Introduction:Aphra Behn, Love-Letters (1684-87)
From Marteau
A Note on the Text
The present edition of Aphra Behn's Love-Letters follows the copy of Yale University's Beinecke Library (shelfmark Ij B395 684L). A scan of the three volumes is available on microfilm (Wing-number 82:10). The Marteau html-version offers:
- scans and transcripts of the individual title pages,
- the original prefaces (omitted in the present Gutenberg-edition - wich seems to be based on a scan of the Virago modern classic edition published in 1987),
- the original spelling and punctualtion with all pecularities and signs of careless work – especially notable where similar sounding words offered alternative spellings,
- the original captalisation with its indication of changing emphasis,
- the original paragraph formatting as far as html allowed a decent reproduction.
Only where mistakes would have looked like mistakes of the present edition they have been corrected - square brackets to indicate these emendations. The original text is otherwise perfectly readable with its original and at times inconsistent spelling. Explanatory provided by the editors appear as marginal notes (left hand side in the frame set).
The first volume did sometimes use horizontal rules to seperate passages from each other. The present edition uses these graphical elements throughout with an additional feature: Two horizontal rules (one left one right) open a new letter; one indicates that the next passage was to be read as a letter enclosed within the preceding letter. The design should answer the special problem of the html-edition which cannot produce a segmented text with pages to be turned over and with new events to happen on new pages.
To allow quotations after the copy-texts the html-text is given with the original pagination.
As with all html-texts it is easy to correct this one wherever the editor made mistakes. Help improving this text where you find differences between the copy-texts and this edition. (Use the discussion page to note inconsistencies and mistakes).
The novel as it is edited here still needs an introduction...
