Oxford University Press Text Capture Instructions

The sections below identify the key features that may be present, and how to flag them in the markup when they are present. The order in which they are described in these instructions is not necessarily the order in which they appear in the letter. Not all features may be present.

Heading - Capture a titleGroup element only when the letter is headed by text in a different style from the editorial introduction or main body of the letter.

Number - In some collections of letters each letter is given a number to aid cross-referencing. The number may or may not form all or part of a heading (titleGroup) for a letter. Capture the letter number in an enumerator.

Name of recipient - This can usually be identified as a name after the word 'To' in the heading or somewhere else above the body of the letter. Capture the name in a nameGrp element with attribute role="meta-letter-recipient".

Name of sender - A collection may include letters sent by someone else to the main author of the letters in the collection. This can usually be identified as a name after the word 'From' in the heading or somewhere else above the body of the letter. Capture the name in a nameGrp element with attribute role="meta-letter-sender".

MS identifier - A library shelfmark or catalogue number for the original MS of the letter. This should be marked up as a bibItem.

Address of recipient - Can usually be found above the body of the letter, but may be absent. When present, it may be on (or within) a single line of text, or on several lines. It may not be a full address, but for example could be just a town/city. Capture the address in a place element with the attribute role="meta-letter-recipient-place".

Place of composition - Can usually be found immediately above or before the date of composition. May be absent, or present in the letter's title or headnote instead of the body. Sometimes the editor may add a place where known or inferred from other sources. The place of composition may be the name of a building, town, region, state, etc., or even a full address. The text of the place should be captured in a place element with attribute role="meta-letter-composition-place".

Date of composition - Can usually be found above the body of the letter, but may be absent. The date of composition should be captured in the date element with attribute role="meta-letter-composition-date". A standard ISO date should be inferred from the date given in the text and captured as the @isoDate attribute of the date element.

Salutation - When this appears on a separate line, capture in a p element with attribute role="salutation". Note that the salutation does not always begin "Dear …", but will be the first line of the letter, and will address the recipient by name or title.

Text of the letter - Capture this using p elements as normal.

Signature - This text includes the signed name of the sender, as well as text such as "Yours faithfully" etc. When this appears on a separate line (or lines), capture in a single p element with attribute role="signature".

Postscript - Capture this using p elements as normal.

      <div1>
        <titleGroup><title>
 <p>
                             <enumerator altNum="22">
                                 <sc>letter 22</sc>
                             </enumerator>
                         </p>
 <p alignment="right">
                             <date role="meta-letter-composition-date" isoDate="1636-10-26">
                                 <sc>26 october <span role="editorial">[/5 november]</span> 1636</sc>
                             </date>
                         </p>
 <p>
                             <i>Hobbes to</i>
   <nameGrp mainName="Cavendish" foreNames="William" title="Earl of Newcastle" role="meta-letter-recipient">
                                 <i>William Cavendish, Earl of Newcastle</i>
                             </nameGrp>
   <i>, from</i>
   <place role="meta-letter-recipient-place" county="Surrey" town="Byfleet">
                                 <i>Byfleet
                  (Surrey)</i>
                             </place>
                         </p></title>
        </titleGroup>
        <div2 role="editorial"><p>
                         <bibItem id="actrade-9780198240655-bibItem-292" class="ms" idnumber="Add. 70499" place="British Library">BL MS Add. 70499, fos. 214-215 (original).</bibItem>
                     </p><p>Printed in <bibItem id="actrade-9780198240655-bibItem-293" class="book" publisher="HMC" title="Portland">HMC, <i>Portland</i>, p. 130</bibItem>.</p>
        </div2>
        <div2><p role="salutation">Right Honourable and my singular good Lord.</p><p>I giue yo<sup>r</sup> Lo<sup>p</sup> most humble thanks for yo<sup>r</sup> ...</p><p role="signature">
 <displayText class="other">
   <lineGroup>
     <line>yo<sup>r</sup> Lops humble and most obliged seruant</line>
     <line>Tho: Hobbes</line>
   </lineGroup>
 </displayText></p><p>Byflet. Octob. 26, 1636</p><p>
                         <span role="editorial">[<i>addressed:</i>]</span> To the Right Honorable The Earl of
            Newcastle</p>
        </div2>
      </div1>