Skip to Main Content
     

A Guide To...Critical Editions

Starting points for learning about and using classical critical editions at College of the Holy Cross

All About Editions

Most texts are edited in some way before their final publication.  However, there are a few different ways to approach editing.

Aesthetically-oriented editing tries to make a text more pleasing to read.  It involves fixing grammatical or spelling errors, cleaning up sentences, tweaking wording, etc.  This type of editing is often done through a text's publisher, prior to publication. Because aesthetically-oriented editing is concerned primarily with making the text readable, it does not always give priority to (and sometimes undermines) the author's original intent or words.

Scholarly, historically-oriented editing tries to accurately reproduce the text as it was or as the author intended it to be at a particular point in time. Scholarly editions may be either noncritical (diplomatic) editions, which try to exactly reproduce a particular version or copy of the text, or critical editions, in which an editor applies his and her judgement to try to reconstruct, as much as possible, what the text was originally intended to say.  You will learn more about critical editions in the rest of this guide. 

 

A critical edition tries to reconstruct some earlier version of a text, usually whatever the author originally intended, by drawing on a variety of available sources. Some, but not all critical editions are based primarily on a single "control" version of the text, which is adjusted to show the differences in other versions as the editor sees fit. The "control"  text in this scenario is sometimes called the copy-text. Sometimes, a critical edition may also draw from an indirect witness, that is, a quotation of part of the text which has been found in another work.  

Critical editions are used when a work is so complex  that reading the text alone is not enough to let us fully understand it. For example, perhaps many versions of the work exist, or the text has been passed down over so many years that it's unclear what the 'original' text was. Critical editions try to supplement this text with scholarship to help us understand it better. Sometimes this means including supplementary material -- notes, a critical apparatus or list of variant readings, commentary, etc.  Other times, an edition may include only the edited text, with a preface or other note explaining the editor's decisions.

An edition of a text in which the supplementary documentation -- apparatus, notes, etc. -- takes precedence over the main text, and which intends primarily to give the reader a sense of "what's out there" in terms of different versions, is called a variorum edition. 

Authoritative Text  
A text or version of a work that has some claim to authority or authenticity. 
An authoritative text is a representation or version of a work -- a manuscript, typescript, printed edition, etc. --which has some claim to authority, usually because it has been authorized by the original author or because it draws from or is based on 'authorized' texts which have now been lost.
 
Collation  
The technique of comparing different versions of a particular text in some systematic fashion.
 
Conflation  
An error or variation caused when one "family" of manuscripts is somehow combined with another. 
Conflation usually occurs in one of two ways. Correctional conflation occurs when a scribe corrects one manuscript with a reading from another (sometimes directly on top of the first manuscript). Editorial conflation usually occurs when a scribe with several versions of the text in front of him selectively combines readings from each according to his preference and adds his own spellings and usages into the mix. Conflation can also refer to cases where two readings from two different families of manuscripts are presented side-by-side within the text of a single manuscript.
 
Copy-Text  
The text used by an editor as the basis for his or her edition.
The "copy-text" is the earlier version of a text selected by an editor as the basis for his or her edition. Usually this text has been identified in some way as the best, least-corrupt, etc., and the editor will tend to follow its readings unless (s)he encounters an obvious error or disagrees strongly with a particular aspect of the text. Some editions will rely on their copy-text more than others, depending on the work, the state of the copy-text and the editor's own judgment.
 
Degree of Collation  
The level of detail used in presenting the variants of a particular edition.
Different editions of texts may take different approaches, and go into greater or less detail, when it comes to selecting notable variants. The "degree of collation" refers to the level of detail used. It can range from coverage of only very significant variants, to notes on even minor variations such as differences in punctuation. The degree of collation is usually determined by some combination of the editor's own judgment/preferences and the particular needs/circumstances of the text in question.

Diplomatic Edition  
Exactly reproduces a particular document.
A diplomatic edition is an exact reproduction of a particular document (usually a manuscript). It is designed to give the reader a clear picture of all aspects of that original document, from its word choice, to its spelling and capitalization, to the arrangment of the lines. Diplomatic editions are not used as frequently anymore, since the same function can be served by, for example, high-resolution images, or digital (hypertext) reproductions of the document.
 
Emendation (Emendatio)  
Corrections proposed by the editor based on his/her own judgement rather than a textual source.
Emendatio refers to an instance where the editor of a text proposes an emendation, or change, based on his/her own judgement rather than on any manuscript evidence. These decisions are often made with the assumption that the manuscripts containing the alternate reading (often ALL of the surviving manuscripts) have all copied and passed on what was an error of some kind in some earlier copy of the text.
 
Historical Collation  
A record of all the variants found in significant or authoritative editions of a text.
A historical collation attempts to represent all of the variants present in authoritative editions of a particular text. It is now considered a key feature of serious scholarly editions, and allows the reader to see the variants an editor had to work with/choose from. This information is often presented in a critical apparatus.

Inferential Manuscript  
The unknown, earlier/ancestor version of a manuscript which recension attempts to reconstruct.
An inferential or hypothetical manuscript is the earlier/ancestor version of a manuscript which recension attempts to reconstruct. It is so called because its existence is inferred, but not proven. Inferential is the preferred term, since hypothetical could also refer to a range of other manuscripts including intermediate or even original texts.

Parallel Edition  
Shows two or more versions of a text side-by-side, usually in parallel columns.
A parallel edition is an edition which shows two or more texts side-by-side, usually in parallel columns (thus the name). The texts presented in a parallel edition can be two versions of the same text, or two separate but related texts; either way, these editions are designed for comparision purposes. Like diplomatic editions, parallel editions are beginning to be replaced by hypertexts that can perform the same functions. For an example of a parallel edition, see The Complete Parallel Bible [ BS125 .B5 1993] in the Dinand Reference section.
 
Reading  
The way that a particular part of a text (a word, line, etc.) appears in a particular version of that text.
 
Recension (Recensio)  
Backtracking to determine the latest common 'ancestor' of a group of manuscripts.
Recension is an editorial technique which involves backtracking from a series of different versions of the same text to try to find the most-recent, single, common text from which all of the manuscripts evolved. Often this technique is more theoretical than practical, since it can be impossible to rediscover the original text based only on later manuscripts.

Scribal Error  
An error caused when a text is copied incorrectly.

Transmission  
The passing-down and preservation of a text over time.
Transmission refers to the process of preservation of a particular text over time. This is generally accomplished by the original text being copied and recopied over a long period of time. Since copies were generally made manually, mistakes and changes tended to appear. Scholarly editors can sometimes trace the development of these changes backwards to get some sense of the original text (recensio).
 
Variant  
A word, line or other portion of a text which appears differently in some sources than in others.
A variant is a word, line, or other part of a text (depending on the text, this may include punctuation) which appears differently in some manuscripts/sources than in others. 'Variants' reflect errors or disagreements at some point earlier in the history of the text, which were then passed down through different manuscript copies. When compiling a critical edition, an editor compares 'variants' between sources as part of the process of identifying (or reconstructing) the 'best' or most authoritative version of the text.

Variorum Edition  
An edition which represents a variety of sources and readings through supplementary notes.
A variorum edition attempts to represent the variety of sources and readings through supplementary, critical notes. Variorum editions usually emphasize variants over any one edition of the text, and are more useful for comparison purposes than for reading.

Witness  
Another term for a source of a particular text or part of the text.
A witness is a source for a particular text or part of a text, which an editor can use to reconstruct that text. Witnesses may be direct (i.e., a manuscript or edition of the text in question), or indirect (i.e., a passage from the text which survives as a quotation in another work, such as a commentary or letter).

Examples of Critical Editions

Biblical Studies

Works in English 

(yes, you can find critical editions of English literature too!)