Please Create a Series!

[David]

Could you please create a 2 book series for me, named after the first of the two, "Malcolm". These are the books:

1) Malcolm
2) The Marquis of Lossie

Thanks!

[Nick]

done

[David]

Nick wrote: "done"

Thanks Nick, but could you please change the editions to the ones I posted the links to in my post? (At the moment, the series is not showing the images of the original classics Malcolm and The Marquis of Lossie, but of two highly abridged, re titled editions called "The Fisherman's Lady" and "The Marquis' Secret.")

And I made a slight mistake myself. Since the 1st book is called "Malcolm", could you change the series name to either "The Malcolm Books" or "Malcolm/The Marquis of Lossie" (either would be fine)

Thanks, and sorry for the confusion!

[Nick]

On the series page only the top editions of each book are displayed https://www.goodreads.com/series/3451...
Would have to separate abridged editions if they significantly differ from the original book.
But I'm not sure what are the criteria for separation in this case.

Could you tell which ones should be separated their own book?

[David]

Nick wrote: "On the series page only the top editions of each book are displayed https://www.goodreads.com/series/3451...
Would have to separate abridged editions if they significantly differ from the or..."

Well both of these abridged editions ("The Fisherman's Lady", which is the abridged version of "Malcolm", and "The Marquis' Secret", which is the abridged version of "The Marquis of Lossie") are certainly significantly different from the originals.

So if I'm understanding your question correctly, those two abridgements (The Fisherman's Lady and The Marquis' Secret) should be separated so that they form their own series, and a new series should be created, comprising Malcolm and The Marquis of Lossie.

Or if there can only be one series, it should be Malcolm and The Marquis of Lossie, since these have the correct, original titles, and are the full, unabridged novels that MacDonald wrote in the 1800s.

Hope that helps!

[Nick]

I searched around the forum and librarians say that abridged editions
- should be combined,
- should NOT be combined (same person),
- should be combined.

I suppose the best thing to do is to keep them as editions of the same book (not separated), then for each abridged version specify "Edition: Abridged", and put link to proper full editions in the description.

Also, series description should explain that some editions are abridged.

[Emily]

Nick wrote: "I searched around the forum and librarians say that abridged editions - should be combined,
- should NOT be combined (same person).."

No one said that abridged and unabridged editions should not be combined. They said that the abridged editions should not be *merged* with the unabridged ones (if other abridged ones are are available as the target).

[Emily]

If abridged editions are significantly different from the originals then we would deal with those on a case by case basis, depending on the length of each. You can post here and someone can look at them.

[Nick]

I forgot that "merge" is a different action.

David posted the books in the 1st message, reasoning - in 5th.
Abridged editions seem to have half the number of pages.

[David]

Emily wrote: "If abridged editions are significantly different from the originals then we would deal with those on a case by case basis, depending on the length of each. You can post here and someone can look at..."

Thanks Emily. So I think the best thing would be to begin with the books I mentioned in this thread. There are a lot of George MacDonald books which have been retitled, abridged to about half the length, and published for the Christian Fiction market (this happened in the 1980s and 1990s and they became so popular that they are now better known than the originals) but I could address the others in a different post/series of posts.

So for now, as regards the books currently under discussion, could we clearly mark the books in the series Nick just created as "abridged"? These are called "The Fisherman's Lady" and "The Marquis' Secret", and this is the existing series: https://www.goodreads.com/series/3451...

AND

Could we please have a separate series with the unabridged, original novels written by MacDonald in the 1800s? These are called "Malcolm" and "The Marquis of Lossie", and I would simply call the series after them ("Malcolm/The Marquis of Lossie") I'll post the links again here for convenience:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

Thanks!

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Abridged editions -- as distinct from adapted editions -- are generally combined with the originals on Goodreads. There is no reason to separate the specific ones linked to here.

[David]

rivka wrote: "Abridged editions -- as distinct from adapted editions -- are generally combined with the originals on Goodreads. There is no reason to separate the specific ones linked to here."

These books are actually adapted as well as abridged though. They are part of a raft of MacDonald stories that were adapted for the Christian Fiction market back in the 1980s and 1990s, with all of the original titles altered to make them into Romance novels, some of the text altered, and the original broad Scots dialogue simplified or removed. This is in addition to them being much MORE abridged than is usually the case with classics for adults (they're mostly stripped down to about 50-60% of the original content.)

The editions that I listed as alternatives are complete and unabridged (including original Scots dialogue) and have the original titles. They do have an added column of English dialogue alongside the broad Scots, as the latter is impenetrable for a lot of modern, non Scottish readers. I have put them forward as being the most helpful editions, and they are endorsed by the stepson of C S Lewis (who was one of the biggest fans of the originals) along with many other Lewis & MacDonald experts. However, if they are also considered "adaptations," I could recommend alternative unabridged editions.

Thanks again for engaging with me on this, and I hope the above is helpful.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Thank you for the additional information. As these editions contain the original text, we would certainly leave them combined with their fellows.

[David]

rivka wrote: "Thank you for the additional information. As these editions contain the original text, we would certainly leave them combined with their fellows."

Thanks rivka. If the abridged versions are going to be the default images for the series, however, would it be possible for them to be marked as "abridged" or "adapted from the original"?

I don't want to be troublesome about this, it's just that George MacDonald really belongs in the company of his contemporaries, and fellow authors of 19th century classics, such as Dickens and Stevenson, but most people only know about the repackaged Romance versions of his books, which don't reflect that fact. However, if it's not Goodreads policy to point out when such books are adapted, I will understand and leave it there.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

They can have Abridged added to their edition fields, certainly.

[David]

rivka wrote: "They can have Abridged added to their edition fields, certainly."

Much appreciated, thanks!