 04:19 PM	#10
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 40,603 Karma: 157444382 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	What does index.html contain? Can you post an image of the structure of the .zip file? One publisher used to include an index.html on their CD's that contains all the ebooks & formats on the CD so you needed to import from the subdirectories to get the ebooks.

11-13-2023, 02:28 AM	#12
Capricorn Belgian Pommes Frites Posts: 116 Karma: 532 Join Date: Jan 2012 Device: Pocketbook Touch HD	When I look at the "Impressum" webpage of the website where you bought it, it is clear that it is not gutenberg.org that manages it, but a private publisher. On this page they state they can deliver the stuff in epub - see https://www.abc.de/ So, ask them to send it all to you in epub format instead of html.