There are a few volumes of Migne I’d like to get printed in book-form. I was looking at using LuLu Xpress, because I’m not wanting to make any money off of it. I’d just like not spend $200 if I just happen to find the volume I want.
I found the GoogleBooks PDF versions, and I removed the front matter pages that are all different sizes and have left just the pages I want. But when I upload it to LuLuXp, it still tells me there are problems with the file. I know some of you have done similar tasks–getting old Greek and Latin resources up on LuLu, and I was wondering if anyone could offer me some advice.
What does OOC mean? What is Migne? What is LuLu Xpress, and how does it differ from Lulu?
You might want to check whether archive.org also has a scan of this book, since, unlike google books, they are an open and nonprofit organization and are much easier to deal with.
My experience is with generating PDF files using LaTeX and uploading them to Lulu. What I’ve seen for quite some time recently is that they report many things as problems when in fact they aren’t problems. For instance, they will say that I’ve used extremely small fonts or low-resolution images when in fact I haven’t.
In general, Lulu’s business model is that they don’t pay any employees to communicate with customers if they can possibly help it, and they don’t care much if there are problems that only occur for <~20% of their users. Eliminating hassles for 20% of their users or avoiding driving away 20% of their users don’t seem to be reasons that that they would consider profitable enough to justify hiring customer service people or improving their software.
If your file prints and looks OK on a home printer, then my suggestion would be simply to order a copy from Lulu, which will cost you $10-20, and see if it looks OK to you or not.
The good news about Lulu is that they are not the typical type of self-publishing scammer that preys on ditzy authors who think their boring and ungrammatical memoirs will become best-sellers. They offer options where you can do POD without start-up costs, which is something that almost nobody else in the POD business will do.
Thank you so much for your reply. It was telling me there were problems, so I assumed I couldn’t keep moving forward. I didn’t realize I might be able to continue to finish the process and print my book. Thanks so much!
OOC: Out of copyright
Migne: Oh, you are in for a good time! The Patrologia Graeca is a 161 vol diglot that took (generally) Christian Greek writings from the Apostolic Fathers (1st, 2nd century) and went all the way up to the fall of Constantinople. There was the original Greek text next to a Latin translation. Here is a link that will walk you through the contents of all of the volumes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrologia_Graeca
They can be purchased (from Greece no less!) for 38EU per volume, or 22EU if you sign up for a subscription that sends you a set number of volumes each month. Otherwise crappy scans or $200 used copies are the only option.
For some of these ancient authors, modern scholarly collations are not available and Migne’s work is it. There are a few that I’d like to have. I like real books, especially when I’m reading Greek, so I’d like to have a few of these available. I mean, sure, I dream about buying the whole set if I strike it rich, but I’m not holding my breath!
By the way, if you are more of a Latin guy, Migne did the same with the Latin fathers, and there are over 200 volumes available. http://patristica.net/latina/
Thank you! I’m a long-time fan of your comic compositions. I’ve purchased almost all of them through your LuLu store. I’m just waiting for Tom Sawyer to finish, and then I’ll get that one as well.
Later in the process, they will give you a preview of your cover, marked to show where the spine is. Do pay attention to that, because it’s accurate and useful. But their automated preflight check on the pdf is not helpful at all in my experience. Just make sure the scanned text is at least about 300 dots per inch. Any resolution significantly lower than that will look bad.
The Patrologia Graeca is a 161 vol diglot that took (generally) Christian Greek writings from the Apostolic Fathers (1st, 2nd century) and went all the way up to the fall of Constantinople. There was the original Greek text next to a Latin translation. Here is a link that will walk you through the contents of all of the volumes. 