Editorial Interventions

Our fluid-text edition of Walden is based on Ronald Clapper’s updated, electronic (MS Word) version of his original 1967 dissertation, The Development of Walden: A Genetic Text. Clapper’s update introduced some new editorial decisions; unfortunately, it appears to have introduced, as well, the occasional typographical error.

The digitization of the Walden manuscript at the Huntington has made it possible for us to compare the manuscript to both the original dissertation and the later, electronic version. As a result, we are in a position to make three kinds of editorial interventions in the fluid-text TEI:

  • Corrections to typographical errors.
  • Reversions to the original, print dissertation in cases where the dissertation captures more accurately, or in better detail, the changes evident on the manuscript surface.
  • New readings, absent from both the original dissertation and the electronic update, in cases where the evidence of the manuscript clearly departs from both, or where important manuscript content is missing from both.

We have no plans at present to undertake a systematic comparison of the manuscript and Clapper’s transcription. Such a comparison lies outside the scope of the fluid-text edition, which is first and foremost intended to be a faithful remediation, in TEI, of Clapper’s work on the manuscript. But we have decided that it makes sense, and best serves readers, to correct errors and supply arguably significant omissions as we encounter them.

The TEI provides a simple way for us to catalog our interventions: the @resp attribute, used to assign responsibility. The table below displays, for each intervention, the chapter, paragraph, and paragraph section where the intervention occurs; the xml:id value of the app element and @wit attribute associated with the manuscript revision in question; the element to which @resp is attached (e.g., rdg, add, del); the xml:id of the editor responsible for the intervention; the text inside the element to which @resp is assigned; a link to the manuscript image that prompted the intervention; and a link to the specific region of the image where the content relevant to the intervention may be found.

We expect this table to grow over time.

ChapterParagraphSegmentAppWitnessElementEditorTextImageRegion
Economy88awalc01-app-0076a#wc_0ardg#schachtAncient books, and some modern ones, talk of a divinity in man.View pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For13-walc02-app-0111#wc_0aadd#schachttoView pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For13-walc02-app-0111#wc_0adel#schachtor Orion orView pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For13-walc02-app-0111#wc_0aadd#schachtor Altair,View pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For1414awalc02-app-0116#wc_0adel#witherellThe morning brinks back the heroic ages.View pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For1414awalc02-app-0116#wc_0aadd#schachtFor I have been as sincere a worshipper of Aurora as the Greeks.View pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For1414awalc02-app-0116#wc_0brdg#schachtFor Indeed I have been as sincere a worshipper of Aurora as the Greeks.View pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For1414awalc02-app-0116#wc_0bdel#schachtForView pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For1414awalc02-app-0116#wc_0badd#schachtIndeedView pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For1414awalc02-app-0118#wc_0bdel#schachtI have since readView pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For1414awalc02-app-0118a#wc_0brdg#schachtthat characters were engraven on the bathing tubView pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For1414awalc02-app-0118a#wc_0bdel#schachtthatView pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For1414awalc02-app-0118a#wc_0badd#schachtthatView pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For1414awalc02-app-0118a#wc_0badd#schachtcharacters were engraven on the bathing tubView pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For1414awalc02-app-0121#wc_0aadd#schachtThe Morning brings back the heroic ages.View pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For1414awalc02-app-0121#wc_0adel#witherellTheView pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For1414awalc02-app-0121#wc_0acorr#easterlyκόσμοςView pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For1414awalc02-app-0121#wc_0areg#easterlycosmosView pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For1414awalc02-app-0121#wc_0areg#easterlytheíosView pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For1414awalc02-app-0121#wc_0badd#witherellor brings aboutView pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For2121cwalc02-app-0221a#wc_0ardg#schachtand here.View pageView region
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For2121cwalc02-app-0221a#wc_0aadd#schachtand here.View pageView region
Sounds22cwalc04-app-0035#wc_0fdel#schachtIt is true, aView pageView region
Sounds22cwalc04-app-0035#wc_0fadd#schachtAView pageView region
Sounds22cwalc04-app-0035#wc_0fadd#schacht, it is true.View pageView region
Former Inhabitants; and Winter Visitors1111awalc14-app-0081#wc_0fdel#schachtwith the key of his house in his pocketView pageView region