Critical edition
An edition that attempts to construct a text of a work using all the available evidence is “critical,” whatever its methodology. Critical editions require collation of the different versions of a text, and the construction of a new version out of the results of that collation. Most critical editions use a base version, whose readings they accept except where there is reason not to do so. The critical editing process involves comparing existing sources against the base version and deciding which spelling should be kept in the newly constructed text. Such decisions are usualy recorded as footnotes. Technology developped by OpenPecha allows us to produce a neutral version called a “vulgate” which can be used as the base text.
We can assist you or outsource any of the following phases:
- Identifying existing editions
- Fast digitization of sources using OCR or parsing
- Exact digitization of selected versions as diplomatic e-texts
- Creation of a neutral “vulgate” etext to use as the base text
- Critical editing by Tibetan scholars