Preface

About the 2018 Internet Version

§ 2018.1    This is an Internet reissue of Cædmon’s Hymn: a multimedia edition and archive (Cambridge: Medieval Academy, Boydell and Brewer, 2005). It contains the complete text of the CD-ROM that accompanied the 2005 publication. The CD-ROM, in turn, contained the complete text of the book with additional resources including manuscript facsimiles, interactive editorial texts and apparatus, and extensive linking.

§ 2018.2    The text is a reissue, rather than a new edition. It contains both the original HTML and Standard General Markup Language (SGML) files included on the CD-ROM. Some corrections have been made to the original HTML files to correct minor errors of coding and in the underlying metadata in the HTML (metadata on the HTML files on the 2005 incorrectly identified the copyright and version status, for example, and there was a consistent error in the way lists were tagged in the HTML). In addition, all private use code points from the original edition have been converted to standard Unicode points. With the exception of these changes, modifications to the navigation to reflect the new environment (files originally ending in .htm now end in .html and the files system.htm[l] and installation.htm[l] have been moved from the original top-level of the CD-ROM to the top directory of the HTML), and the addition of this preface and an addendum to the bibliography containing works cited here, however, the files reproduced in this website are exactly the same as those published on the CD-ROM. For those interested in the original disk image, an ISO of the original disk has been archived with OPUS, the University of Lethbridge's Institutional Repository (http://hdl.handle.net/10133/5085).

§ 2018.3    The original edition was largely complete before the widespread adoption of open XML tools. The HTML, therefore, was generated from the SGML master files using a complex, jury-rigged system that required the Multi-Doc SGML browser and a set of Emacs macros (see O'Donnell and van Egmund 1999). For this reissue, corrections to the HTML have been made by hand, however, and no modifications have been made to the SGML originals. In future editions, it is hoped, we will be able to convert the SGML to modern eXtensible Markup Language (XML), allowing for more complex processing. In the meantime, however, the SGML files are exactly the same as those published with the CD-ROM.

§ 2018.4    The original edition of Cædmon’s Hymn: a multimedia edition and archive was intended as an experiment in publishing. Unique among the volumes published by SEENET at the time, it was published as both a CD-ROM and a print volume (the two parts were sold together). The goal of this format was to take advantage of the relative advantages of each medium: the flexibility and dynamism of HTML and the ease of consultation and portability of paper publication. This decision was prompted in part by our experience during the refereeing process, when we found that referees who were given the CD-ROM alone appeared to miss significant parts of the edition's contents (for a discussion of the background to this issue and the rationale for the edition's publication and format, see O'Donnell 2010).

§ 2018.5    Because the original edition is cited as both a work of Anglo-Saxon Scholarship and an experiment in "electronic publishing," we have decided in this reprint to maintain references to the original format, particularly in the original "Preface" and "Conventions, symbols, and encoding" chapters. For the same reason, we have republished the "System requirements" and "Installation Instructions" chapters, even though these have been entirely superseded in the case of this web publication. A brief bibliography of discussions of the original publication, including known reviews, can be found in the addendum to the works cited.

Citation and archving

§ 2018.6    Since the original edition was published, much has changed in what we now call digital scholarly editing and publishing. Edition formats and expectations have become increasingly standardised and there is now excellent software and tools available for both developing and consulting electronic editions (e.g. Burghart 2016; Rosselli Del Turco et al. 2013). Where things are less standardised is in the publication practices for web-based scholarly editions, particularly when it comes to best practice in the use of identifiers, URLs, licences, and versioning (see Copland et al 2016).

§ 2018.7     Just as the original publication of this edition attempted to implement best-practice in edition design, this Internet reissue is attempting to implement best practice when it comes to web-based publication: the site has been published using GitHub and Github Pages, guaranteeing clear version control, permanent and free access to and archiving of the original files for each release, and a lightweight server; it is also archived via Zenodo, the European Union's Data repository, ensuring that individual versions are permanently and easily identified through a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI).

Additional acknowledgements

§ 2018.13    The acknowledgements for the original edition can be found below (§ i.7). In addition, thanks are due in the case of this reprint to Titi Babalola, who managed the rights clearances for the reprinted images, and Gurpreet Singh, who managed my lab and assisted with researching the conversion process. The editors at SEENET, particularly Tim Stinson and Paul Broyles, have also been extremely helpful and encouraging. Manuscript images on the CD-ROM are reproduced with permission of the following copyright holders:

• Bibliothèque Municipale de Dijon: MS. 574, fol. 59v (Di)
• Bibliothèque Nationale du France: MS. lat. 5237, fol. 72v (P1)
• Bibliothèque Royale, Brussels: MS. 8245-57, fol. 62r (Br)
• Bodleian Library, Oxford: MS. Bodley 163, fol. 152v (Bd); MS. Hatton 43, fol. 129r (H); MS. Laud Misc. 243, fol. 82v (Ld); MS. Tanner 10, p. 195 (T1)
• British Library, London: MS. Additional 43703, fol. 146r (N)
• Syndics of Cambridge University Library: MS. Kk. 3. 18, fol. 72v (Ca); MS. Kk. 5. 16, fol. 128v (M; "The Moore Bede")
• The College of Arms, London: MS. Bedae s.n., fol. [84v] (CArms)
• Master and Fellows, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge: MS. 41, p. 322 (B1)
• Corpus Christi College, Oxford: MS. 279, B, f. 112v (O)
• Dean and Chapter of Hereford Cathedral Library and the Hereford Mappa Mundi Trust: MS. P. 5. i, fol. 116v (Hr)
• Huntington Library, San Marino CA: MS. HM 35300, fol. 82r (SanM)
• Lincoln College, University of Oxford: MS. lat. 31, fol. 83r (Ln)
• The President and Fellows of Magdalen College Oxford: MS. lat. 105, fol. 99r (Mg)
• National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg: MS. lat. Q. v. I. 18, fol. 107r (P; "The St. Petersburg Bede")
• Master and Fellows, Trinity College, University of Cambridge: MS. R. 5. 22, fol. 32v (Tr1)
• Dean and Chapter of Winchester/Winchester Cathedral Library: MS. I, fol. 81r (W)

§ 2018.14    Finally, as with the first edition of this work, I owe a deep debt to my family: my children, Bouke and Kaatje, my parents Maureen and the late Patrick O’Donnell, parents-in-law Piet Genee and Jeane Lek, and above all my wife, Inge Genee. They have had less to endure in the case of this reprint than in that of the first edition, but all have been a source of support.