Editorial guidelines for the Mommsen correspondence

  1. The letters will be edited diplomatically with line-by-line accuracy. Orthography and punctuation are retained; only in the case of obvious errors (e.g. misspelled letters, repeated syllables, dittographies) are these corrected implicitly. Inverted commas are generally reproduced according to current convention. Underlining and highlighting are adopted, words in Latin script are italicised. Letterheads and addresses are also reproduced diplomatically. As a rule, lines are left-justified, indentations can be traced via the facsimile. As a rule, the date is placed before the letter; this also applies to Theodor Mommsen's letters, in which the place and date appear only at the end of the letter.
  2. Additions by the editors are made in angle brackets < >. Improvements by the authors of the letters are only reproduced in a footnote if they are significant in terms of content. If the reading of the autograph is unclear, the transcription of copy L is given in a footnote.
  3. Identified persons, places and (important) corporate bodies are deposited with a link through which further information can be retrieved. The biographical information on the persons mentioned is kept as brief as possible and is generally limited to information relevant to the context of the letter. All place names mentioned in the letters are identified - as far as can be ascertained - and the historical administrative unit and political affiliation at the time are also given. Since there have been many changes here in particular, the GND number given regularly refers to the modern place. Information on ancient persons and places is based on the Neue Pauly. The most important life data (date of birth and death as well as place of birth and death) are taken directly from the Gemeinsame Normdatei (GND). By linking to the norm data, it is possible to access the resources of German libraries and other institutions on the internet dynamically with the help of interfaces. This is also intended to ensure that the information generally reflects the current state of research.
  4. The letters are arranged chronologically. The numbering of the letters is taken from the template of the Deutsches Literaturarchiv (German Literature Archive) in Marbach.