MANUSCRIPTS GUIDE

BROWSE COLLECTION: MANUSCRIPTS

The 'Manuscripts' section under 'Browse collection' contains images of every manuscript volume used in the project and its transcription following the conventions described elsewhere in these notes.

The manuscripts fall in four categories:

1. RBVBMS: the main series of manuscripts at Rabindra-Bhavana, Visva-Bharati
2. BMSF: the 'Bengali Manuscript Files' series at Rabindra-Bhavana, Visva-Bharati
3. EMSF: the 'English Manuscript Files' series at Rabindra-Bhavana, Visva-Bharati
4. HRVD: manuscripts in the Rothenstein Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University

The original manuscript numbers given by these libraries have been preserved.

Manuscript images and transcriptions can be accessed in two ways:

1. Manuscript-wise Index
   • Click Manuscript-wise Index to open a table where the first column lists all the manuscripts. Their contents are detailed in the other columns according to genre.
   • Click on the manuscript number to open the images and transcription of that manuscript. You can navigate through the images in two ways:
     • with the keyboard
     • with the toolbar (to open, click the Toolbar button on the top right)
   • The following keyboard shortcuts are available for viewing the images.

     Key	Function
     Home	View first page
     End	View last page
     Backspace	View previous page
     Enter	View next page
     Up Arrow	Scroll upward
     Down Arrow	Scroll downward
     Left Arrow	Scroll left
     Right Arrow	Scroll right
     +	Zoom in
     -	Zoom out

   • The following keyboard shortcuts are available for viewing the transcription.

     Key	Function
     Pg Up	move to top of page
     Pg Dn	move to bottom of page
     Ctl+	increase font size of text
     Ctl-	decrease font size of text
     Space Bar	hide/show (toggle) transcription panel

   • Click on the
      
     button to see the symbols and conventions used in transcription.
2. Title-wise index

   Click Title-wise index to see the locations of all identifiable works in the manuscripts.

   • Select the title you want either by using the alphabetical click-and-open menu, or by keying the title into the search box on the left panel.
   • Once you have reached the title you want, click on your selected manuscript number to open the images and transcription of the text as in that manuscript. You can navigate through the images in two ways:
   • with the keyboard
   • with the toolbar (to open, click the Toolbar button on the top right)

View Manuscripts and Transcriptions

You can also access the images and transcription of a manuscript by clicking View Manuscripts and Transcriptions, then clicking on the manuscript no. you want.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF TRANSCRIPTION FOR MANUSCRIPTS AND PRINTED MATERIAL

In addition to images of all manuscripts, printed books and periodicals, there are textual transcriptions (in .txt UTF-8 format) of every text. These can be accessed by clicking on the icon in the 'Bibliography/See whole table' and 'Collation' sections. Manuscript transcriptions appear automatically to the right of the images.
Cells that do not have an or icon indicate items we could not obtain for inclusion.

STANDARDIZATION

Some standardization of the transcribed texts was necessary for ease of reading and incorporation in the collation program. This sometimes makes for a departure from the original appearance of the text on the page. The latter can be ascertained from the image.

• The front matter of books, such as cover, half-title, title page, dedication, list of contents have not been transcribed in most cases to avoid confusion in the collation results. Colophons printed as back matter have also not been transcribed. All this material can be viewed in the images.
• Spacing between lines, stanzas, speeches etc.:
• A single blank line has been kept between stanzas of verse but none between paragraphs of prose. Where the stanza break is not clear in the printed layout, we have sometimes applied our judgement.
• Blank lines have been left between the speeches of plays containing both prose and verse dialogue, but not with plays where the entire dialogue is in prose. This is because different parsers are being used for collation in the two categories.
• Space between headers, titles or stage directions and the main body of a text has sometimes been modified from the actual layout. The latter can be viewed in the images
• Spacing at the start or middle of a line:
• All prose paragraphs are flush with the left margin
• All lines of verse start from the left margin, even where indented in the original.
• A gap within a verse line, indicating a caesura and/or internal rhyme, is denoted by a hash sign #. Where the intra-linear spacing is unclear, we have sometimes applied our judgement in placing the #.
• Stage directions and speech-headings of plays:
• The placing of act and scene numbers, place and time of action, characters present at the start of a scene, speech headings and stage directions have been made uniform.
• Speech-headings have always been placed on the same line as the opening of the speech.
• Place, date and time of composition (usually at the end of a work) have been transcribed in a standard format irrespective of their actual position.
• Where the digital image is unclear, usually owing to damaged pages, the signs « » are used to indicate doubt about the reading.
• Misprints have been preserved in transcription. But inverted letters have been silently rectified.

ADDITIONAL PRINCIPLES OF MANUSCRIPT TRANSCRIPTION

In addition to images of the manuscripts, there are textual transcriptions (in .txt UTF-8 format) of the same. These appear automatically to the right of the image. Manuscript transcriptions are provided in two versions:

1. Page-by-page transcription of the whole manuscript volume

   This version follows the page-by-page sequence of the entire manuscript volume (as bound at present, which may not always coincide with the original sequence). As the text of a particular work is often scattered through a volume, or mixed with texts of other works, this version may not allow the user to readily trace the entire text of a work through the volume. Its chief purpose is to help in deciphering the handwriting, deletions, insertions etc.. Hence this version is displayed side by side with the image of the manuscript. It indicates all changes, deletions, later insertions etc. by a set of symbols listed below. It reflects the full process of composition as shown in that particular manuscript.

2. Separate filtered transcriptions of each item in its final reading in that manuscript.

   This version, prepared by applying our unique text-filtering software, presents the final reading emerging from that particular manuscript, disregarding all earlier stages and deleted readings.

CONVENTIONS OF MANUSCRIPT TRANSCRIPTION

1. If the text beneath a deletion is discernible, we have tried to incorporate it.
2. No attempt has been made to transcribe the form or shape of doodles – i.e., to transcribe an image into text. The doodles can be seen in the images. The deleted text beneath a doodle has been rescued wherever possible, like any other deletion.
3. The manuscripts often have more than one set of page or folio numbers. The transcription follows the most prominent or consistent sequence of page or folio numbers. Where there was none such, we have introduced our own sequence.
4. Page numbers are preceded by double asterisks**. Unnumbered pages in the manuscripts have been assigned a page number following the most prominent sequence.
5. Works in the manuscripts usually do not contain titles. We have inserted the titles from the Rachanabali edition (or other print edition if appropriate), preceded by an asterisk *.
6. All other text inserted in transcription by way of notes, headings, references etc. are also preceded by an asterisk*.
7. If there is more than one version of the same work in the same manuscript, they are distinguished by an asterisk and serial number, as *1, *2 etc.
8. Missing dots have been silently added to characters like য়, র, ড়, ঢ়. Other scribal idiosyncrasies have been silently regularized where they clearly do not have any textual or orthographical significance. This is an exception to the general rule that even errors have been exactly reproduced in transcription.

SIGNS USED IN MANUSCRIPT TRANSCRIPTION

Sign	Note/Explanation
<text>	deleted text
{text}	inserted text
+++	illegible text
±text±	text whose position is uncertain
৲text3৲ text2 text2 text2 text 2 text2 ৴text1৴	text which has been transposed
[\text\]	underlined text
⋋text of version1⋋ ⋌text of version2⋌	two juxtaposed versions of the same text
≮text≯	stet: retention of text earlier marked for deletion
[~  ] OR [~]	If a note, comment, instruction etc. is placed in the margin, this marginalia is placed within square brackets [~  ]. The part of the main text against which it is located in the manuscript is indicated by the sign [~] at the beginning and end of that part.
<⋏⋏> OR {⋏text⋏} OR <⋎⋎> OR {⋎text⋎}	Where the original author/scribe has changed the position of a small amount of text (a sentence or less) using an arrow, line or asterisk If a section is moved upward, this sign is placed at the original point (without the text) <⋏⋏> This sign is placed at the destination point, enclosing the text {⋏text⋏} If a section is moved downward, this sign is placed at the original point (without the text) <⋎⋎> This sign is placed at the destination point, enclosing the text {⋎text⋎} If there are multiple cases of migration in a page, they have been numbered as <⋏1⋏>, <⋏2⋏>, <⋏3⋏> according to their sequence in the page.
⋀ OR ⋁	If the position of a large amount of text has been changed, the following sign is placed at the destination point if the text has moved upward: ⋀ and the following if it has moved downward: ⋁ In these cases, no sign is placed at the original location.
∟	A sign like ∟or a long vertical stroke in the original manuscript to indicate a line break or paragraph break has been recognized by moving the following section of the text to the next paragraph. The sign ∟ appears in the transcription at the start of this new paragraph.