Editorial Principles

All texts are transcribed from reliable standard editions. In the case of translated works, every effort has been made to select an edition known to, or contemporary with, Mary Shelley.

The following silent emendations have been introduced throughout:

  • Long s has been reduced to short s.
  • Underscores appear as italics.
  • Titles of volumes and sections are regularized.
  • The oe digraph is printed as two letters.
  • Greek letters are transliterated.
  • Em-dashes appear as two hyphens.
  • Footnotes represented by asterisks and daggers have sometimes been numbered, and footnote numbering has been adjusted to reflect the changes in pagination.

 

Corrected Errors in Typography

The following moments in the 1818 text contain silent corrections:

  • I:Preface:4: happenened → happened
  • I:L1:6: purpose. → purpose?
  • I:L2:2: keeping; → keeping;
  • I:L4:32: determined. → determined."
  • I:2:6: guished → gushed
  • I:2:15: pour → pore [pour in 1831]
  • I:4:7: alighting! → alighting!"
  • I:4:10: mysel. → myself.
  • I:4:14: of all this? → of all this"?
  • I:5:6: Ingoldstadt → Ingolstadt
  • I:5:16: Ingoldstadt → Ingolstadt
  • I:6:8: Willia mhad → William had
  • I:6:30: he." Ah! → he. "Ah!
  • I:7:11: ignominy. → ignominy?
  • I:7:18: consolation. →: consolation?
  • I:7:32: consoled. → consoled."
  • II:3:1: Ingoldstadt; → Ingolstadt;
  • II:3:4: surrouuded → surrounded
  • II:5:9: When → "When
  • II:5:10: The → "The
  • II:5:11: In → "In
  • II:5:13: While → "While
  • II:6:19: ItaIy, → Italy,
  • II:7:2: As → "As
  • II:7:3: Sorrors → Sorrows
  • II:7:5: annihihilation → annihilation
  • II:9:5: wrong,' → wrong,"
  • III:1:21: friend → friend.
  • III:1:24: December → September [restored to "December" in 1831 text]
  • III:2:18: scene labours. → scene of my labours.
  • III:3:5: oppresion → oppression
  • III:4:5: only only → only
  • III:6:23: said. "This → said, "This
  • III:WC:23: September 19th → September 9th
  • III:WC:37: in → "in