The WWP encodes attributions of responsibility (on the title page or at the head or end of a <div>) using the <respLine> element, which replaces the TEI element <byline>. The <respLine> element expresses a broader range of responsibility than simple authorship. It has the same content model as <byline>, and can appear wherever <byline> could appear, but it can be used to encode references to transcribers, reporters, petitioners, and other people and agencies having to do with the production of the text, as well as authors. Its chief use is on title pages and in other places where responsibility for textual production is expressed (for instance, the byline to a newspaper article or essay). It should not be confused with the <author> element, which is used within <bibl> to encode references to other works. <respLine> is only intended for those agents with responsibility for producing the work being transcribed.
The WWP has changed the name of the TEI <docAuthor> element to <docRole>, and has broadened its application to encode references to any of the participants in the document’s production and dissemination (including author, editor, translator, printer, publisher, bookseller) appearing on the title page. This element replaces <docAuthor>, <publisher>, <rs type="printer">, and so forth.
For the parts of the title page that deal with intellectual responsibility, <respLine> should be used to encode the entire block of text describing that responsibility: for instance “By a Lady”, “Written by Mrs. C. Smith”, “Set down and annotated by Rev. L. Jones”, and similar statements. Within <respLine>, the name of the author or other participants in the text’s production should be encoded with <docRole>. If the reference is with a proper name, this should be encoded with <persName> (or, if the author is an organization or collectivity, with <orgName> or <name>).
For parts of the title page dealing with the text’s physical production (publisher, bookseller, printer), no <respLine> is needed. <docRole> is used within <docImprint>.
As a rough formula for determining who’s who on the title page, we use the following:
In an imprint which states “Printed by X for Y”, X is the printer and Y is the publisher.
In an imprint which states “Printed for Y”, Y is the publisher.
In an imprint which states “Printed by X”, X is the printer.
In an imprint which states “Printed for X, Y, Z, and Q”, X, Y, Z, and Q are all publishers.
Example 1.
<respline>By <docRole>a
Lady</docRole></respline>
Example 2. <respline>By <docRole><persName>Jane
Doe</persName></docRole>, author of <title>Female
Poems on Several Occasions</title></respline>
Example 3. <respline>Orated by
<docRole><persName>Henry Earl of
Wigglesworth</persName></docRole> at his father’s
birth</respline>
Example 4. <respline>Channelled by
<docRole><orgName>The National Society of
Channelers</orgName></docRole> and recorded by their
secretary, <docRole><persName>Wilhelmina
Bloomer</persName></docRole></respline>
Example 5. (a real example) <respline>compyled in frenche
by <docRole><persName>lady Margarete quene of
Navarre</persName></docRole>, and aptely translated into
Englysh by the ryght vertuouse <docRole><persName>lady
Elyzabeth</persName></docRole> daughter to our late
soverayne <persName>Kynge Henri the
viii</persName></respline>