l x i i E D I T O R I A L M E T H O D
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 (Doc. 50). A closure is printed as one
continuous text, and commas are silently provided in a closure 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.
In the case of typed documents, all typographical errors are retained; but in the
case of overstrikes, the spacing is conventionalized in all cases.
In the dateline, Einstein’s irregular placement of street and city address is con-
ventionalized to city address followed by street address.
Towns and cities underlined in addresses at the head of documents and on enve-
lopes and postcards are rendered in roman font.
When two parallel dashes (short “equal sign”) are used for indicating a hyphen,
they are rendered as a hyphen.
The German dash is used to indicate the end of a paragraph; the subsequent line
is indented even if the author does not do so in the original text.
Einstein often used a handwritten abbreviation symbol for the conjunction
“and,” which is transcribed as an ampersand.