Toolbox

• 1.1. Header
• 1.2. Literary elements
• 1.3. Printing elements
• a) Page
• b) Typesetting
• c) Characters and ligatures
• d) Word spacing
• 1.4. References and modern act, scene divisions
• 1.5. Multiple tags and hierarchical structures

1. Renaissance texts: Folio, quartos

This tag set is derived from the "Encoding Guidelines" for the Renaissance Electronic Texts, developed by Ian Lancashire.

Asterisked tags should be added by the Editor; please note, however, that all those supplied in the base texts should also be carefully proofread. Where an editor wishes to add additional information not anticipated by these tags, he or she should correspond with the Coordinating Editor to see if the tagset should be expanded. In general, however, it will be sufficient to add the additional information in the form of a comment, using the SGML/HTML convention of the exclamation mark followed by two hyphens, thus:

<!--ORNAMENT letter="I" drop=4-->
<!--NOTE: there is a printing ambiguity in the Hinman facsimilie -- the previous word may be "quallitie" or "quallirie".-->

1.1. Header

Each document will have a "header" describing in detail the provenance of the text, the names of those involved in developing it, and a list of tags and abbreviations used. The header will be compiled by the Coordinating Editor from information supplied by the editor.

1.2. Literary elements

<TITLEHEAD> </TITLEHEAD>

Title page material in quartos; initial heading in Folio.

<LD> </LD>

Literary Division (e.g. Act, Scene.).

<S> </S> Speech.

Includes the speech prefix and any included stage directions (</S> may appear at the end of a hung word).

<SP> </SP> Speaker Prefix.

norm=Name *Normalized form of the name; must be included in every instance of a speech prefix, but not in the course of a speech.
*Example: <SP norm=Hamlet>Ham.</SP>.

<SD> </SD> Stage Direction.

Each line of a split direction in the right hand margin should be tagged separately; directions different in kind should also be tagged separately.
*t=[type] entrance | exit | setting | sound | delivery | whoto | action | other
Example: <SD t= exit> Exeunt.</SD> <SD t=sound>Alarum</SD>. Of course there will be single instructions that include more than one kind of direction, in which case you should choose what you judge to be the most important: <SD t=entrance> Enter Macbeths Wife alone with a Letter.</SD>.

<VERSEQUOTE> </VERSEQUOTE>

*Verse quotation (e.g. song).
source= When the verse is a quotation from another source, the source should be recorded (as in Pistol's quotations from earlier plays).

<PROSEQUOTE> </PROSEQUOTE>

*Prose quotation (e.g. quoted letter).
source= (As for verse.)

<MODE> </MODE>

*Indicator of verse or prose.
*t=[mode] prose | verse | uncertain
Example: <MODE t=prose> . . . </MODE>. Note that you may choose to use a type of "uncertain" where it is not clear that the section is either verse or prose.

<FOREIGN> </FOREIGN>

Language when not English. Used for the content of speeches only, not Latin stage directions, literary divisions etc.
lang= Type. Example <FOREIGN lang=French>Diable!</FOREIGN>.

1.3. Printing elements

a) Page

<SIG> </SIG>

Page Signature (appears at the end of the page, where it will be displayed).

<CW> </CW>

Catchword.

<RULE>

Rule.

<RT> </RT>

Running title.

<PN> </PN>

Page number as printed.
n=[number] *Actual page number where it differs from the printed number.
*Example: <PN n=28>26</PN> where the correct page number is 28 but the printed number reads 26. Omit when the number is accurate.

<COL0> </COL0>

Defines pages with no columns in a document that elsewhere has columns.

<COL1> </COL1>

Column 1 (Folio).

<COL2> </COL2>

Column 2 (Folio).

<CL> </CL>

Closing (e.g. Finis).

b) Typesetting

<I> </I> Italic text.

Italics may also be generated in the normal word processor way to assist you in working with a readable text; they will later be converted automatically.
Note 1: In the Folio and Quarto texts, words should be italicized even if they are also logically tagged (as a stage direction or speech prefix, for example; in the modern text italics may be used to make the text more readable, but will be ignored, since the logical tagging will be used as a basis for formatting the text.
Note 2: If you are using your word processor for italics, please be careful not to italicize non-visible characters like the space, the carriage return, and punctuation (unless it is in fact italicized).

<BLL> </BLL>

*Black Letter (not to be confused with BL, blank line).

<LS> </LS>

*Letter-Spaced (e.g., "G O D").

<SUP> </SUP>

Superscript characters (this follows the HTML 3.2 convention).

<SUB> </SUB>

Subscript characters.

<R> </R>

Roman; this tag can be added automatically at a later date if you are using word processor italics.

<J> </J>

Justified line(s). Only fully justified lines are tagged.

<HW> </HW>

Hung Word(s). Note that the hung word should be restored to the line it continues; the "type" indicates whether it was origianally displaced to the previous or next line.
t=prev | next
The type of hung word indicates whether it appears on the previous or next line from the line it continues.

<CENTER> </CENTER>

Centered text (may be shortened to <C> </C>). As in HTML this tag applies to a whole line.

<RA> </RA>

Right Aligned text. This tag can be applied to a separate part of a line, so is the equivalent of a tab rather than right alignment for the whole line.

<ORNAMENT>

Ornament (will be shown by a graphic in the HTML version).

<BL>

Blank line.

Line breaks

Line breaks will be indicated in the normal way by a carriage return, so lines should not be broken except where they are in the original. The one exception is where a tag is the only item on the line (<COL1> is an example). In the final version of the texts the line breaks will be replaced by appropriate tags automatically.

c) Characters and ligatures

Note: where an accent is also an abbreviation, the abbreviation should be indicated thus: |m{_a}|.

d) Word spacing

Word spacing will be normalized throughout, with a single space separating all words. Add a space when the original uses punctuation as a word separator. In cases where there is doubt as to whether a space is intended (a word that could be a compound, for example), indicate the doubtful space by {#}. NOTE: editors may choose to indicate all added spaces if they wish.

1.4. References and modern act, scene divisions

<TLN=[number]>

Through Line Number. The basic method of internal reference for the editions will be the TLN number. Where a quarto or modern edition omits material the numbers will be omitted; where they add material the numbers will be added decimally (<TLN=1033.1> etc.); where the line division varies from the Folio the TLN number will be that of the first word of the line.

<ACT> </ACT>

Act division as in the modern edition.
n=[number]> The number of the act. If the original includes an act division which has been retained, the notation would be thus: </ACT><ACT n=2> <LD>Actus Secundus</LD>.

<SCENE> </SCENE>

Scene division as in the modern edition.
n=[number]> Example: </SCENE></ACT><ACT n=2> <LD>A{ct}us Secundus, Sc{oe}na Prima</LD> <SCENE n=1>
<SD>Enter Hamlet.</SD> . . .

1.5. Multiple tags and hierarchical structures

The tags in the Renaissance texts of the Internet Editions are on the whole not hierarchical, since they are representational rather than logical. Thus one tag can cross the boundary of another where necessary. Nonetheless, it is good manners to keep the boundaries logical and consistent wherever possible. Thus in this example the overall <S> </S> tag encloses both the speech prefix (which is logically necessary) and the tag that indicates a justified line. In turn the <J> </J> tag encloses the speech prefix tag.

<TLN=452> <S><J><SP>Nurse.</SP> Goe Gyrle, seeke happie nights to happy daies.</J></S>

In the next passage the hung word complicates the process, since it also ends a speech.

<TLN=19> <S><J><SP>Samp.</SP> True, and therefore women being the weaker
<TLN=20> Vessels, are euer thrust to the wall: therefore I will push
<TLN=21> Mountagues men from the wall, and thrust his Maides to</J>
<TLN=22> the wall</S>
<TLN=23> <S><J><SP>Greg.</SP> The Quarrell is betweene our Masters, and vs <HW t=next><RA>(their men.</RA><HW></S>
<TLN=24> <S><SP>Samp.</SP> 'Tis all one, I will shew my selfe a tyrant: when
<TLN=25> I haue fought with the men, I will bee ciuill with the</J>
<TLN=26> Maids, and cut off their heads.</S>

This example includes a stage direction divided between two lines, right aligned.

<TLN=721> And euery Greeke of mettell let him know,
<TLN=722> What Troy meanes fairely, shall be spoke alowd. <SD><RA>Sound <HW t=next>trumpet.</HW></RA></SD>
<TLN=724> We haue great Agamemnon heere in Troy,
<TLN=725> A Prince calld Hector, Priam is his father,

Where there is a combination of tags indicating logical structures (speech, stage direction etc.) and physical characteristics (justification etc.), the logical tags should wherever possible surround the physical tags, as in the examples above.

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