Resources and Issues in Textual Criticism Compiled by Robert Kraft from information supplied on the electronic discussion group MEDTEXTL Topics in Textual Criticism [From: Jim Marchand Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 09:10:28 CST] I thought I would add a note on a small book everyone knows and uses: Paul Maas, Textkritik, 3d ed. (Leipzig: Teubner, 1957), also available in English translation: Textual Criticism, tr. Barbara Flower (Oxford: Clarendon, 1958). I should point out that it is Lachmannian through and through, but it is still a good intro. For a list of subjects, I append here an old handout for a privatissimum I had long ago on the subject, but it may be of use to you as a place to hang your thoughts. If you add to it or have exceptions to make, let us know. 1. recensio, examinatio, interpretatio, emendatio. 2. stemma and the genealogical method. 3. families, types, etc. 4. shared innovations. 5. autograph, copy, archetype, hyparchetype, exemplar. 6. scribal errors. errors of the eye, the hand, the ear. 7. haplography, dittography, lettres dansantes, poor eidetic memory. 8. lectio difficilior, facilior. 9. wandering eye. 10. parallel texts. 11. poor knowledge of scribal tradition. 12. codicology and textual critisism. 13. gatherings and their nature. 14. omission signs. 15. signatures of various kinds; custodes. 16. corrective signs of various kinds, cf. Isidore. 17. marginalia. 18. interlinear material. 19. Problems of order of the text. Interpolations. 20. Word confusion: Oh, that this all too sullied/solid flesh would melt! 21. Suspension marks. 22. holes in the parchment. 23. Diplomatic edition. 24. Zeilengetreue edition. 25. photographic edition; problems. 2S. crux. 27. logic; knowledge of ones author. 28. normalization. 29. dialect variants and their origins. 30. scriptoria and their practices. 31. good and bad manuscripts. 32. Lachmann, Quentin, Bedier. 33. The unique manuscript and textual criticism. 34. Generic vs. genetic in textual criticism. 35. The attribution of works of literature (see other page on this). 36. Rejection of passages because they do not fit expected patterns. 37. Agreement & influence: the problem of reciprocal corrections. Did Gottfried precede Wolfram or vice versa or neither? 38. Infusion of texts. 39. Mode of existence of the text and audience problems. 40. Ausgabe 1., 2. ... letzter Hand. 41. Corrections made in the day; are they privileged7 42. Are stemmata drawn on manuscripts or passages? 43. Colwell's dilemma. 44. multiple autographs. 45. Texteinteilung. 46. Punctuation (cf. Denholm-Young). 47. Numerical composition as a tool. 48. Dating as a tool. 49. Quotations etc. as a tool. 50. Common errors as a tool. (t for c , etc.). 51. Manuscript chronology and the fallacy of dating. 52. Variantenverzeichnis, variorum edition, text to choose. 53. The individual mistake and the tendency of the text. [54. Special problems of translated texts. RAK] Editing techniques [From: Jim Marchand Date: Thu, 13 Oct 1994 09:13:07 CST] To aid in the discussion of editing techniques, I herewith append one of the handouts for my talk at SASS last spring, on editing techniques for Old Norse texts. It is fragmentary and is not the real handout, which I could not find, but it should be a place to hang one's thoughts. [The question of editing set me to thinking. I recently had to make up a time-line of events in editing technique, and I said at the time from memory that it was in the Vaestgoeta Lag edition of Schlyter and Collin (1827) that the first stemma appeared. As usual, I had lost my confirmation, and, since I don't make it up to the library very much, was kind of stuck. I now can offer confirmation: Go"sta Holm, "Carl Johan Schlyter and Textual Scholarship," Saga och Sed, Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademiens Aarsbok (Uppsala: Lundequist, 1972), 48-80. I am sure he is right when he says (p. 52): "as far as I can see, his is the first manuscript stemma ever to be published." This is fairly important, for he seems not to have been influenced by Lachmann, and it shows (read Goethe & Herder) that Darwinism and dendrology were in the air. Colwell's article on "Genealogical Method" ought to be required reading for editors. (Sun, 24 Jul 1994 19:42:00 CST Jim Marchand )]

Timeline of Editing Techniques 1820- Dendrology. Main proponent Lachmann, cf. S. Timpanaro, La genesi del metodo del Lachmann (Florence, 1963). First stemma drawn by Schlyter in his edition of the V!stg!talagen, SGL 1 (1827). 1850- For a short time the attempt at a Zeilengetreue edition appeared, with Uppstroem's still valid work on Gothic and, in Scandinavia, particularly Konradh Gislason's Um frum-partar islenzkrar tungu i fornoeld (Copenhagen, 1846). Cf. Hans Fix, "Production and Usage of a Machine-Readable Manuscript: A Report on the Saarbruecken Verson of Gragas Konungsbok," Computer Applications to Medieval Studies, ed. Anne Gilmour-Bryson. Studies in Medieval Culture XVII (Kalamazoo, 1984), 107-116. 1900- growing dissatisfaction with the genealogical method, culminating in Bedier's many attacks, beginning with his introduction to Le Lai de l'Ombre par Jean Renart, SATF (Paris, 1913). The theory of the Leithandschrift. 1920- Dom Henri Quentin introduced the notion of numerical taxonomy to textual criticism in Memoire sur l'etablissement du texte de la Vulgate (Rome, 1922). Cf. Dom J. Froger, La critique des textes et son automatisation. Initiation aux nouveautes de la science, 7 (Paris, 1968). 1947- Colwell's Dilemma. In "Genealogical Method: Its Achievements and its Limitations," Journal of Biblical Literature 19 (1947), 109-133, E. C. Colwell, the famous textual critic of the Bible, mounted the strongest attack yet against the genealogical method, in which he pointed out that it would only work with a paucity of material. 1969- Hypertext. Marchand's experiments with PLATO offer a text which is not read in a one-pass method. Various attempts at reproduction of manuscripts on the computer. Fonts. Grundlehner. 1970- Image Processing. The methods used in processing images in America's space program are used for manuscripts. Scanning and photography are combined, and we can now use the computer as both darkroom and camers: Marchand, "The Computer as Camera and Darkroom," Offline 37, ed Robert Kraft, 22-27. Posted for ftp in the following groups: HUMANIST, IOUDAIOS, and RELIGION, January 30, 1992. It appears in hard copy in Religious Studies News 7, 2 (March 1992) and CSSR Bulletin 21, 2 (April 1992). 1985- Reconstitution. Attempts are made at reconstituting a manuscript, that is, using imaging techniques to make a copy of the manuscript which resembles the original more then the original (which has usually suffered the ravages of time and `scholarship'). Marchand, "The Use of the Personal Computer in the Humanities," Ideal 2 (1987), 17-32. 1989 - People begin to place texts (at first in ASCII, then in SGML markup) on the network. Project Gutenberg, Online Book Initiative, Oxford Text Archive arise, and, finally, Lysator, where a number of works of Old Swedish are placed, using various markup techniques. Gopher to Sweden and search for Lysator. 1990- Pictures and hypertexts can now be sent by network. The University of Illinois' Mosaic program, for example, permits hypertext online. One can download manuscript images of high quality, such as those of the Vatican exhibit and the Book of Kells. For Mosaic: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/mosaic- docs.html 1990- Various mark-up languages arise, such as SGML, and editions are now available with such things as grammatical clues, mise en page, etc. indicated. With the arrival of HTML and browsers such as Mosaic, hypertext editions are creatable by anyone. For HTML: http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/Daemon/Overview.html, and: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html. 1994- First hypertext/html edition of Old Norse material (runes), Runer i Bergen. http://gonzo.hd.uib.no/NCCH- docs/Runehtml/rib1.html

Some Types of Edition 1. Ad usum delphini. Editions which are normalized and normally without textual notes. Meant to be used in the classroom. 1a. Editio castigata, a bowdlerized edition; editio definitiva, the edition `approved' by the author as final; Ausgabe letzter Hand, last edition put out by the author, with possible additions. 2. Modernized. Editions, such as those of the islendingasagnautgafan, where the text has been slightly modernized. 3. Diplomatic edition. Here, several versions of the same text are presented, usually in an `apparatus' at the bottom of the page. Either some attempt is made at reconstructing the `archetype' [see 3a, below] or a manuscript is presented with differences presented in the apparatus. Usually contains conjectural emendations. Finnur J!nsson's Skjaldedigtning. [3a. Eclectic edition. An attempt is made to recreate from the textual materials as close an approximation as possible to the oldest recoverable form of the target text. Emendations are often employed. RAK] 4. Zeilengetreu ["Replica" edition. RAK]. In such an edition, an attempt is made to preserve the mise en page of the original; lines are maintained, punctuation is retained, etc. Cf. G!slason, mentioned above. 5. Photographic. An edition made by film and camera for the most part, using various filtrations and methods of printing. 6. Computer enhanced. Either a photograph is scanned in or a digitizing camera is used. Using (one hopes) only algorithms, the image is enhanced to improve the photographic image. With patience, miracles can be attained.

Interesting Quotations 1. James Willis, Latin Textual Criticism (Urbana: U of Illinois, 1972), 2: "There are many useful jobs which can be done by men who do not like to think. They can dig ditches, clean automobiles, and compile concordances. They cannot, however, become good textual critics. For the other tasks the willingness to work and the ability to understand and carry out simple instructions are enough: in textual criticism there are no simple instructions. Its subject matter is, at the one end, the highest achievements of literary technique; at the other, the mistakes made and the lies told by ignorant, careless, or impudent scribes, arising from negligence, misunderstanding, and a pernicious desire to do good." {Don't you just hate scribes?} (I should have added translations, with their various types. Jim Marchand.) Text Editing Bibliography (Especially Medieval Texts) [From: Charles Wright Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 09:16:59 -0500]

Bibliography: *Leonard Boyle, Medieval Latin Palaeography: A Bibliographical Introduction (Toronto, 1984), pp. 298-316. *Romance Philology 45 (1991), pp. 206-36.

General Studies and Collections of Essays: *D. C. Greetham, Textual Scholarship: An Introduction 2nd ed. (New York, 1994). [see A.Henry bibliog.] *Karl Langosch, et al., Geschichte der Textu"berlieferung der antiken und mittelalterlichen Literatur, II: U"berlieferungsgeschichte der mittelalterlichen Literatur (Zurich, 1964). Includes chapters by various hands on Medieval Latin, Old French, Old Provencal, Old Italian, Old Spanish, Old and Middle English, Old and Middle High German, and Old Norse, with focus on the manuscript tradition. Includes a bibliographical catalogue of medieval authors and texts and a comprehensive index. *L. D. Reynolds and N. G. Wilson, Scribes and Scholars: A Guide to the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature, 3rd. ed. (Oxford, 1991). H. J. Chaytor, From Script to Print: An Introduction to Medieval Vernacular Literature (New York, 1967), pp. 148-52. C. Kleinhenz, ed., Medieval Manuscripts and Textual Criticism (Chapel Hill, NC, 1976). A. G. Rigg, ed., Editing Medieval Texts: English, French, and Latin Written in England (New York, 1977). Roberta Frank, ed. The Politics of Editing Medieval Texts (New York, 1993). Proceedings of the Manchester Conference on Text Editing (forthcoming). Peter Shillingsburg, "Guidelines for Scholarly Editions," Modern Language Association of America Committee on Scholarly Editions. Available from Shillingsburg, pls1@ra.msstate.edu.

Optimist (Be'dier) and Recensionist (Lachmann) Approaches: J. Be'dier, "La tradition manuscrite du Lai de l'Ombre. Re'flexions sur l'art d' E/diter les anciens textes," Romania 54 (1928), 162-86, 321-56. Influential attack on the recensionist method in favor of editing the "best manuscript." Bernard Cerquiglini, Eloge de la variante: Histoire critique de la philologie (Paris, 1989). L. E. Boyle, "Optimist and Recensionist: 'Common Errors' or 'Common Variations', in Latin Script and Letters A.D. 400-900, ed. John J. O'Meara and Bernd Naumann (Leiden, 1976), pp. 264-74. Responds to "optimist" criticism of subjectivity in recensionist methods. Paul Maas, Textual Criticism, 3rd ed., trans. B. Flower (Oxford, 1958). A concise exposition of the Lachmannian method. A fourth ed. appeared in German. M. L. West, Textual Criticism and Editorial Technique Applicable to Greek and Latin Texts (Stuttgart, 1973). Intended as a replacement of Maas.

Computers and Text-Editing: Francisco Marcos Mari'n, "Computers and Text Editing," Romance Philology 45 (1991), 102-22. Charles B. Faulhaber, "Textual Criticism in the 21st Century," Romance Philology 45 (1991), 123-48. Anton Schwob, et al., ed. Historische Edition und Computer. Mo"glichkeiten und Probleme interdisziplina"rer Textverarbeitung und Textbearbeitung (Graz, 1989). Me'thodologies informatiques et nouveaux horizons dans les recherches me'die'vales, Actes du Colloque international de Saint-Paul-de-Vence, 3-5 septembre 1990 (Turnhout, 1990). [

Some Textual Collation Software [From: Jim Marchand Date: Wed, 14 Sep 1994 13:40:35 CST] I'm not much for `collation' in general, computer collation especially, but I thought you might be interested in the following posting to mediber [from: Georgina Olivetto Secrit / Universidad de Buenos Aires, 14 Sep 1994]: TEXTUAL COLLATION SOFTWARE FOR THE PC PC-CASE, UNITE, and the Donne Variorum Collation Program Ray Siemens will publish in TEXTTechnology (vol. 4, pages 209- 222, Fall 1994) an interesting article on the subject of scholarly editing, including a detailed analysis of the three aforementioned packages. Ray Siemens is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia and plans to prepare an edition of an early Renaissance poetic manuscript for his dissertation. He can be contacted by e-mail at: siemens@unixg.ubc.ca [For the Mac, COLLATE is an excellent program created and maintained by Peter Robinson at the Oxford (Eng) Computing Centre -- peterr@vax.ox.ac.uk. RAK]]

Editing Medieval Vernacular Texts: E. G. Stanley, "Unideal Principles of Editing Old English Verse," Proceedings of the British Academy 70 (1984), 231-73. Michael Lapidge, "Textual Criticism and the Literature of Anglo- Saxon England," Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 73 (1991), 17-45. Michael Lapidge, "The Edition, Emendation and Reconstruction of Anglo-Saxon Texts," in The Politics of Editing Medieval Texts, ed. Frank, pp. 131-57. E. T. Donaldson, "The Psychology of Editors of Middle English Texts," in his Speaking of Chaucer (New York,1970), pp. 102-118. Attack on recensionist methods, and defense of procedures developed with George Kane for their subsequent edition of the B- text of Piers Plowman, which has become a focus recent controversy [see A.Henry bibliog.]. See for example: *Lee Patterson, "The Logic of Textual Criticism and the Way of Genius: The Kane-Donaldson Piers Plowman in Historical Perspective," in his Negotiating the Past: The Historical Understanding of Medieval Literature (Madison, 1987), pp. 77-113. Robert Adams, "Editing Piers Plowman B: The Imperative of an Intermittently Critical Edition," Studies in Bibliography 45 (1992), 31-68. *Alfred Foulet and Mary Speer, ed., On Editing Old French Texts (Lawrence, KA, 1979). [see also A.Henry bibliog.] Speer, Mary B., "Editing Old French Texts in the Eighties: Theory and Practice," Romance Philology 45 (1991), 7-43. See other essays in this volume for textual criticism of Catalan, Italian, and Old Spanish. Dembowski, Peter "The 'French' Tradition of Textual Philology and Its Relevance to the Editing of Medieval Texts," Modern Philology 90 (1993), 512-. Bibliography on Text Criticism and Editing: [From: Avril Henry Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993] There are conflicting views on "editorial procedure", but the following bibliography might give you something to bite on. The standard (some say out-dated) book is the one by Maas, to whom there is, as you see below, an "update" [by M. L. West] as well as several works denying that the process he recommends (formal recension) is any use. Still, if "contamination" is not present -- and it isn't always -- then his logical steps do get results. I leave the rest of the membership to jump in with cries of horror. PLease forgive the presence of _our_ shelf-marks (or shaming notes to the effect that we don't have the book) -- there's no time to edit them out of what is only a working bibliography. * Arngart, O. "A Contribution to Middle English Textual Criticism." _English Studies: A Journal of English Language and Literature_ 69.5 (Oct. 1988): 369-71._ P805_ * Blake, N. F. "On Editing the Canterbury Tales." _Medieval Studies for J. A. W. Bennett, Aetatis Suae LXX_. Ed. P. L. Heyworth and Dan Davin. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981. 101- 19._Not in EUL_ [Norman F. Blake, in his _The English Language in Medieval Literature_, makes some interesting observations about the translation of medieval texts into modern systems of mechanics and punctuation. The pertinent material is in the chapter entitled "The Editorial Process" (the third chapter, I think; Christopher A. Healy , Wed, 12 Oct 1994). * Bowers, Fredson. _Bibliography and Textual Criticism_. The Lyell Lectures, 1959. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964. _Old Library S820.9 BOWE_ * Brewer, Charlotte. "Authorial vs. Scribal Writing in Piers Plowman." _Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies_ 79 (.....): 59-89. [A famous attack on the previously famous edition by George Kane and E. Talbot Donaldson]._Not in EUL_ * __Crux and Controversy in Middle English Textual Criticism_. _Ed. A.J. Minnis and Charlotte Brewer. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 1992._Not in EUL_ D'Ardenne. S. T. R. O. "The Editing of Middle English Texts." In _English Studies Today: Papers Read at the International Conference of University Professors of English Held in Magdalen College, Oxford, August l950_. Ed. C. L. Wren and G. Bullough. London: Oxford UP, l95l, pp. 74-84. _820.7/WRE_ [Rather whimsical] * Dearing, Vinton. _A Manual of Textual Analysis_. Los Angeles: Berkeley UP, 1959. _807.27 DEA_ * Dearing, Vinton, _Methods of Textual Editing_. Los Angeles: W. A. Clark Memorial Library, 1962._Not in EUL_ * Dearing, Vinton, _Principles and Practice of Textual Analysis_, Berkeley/Los Angeles: U. C. Press, 1974. _Not in EUL_ * Edwards, A. S. G. "Middle English Romance: The Limits of Editing, the Limits of Criticism ". _Medieval Literature: Texts and Interpretation_. Ed. Tim William Machan. Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 79. Binghamton, NY: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies; 1991. _ 91-104. _Not in EUL_ Foulet, Alfred and Mary B. Speer, _On Editing Old French Texts_. Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas, 1979. [Foulet and Speer take readers step by step in developing a stemma, including what questions to ask each witness to figure out where that witness belongs. (Wendy Pfeffer, University of Louisville wepfef01@ulkyvm.louisville.edu)] * Greetham, D. C. _Textual Scholarship: An Introduction_. Hamden: Garland, 1992. _Not in EUL_ [For a general introduction to textual criticism see David Greetham's article "Textual Scholarship," in _Introduction to Scholarship in Modern Languages and Literatures_, 2 ed. Joseph Gibaldi (New York: MLA, 1992), pp. 103-37, with a good introductory bibliography. (Charles Faulhaber, UC Berkeley)] * Greg, Sir W. W. "The Rationale of Copy-Text". _Studies in Bibliography_ 3 (1950-1951): 19-36._ P010.5_ * Greg, Sir W. W. _The Calculus of Variants_. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1927. _Old Library S820.9 GRE_ * Kane, George. _Piers Plowman: The A Version_. London: Athlone, l960. [An account of the problems attendant on editing a text of which many MSS survive]. * Maas, P. _Textual Criticism_. Trans. Barbara Flower. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958, repr. 1967. _880.9.MAA_ * _Manuscripts and Texts: Editorial Problems in Later Middle English_. Ed. Derek Pearsall. Cambridge: Brewer, 1987. _820.91.MA_ * Moorman, Charles. _Editing the Middle English Manuscript_. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, l975. [A patchy book, but see Chap. "Textual Criticism"] _820.91.MOO_ * Pearsall, Derek. "Editing Medieval Texts: Some Developments and Some Problems." _Textual Criticism and Literary Interpretation_. Ed. Jerome J. McGann. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1985. 92-106. [_Canterbury Tales_; _Piers Plowman_] Reynolds, L. D., and N. G. Wilson, _Scribes and Scholars: A Guide to the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature_, London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1968 [3rd ed. 1991] * Rouse, Mary A., and Richard Rouse. __Authentic Witnesses: Approaches to Medieval Texts and Manuscripts_. Notre Dame: U of Notre Dame P, 1993. _091.ROU_ * Tanselle, G. Thomas. _A Rationale of Textual Criticism_. A Publication of the A.S.W. Rosenbach Fellowship in Bibliography. University of Pennsylvania Press, c1989. * _The Theory and Practice of Text-Editing_. Ed. Ian Small and Marcus Walsh. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1992. _Not in EUL, alas_ * Thorpe, James, _Principles of Textual Criticism_, San Marino California: Huntington Library, 1972 Timpanaro, Sebastiano. _La genesi del metodo del Lachmann_. Biblioteca di cultura (Liviana editrice). Sezione letteraria. uova ed. riv. e ampliata. Padova: Liviana, 1981. * Vinaver, E. "Principles of Textual Emendation". _Studies in French Language and Mediaeval Literature Presented to Professor Mildred K. Pope_. Publications of the University of Manchester, 268. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1939. * West, Martin L. _Textual Criticism and Editorial Technique Applicable to Greek and Latin Texts_. Stuttgart: Teubner, 1973. [Update of Maas, and also deals sensibly with "contamination"] //end//