In preceding volumes, the “Editorial Method” set out in Volume 1, and based on
the following guidelines for documentary selection, establishment, presentation,
transcription, annotation, and bibliographic commentary, has been supplemented
incrementally as required. Beginning with Volume 8, and in all subsequent vol-
umes, modifications and additions are incorporated as needed.
SELECTION
After Volume 1, The Early Years, the edition was divided into two series, Writings
and Correspondence. In the first four Writings volumes (1901–1917), all of Albert
Einstein’s articles, books, and unpublished scientific manuscripts have been in-
cluded. Only a handful of his notebooks are preserved, including his notes as a stu-
dent of physics, lecture notes for university courses that he taught, and research
notes. Auditors’ lecture notes, verbatim or in abstract, that supplement Einstein’s
course notes, as well as reliable records of his lectures, speeches, comments, or
interviews, are included along with marginalia by Einstein that contribute signifi-
cantly to an understanding of his thoughts.
Certain letters will be inaccessible at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem until
the year 2006. Besides this correspondence, all known letters written by Einstein
before 1915 are presented in the first two volumes containing correspondence
(Vols. 1 and 5, 1879–1914). Letters addressed to more than one recipient are print-
ed only once, and all known addressees are noted. Letters to Einstein are handled
more selectively, however. All significant letters to him for which we were able to
obtain permission to publish are printed in whole or excerpted. Where such permis-
sion could not be obtained, we have provided a summary in the Calendar.
Third-party letters and other documents (such as certificates and official reports)
that are important for understanding Einstein’s development, milieu, and public
EDITORIAL METHOD
OF THE SERIES
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