EDITORIAL METHOD l i x
units of the designated day, month, or year. The dates of completion, submission,
and publication of printed articles are added, if known, together with the source of
the printed version. If address information is repeated by the author at the foot of a
document, it is omitted from the transcribed text.
A salutation is always placed flush left beneath the dateline, and a first paragraph
is indented. The first word in the first paragraph is usually capitalized.
For incoming correspondence, all handwritten, printed, or typed letterheads are
transcribed in the descriptive note. For outgoing correspondence, the address of the
recipient is transcribed in the descriptive note.
Indentation is made where the author’s idiosyncratic use of a vertical line to in-
dicate a new paragraph occurs, and also in cases where the paragraphing is highly
ambiguous but where indentations were probably intended or should have been
supplied. Where there is clear intent for a new paragraph, but the author’s style is
to place the first line flush with the left margin, we provide the indentation. A clo-
sure is printed as one continuous text, and commas are silently provided in a clo-
sure where appropriate. Signatures are placed on the right, and postscripts are
placed flush left beneath the signature.
Printed information on an otherwise handwritten document or on the verso of a
postcard is omitted unless relevant.
Unusual or confusing abbreviations are expanded within square brackets. Where
letters are obscured or difficult to read, a probable reading followed by a question
mark is placed within square brackets with an assumption of correct spelling, gram-
mar, and syntax. If no reading is given, an estimate of the number of illegible words
and letters is indicated by an appropriate number of dashes within square brackets.
Author’s deletions deemed insignificant are omitted without comment. Those
deemed significant are placed within angle brackets preceding the revised text. If a
portion of a text greater than one line has been deleted as a whole, the deletion will
be noted by a diagonal line running from the upper left to the lower right, rather
than be enclosed in angle brackets as is done for deletions of one line or less. The
text of a deletion within a deletion is struck within the angle brackets.
Unless it is believed that significant information is lost, words or sentences
marked by the author for insertion, but physically placed elsewhere on the page, are
silently inserted in the text. Unmarked passages are placed at the end of the docu-
ment with a note to indicate original placement. Where significant, the original
placement is preserved. Facsimiles of diagrams are placed as close to the original
arrangement as layout of the page allows, and are captioned where necessary.
Where excerpts are printed, each omitted portion is indicated by three ellipsis
dots in square brackets. The beginning of the excerpt is always indented.