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1.2 Exemplary Scholarly Editions

An important step in the planning process is to compare your envisioned end product with existing solutions, particularly exemplary editions. It is advisable to refer to these examples when making considerations at all levels - from the initial concept to the functionality and design of the front end. In many cases, the editors of these exemplary editions are willing to pass on their knowledge through personal exchange.

The handbook itself does not evaluate any DSE, but merely refers - without claiming to be exhaustive - to canonical examples from German-speaking countries. These examples are considered role models because, for instance, they include comprehensive documentation of their editing guidelines. Detailed reviews of DSE can be found in the journal RIDE.

The years by which the DSE are categorized, based on their end date, represent the main period during which they were created. All the listed editions undergo regular technical updates and, in some cases, content updates.

Faustedition (2009-2014)

  • Literary DSE of a body of works.

  • Special feature: Graphical overview of text genesis. This approach was later developed into an interactive graphic in the DSE Lokal Bericht (2013-2016).

Alfred Escher Letter Edition, also 'Escher-Briefedition' (2006-2015).

  • Historical DSE of a corpus of letters.

  • Special feature: Largely follows the default settings of the TEI Publisher in the front end; however, it was originally not created with the TEI Publisher but was only converted to it after the project's completion.

Königsfelden Online (2017-2020)

  • Historical DSE of a broad collection of sources (charters, copial books and dorsal notes)

  • Special feature: The DSE also functions as a digital archive that uses various visualizations to trace the tradition of historical archive orders .

edition humboldt digital (2016-2024f.)

  • Cultural studies and interdisciplinary DSE of different source categories (prints, essay manuscripts, diaries, letters, sketches).

  • Special feature: The first beta version from 2016 served as a model for many subsequent projects and received various prizes. The project uses the editing environment ediarum, which is based on the TEI/XML editor Oxygen. The Correspsearch database for correspondence metadata is also closely linked to humboldt digital.

Wölfflin edition (2017-2024f.)

  • Art historical edition of the collected works of an art historian, comprising the majority of published writings (unpublished writings are in preparation).

  • Special feature: The Wölfflin edition largely consists of retro editions, i.e. books originally published in print that are now being translated into a digital, critically annotated form. It is based on a close collaboration with the humanities connect project at the Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome, which makes part of its holdings available as a digital library.

It makes sense for each project to expand this list based on its specific needs and consult it during the planning phase. We recommend starting by considering editions from all fields and disciplines to gain a broad overview of technical and editorial innovations. The search can then be narrowed down based on subject, material, and spatial criteria, in order to reach out to the editors and exchange ideas with them.

Overviews and Collections of DSE

  • Text+ Registry

    The metadata aggregator of [Text+], a consortium of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) in Germany, allows for a targeted search of DSE. It offers the largest data collection known to us (a total of 1425 DSE, as of 2024), but a large proportion of these are only entered as drafts (484). Of the DSE marked as published (941), only the metadata of 193 are curated.

  • University of Wuppertal, Prof Dr Patrick Sahle

    The author of the three-volume standard work Digitale Editionsformen and his team curate an extensive overview of digital editions that meet their basic catalogue of criteria (as of June 2024: 846 DSE). Additionally, the catalogue provides an overview of edition platforms, which host several DSE.
    The overview is created with the TEI Publisher.

  • Catalogue Digital Editions The collaboration between the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities (ACDH, Vienna) and the UCL Centre for Digital Humanities (UCLDH, London) primarily hosts English- and German-language editions, curated by Greta Franzini. The catalogue invites you to report new editions and adds them to the German Library Network (DBIS) (as of September 2024: 337 DSE).

  • TEI Publisher Editions

    For users of the TEI Publisher, e-editiones, the research community behind the tool, provides an overview of all editions that have been created with it (as of June 2024: 46 DSE).

  • Collection of the KONDE White Paper

    The KONDE White Paper provides an overview of Austrian projects that are often linked to the White Paper in terms of personnel and institutions (as of June 2024: 28 DSE).

  • CDE: University of Zurich

    The Centre for Digital Editions & Editions Analytics (CDE) provides an overview of editions that are or have been carried out in the environment of the University of Zurich (as of June 2024: 18 DSE).

  • DiScholEd - Digital Scholarly Editions

    A collection platform of mainly Francophone historical edition projects based on the TEI Publisher, operated by the French DH infrastructure humanum (as of August 2024: 7 DSE).

  • edview, DSE of the DLA Marbach

    A platform for DSE from the German Literature Archive Marbach (as of August 2024: 2 DSE, a further 4 DSE are announced).