record

The only objective thing is the unique original manuscript itself; it may not be replaced by an equivalent, and in the strict sense may not be reproduced even by color photography. The material manuscript itself, not the text of the manuscript, is the record. The manuscript requires interpretation, however, and the result of the interpretation is the text. This act of interpreting the manuscript is the constitution of the text. Interpretation in the conventional sense, as in the interpretation of the text or of the poem (literary criticism), needs to be differentiated from this editorial interpretation.

(Zeller 1995, 43)

Contributed by Caroline. View changelog.