The Attic Chest contributions exhibit marked irregularity of spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. Any attempt to reproduce these inconsistencies would render the transcriptions unreadable. Content has been edited in accordance with the following guidelines.
Spelling: Wherever practical, variant spellings have been replaced with modern equivalents, even where authors have shown a preference for spellings that emphasize rhyme, e.g., soul → controul or loud → croud. Spelling now considered American (e.g. favorite, humor) has been preserved.
Capitalization: Attic Chest contributors were prolific but erratic in their capitalization. The same word can be found capitalized in one line and not in another. Where consistent capitalization is used for emphasis, this has been retained. Otherwise, capitalization has been modified to reflect modern usage.
Punctuation: Logical punctuation was of minor concern to most Attic Chest contributors, as evinced by the plethora of redundant commas and dashes. Quotation marks are used to indicate direct speech, but in a manner unfamiliar to a modern reader. An attempt has been made to standardize such punctuation in accordance with modern practice.
Abbreviation: Contributors were consistent in their preference for tho’ and thro’ as abbreviations that, presumably, facilitated handwriting. The reasons for wide adoption of abbreviations such as pow’r or clos’d are less clear. Perhaps this use was intended to remove ambiguity in intonation. Such abbreviations have been preserved.
Annotations: Many of the early contributions are annotated in pencil. Examples of such annotations are sequential numbering and provisional titles. They are indicated by an orange sans-serif typeface, thus:
Letter to the Editor
Corrections: In earlier seasons the Pordens often made corrections to submissions, invariably improving on the original. On the assumption that the edited versions were those read out at meetings, they are indicated in green, with the original visible by hovering over the relevant text:
This is an example of a textual correction. Hover over the green text to see the original.
Lacunae: Not all DRO scans are complete. Minor lacunae such as missing or obliterated words are indicated by red ellipses, with a mouse-hover comment indicating the problem. Major lacunae such as missing pages are identified with a grey button.
This is an example of missing text. Hover over [ . . . ] to see comment.
This is an example of missing pages.
MISSING
Contributions not preserved in the Gell Collection are coloured grey in the list of authors:
A Description of Monkey Island → Mr Porden
A list of missing contributions can also be found in the Authors section.
Illegibility: The editors of the Attic Chest were often troubled by illegibility, as noted in the editorial comment at the 28 April 1813 meeting:
We recommend it to some of our correspondents to be a little less sparing of their paper, and to lay in a fresh stock of pens and ink as the latter appears to have been too often watered already and their writing requires a microscope. Our friends must be sensible how much the spirit of their effusions must evaporate and the sense be lost while the reader is blundering over the hand, and endeavouring to make out the words.
Fading ink and the passage of centuries have compounded such problems. Every effort has been made to extrapolate illegible text. Where this has proved impossible, such text has been indicated thus:
Illegible text is indicated by question marks. Hover over [???] to see comment.
Authorship: At the conclusion of each season the editors of the Attic Chest invited contributors to acknowledge their anonymous works, and such acknowledgements were compiled into lists of contributions. Unfortunately these lists exhibit major inconsistencies. For example, Eleanor Anne Porden is often identified as the author of pieces written in a recognisably different hand. The names of acknowledged authors have been added as they appear in the Gell Collection. Where the attribution is clearly mistaken, and the author can be readily identified from handwriting, style, or internal evidence, this has been indicated thus:
Translation of Vive l’Amour → Miss Porden → Miss Vardill
Fidelity to Original: Some Attic Chest members formatted their contributions to imitate printed text or scribbled notes, or to disguise their handwriting; others added illustrations. With a few exceptions, no attempt has been made to reproduce such embellishments.
Collation: Comments encouraging the use of standard paper sizes to facilitate sewing of contributions into fascicles indicate that the Pordens collated the contributions soon after each meeting, to be placed ‘on the table’ for perusal by attending members. However, the ordering of such collations is often at variance with both the editorial comments and the end-of-season acknowledgements. Many of the longer serialized poems and lectures were removed in their entirety after the acknowledgement lists were compiled. Such missing contributions are indicated by grey text.
The Sylphiad Canto 1st → Mr Vignoles