Critical edition

How it is used

Consult its apparatus and editorial principles; critical refers to evidence-based editing, not hostile commentary.

Example sentences

1. The critical edition records a different place name in a second manuscript.

   The edition makes alternative readings visible to the reader.

2. She cited the critical edition's note when explaining the reconstructed sentence.

   Editorial documentation allows a reconstructed text to be assessed.

Common collocations

• prepare a critical edition
• a critical edition of a chronicle

Related terms

• manuscriptA book or document written by hand, especially one produced before printing became common; also an author's text before it is published.
• source criticismThe careful evaluation of a historical source to judge where it came from, who made it and why, and how reliable and useful it is for a particular question.

More terms: Sources and Archives

• primary source
• secondary source
• archive
• bias
• census
• chronicle
• oral history
• inscription
• provenance
• archivist
• palaeography
• diplomatics