Handwriting: General notes

This guide is chiefly intended to cover the encoding of printed materials, but such sources frequently include handwriting of various sorts, whether in the form of deliberate annotations of the content of the document, as revisions or corrections, or as separate (possibly unrelated) inscriptions on a blank area. Since the latter may sometimes be extensive, we cover here some of the basic provisions for encoding handwriting. However, detailed coverage of encoding manuscript documents is beyond the scope of this guide.

The TEI provides elements for encoding manuscript modifications to a printed page, and also provides methods for describing the manuscript marks in detail. Manuscript modifications to a printed page are treated as being one of two types: additions and deletions. These may be combined as needed to express more complex patterns of substitution and revision.

Additions

Additions may be of many types; some of the most common are listed here:

  • a comment inserted in a margin (either linked to a specific point in the text or commenting more generally on it);
  • an annotation which is unrelated to the text and simply occupies the spare room on the page;
  • an insertion into the text stream (marked either at the insertion point or in the margin)
  • a non-textual mark which highlights some portion of text (such as underlining, marginal check marks or lines, boxes or circles around portions of text, etc.)
  • doodles or drawing, whether related to the text or not

Brief additions are encoded using the add element, which may nest inside of paragraph-level textual features. It is typically used for additions which are not structurally complex; while it may contain features such as quotations, paragraphs, poems, and tables, as well as phrase-level encoding, it would be difficult to use add to mark the insertion of an entire chapter.

Longer additions, those which are more complex, and in particular those which overlap some other element boundary, are encoded by marking their endpoints with empty elements. The beginning of the addition is encoded with the addSpan element, and the endpoint is marked with an anchor element; both are empty. The addSpan element points to the anchor, thereby embracing between them the extent of the addition. For more information on encoding additions, see Handwriting: Additions and deletions.

Deletions

Deletions are a less varied phenomenon, simply because they are always in some direct relation to the text (in other words, they express the intention of altering it). However, the extent of the deletion may be difficult to determine, and its presence may also complicate other issues such as the legibility of the deleted text.

Brief deletions are encoded using the del element, which (like add) may nest inside of paragraph-level textual features. It is typically used for deletions which are not structurally complex; its permitted contents are more limited than those of add, and it may not contain features such as tables, poems, quotations, or paragraphs. It is essentially for marking the deletion of words and phrases.

Longer deletions, or those which span an element boundary, are encoded by marking the endpoints with empty elements. The start of the deletion is encoded with delSpan, and the endpoint is marked with an anchor element. The delSpan element points to the anchor, thereby embracing between them the extent of the deletion. For more information on encoding deletions, see Handwriting: Additions and deletions.