ABSTRACT
Any edition of an old source is bound to be a compromise, between a facsimile reproduction on the one hand and a completely modernized rendering on the other. As regards the usual middle course adopted by editors, L.C. Hector summarized in 1958 a position which is to a large extent true today:
There is no universally approved way of printing the texts of manuscript archives… [Editorial] practice varies widely and there is no evidence to suggest that editors are willing to purchase the benefits of uniformity at the cost of any of their own preferences. 1
