Editorial Workflow

The Production of a Critical Edition

A critical edition aims to restore and preserve texts that are complete, faithful to the author’s intentions, and carefully documented regarding their composition and development. This can mean locating lost materials, restoring suppressed or altered texts, or identifying editorial or printing errors. In addition to this detective work, a critical edition must also document and explain variations among different versions and justify decisions made in determining the final version, that is, the critical text. The result is a reliable text that honors the work of the author, supports the research of scholars, and provides inspiration for the intellect and imagination of all. Jonathan Eller illustrated this process for the Pierce Project and we thank him for his permission to adapt his work here. *

Production of a critical edition can be understood as a process with the distinct stages listed below.

Locate and collect all versions of the text e.g. holograph manuscript, typescript, printers’ proofs, two or more editions, and multiple impressions of editions.

Our illustrations here will be based on our own work in progress: Santayana’s Reason in Science.

Search for and collect all other materials related to the text; for example, related materials may include source materials and correspondence that mentions the text.
The Santayana Edition has a photocopy of every known artifact related to Santayana’s work.

The purpose of having multiple versions of a text is to be able to compare (collate) them in order to sort out authorial changes from editorial, typist, or compositor changes.

The documents gathered during the Genealogical Research Process (especially correspondence) can help distinguish the source of the changes with the test.

All copies of the text are compared by individuals, teams, and by machine to discover and record any variations between them.

The recorded variations are used to compare the publications and nonpublication of the text as a way of reconstructing the stages of composition and publication.

We then analyze the textual history of the work to choose which form of the test will be the underlying form of the critical edition (the copy-text).

The copy-text is the form of the text that is closest to the author’s own hand (having not been edited or reworded by others) which is in its most complete form.

Emending is done with the editors can verify authorial changes as wll as when there are clear grammatical errors or improper spellings.

The editors prepare an exact computer transcript of the copy-text that includes Santayana’s revisions rooted in the text with brackets.

The transcription is cross-checked against photocopies twice and the original manuscript once.

The revisions are taken from the transcription and placed in a list of authorial changes. However, the alterations that show Santayana’s composition process are added to the textual apparatus.

The transcription with Santayana’s changes listed in the alterations list now becomes the editor’s copy.

Emendations are brought into the text and physical trappings of the copy-text, such as manuscript pagination, are eliminated.

This new text is proofed twice more against the transcription and emendation list.

After the proofed emendations are integrated into the editing copy, line number references are stripped out. This copy is now the printer’s copy.

The printer’s copy is checked against the editor’s copy.

Then the printer’s copy is sent to the compositor with other documents included in this edition.

All critical editions approved by the Modern Language Association’s Committee on Scholarly Editions (CSE) are required to begin with an extensive historical, biographical, and bibliographical study on the subject. The editorial references are listed above, but there are many things that go into editorial materials and the critical edition as a whole.

Other references include editorial notes (to identify names to refer to sources and to explain vague references) a bibliography, a catalog of writings, and an essay on editorial method.

After all of the variations are recorded and the texts are established for the piece, the actual publication begins. The final text of the piece with its accompanying notes and apparatus will be composed for printing.

Page proofs undergo two independent sight collations, and the page references are checked. The book is compiled, and an index is created as well as proofread.

A PDF is created for the press and a final proof is requested.

The Santayana Edition, part of The Institute for American Thought (IAT) in the IU School of Liberal Arts on the campus of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), is located in the Education/Social Work Building at 902 West New York St, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202.

Contact Information:
Martin Coleman, Director
317-278-2637
santedit@iupui.edu

* Adaptation by Santayana Edition intern Adelea Wilman, an MA student in English and Professional Editing (2015).

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