Editorial Principles

In general this edition philologically adheres to the guidelines for guest editions of hallerNet (Editionsmodell Gasteditionen Version 1.0). A briefer, more specific statement follows below.

That Collinson was largely self-educated and lacked a university education – as a Quaker, he was barred from attending an English university – perhaps helps explain the grammatical and orthographical insecurities that abound in his letter writing. His spelling is often phonetical, and he doubles the final letter of many monosyllabic words (mee, att, nutt, firr, tenn, etc.). His grammar can also be unconventional and inconsistent: subject and verb are not always in agreement. Only rarely have I rectified such lapses (in square brackets or in a note). Collinson employs a special contraction, based on the letter p, for the word or prefix per, which is rendered here as “p[er]”. By contrast his punctuation calls for more frequent, silent intervention. I have turned most of his lines or long dashes into periods, commas, or paragraph breaks. When he does put in commas, they often appear so capricious and confusing that I have omitted many of them. He uses no question marks at all. In addition to keeping his many initial capitals, I have capitalized all proper names, as well as the first word of a sentence.

I have assumed that all of his pre-1753 dates are Old Style and follow the Julian calendar, although Collinson specifies “OS” in only two cases. In four other instances he gives both the legal and the historial years (e.g., 1749/50). A note on the letter that he dated 30 July 1748 makes it clear that his date adheres to the Julian calendar. In the headings all the pre-1753 dates have been converted to the Gregorian calendar, by the addition of eleven days.

Crossings out, insertions, and other revisions in the manuscripts are indicated in the textual (asterisked) notes, as follows: Words crossed out or erased in the manuscript, but still legible, are set in angle brackets (< >); illeg[ible] indicates a more thorough crossing out. The abbreviation interl[ined] indicates word(s) inserted above or between the lines; added, word(s) inserted between words (on the same line) or at the beginning or end of a line. Something marked changed from was either erased and written over or otherwise altered from an earlier word or phrase; if the original cannot be reconstructed, the notation is changed from ?

The commentary does not pretend to be exhaustive. Notes or hyperlinks briefly identify persons, provide bibliographical details for publications alluded to in the texts, and seek to clarify vague references. In general, I have not attempted to identify the plants mentioned by Collinson; where possible, however, I refer in a note to the listing in Hortus Collinsonianus.