Form of an Edition of a Manuscript Miscellany

• Table of contents
• Abbreviations of frequently cited sources
• Introduction
  1. Summary overview of the document (key facts, e.g. scribe (s), number and types of poems, dates of compilation, languages, poets/authors) Why is this MS important? (1-2 paragraphs)
  2. Physical description (dimensions, leaves, stubs, foliation, catchwords, running heads/titles, hands)
  3. Provenance
  4. Evaluation and conclusions (narrative concerning entry of the texts, their organization and importance, unique texts, authorship, the overall cultural significance of the collection)
  5. Earlier editions and scholarship on the MS.
  6. Editorial principles
• Text
  1. Enumerated entries
  2. Lineation
  3. Textual notes (for script or layout that can’t be represented in print)
• Explanatory Notes, including:
  1. Circumstances of transcription
  2. Authors
  3. Allusions
  4. Textual cruxes
  5. Alternate texts in MS and print, with collations, and textual relationships
• Bibliographies
  1. Works cited
  2. MSS cited
• Glossary
• Indexes
  1. First lines, titles
  2. Authors
  3. Authors and/or titles of translated entries in the manuscript
  4. Tunes, musical settings, composers