the ethnological notebooks of karl marx - Marxists Internet Archive

TECHNICAL APPARATUS AND FORMATThe publication of Marx’s ethnological manuscripts has the aim ofreproducing the form and content of the materials as they were left bytheir author. For this reason, the materials from the notebooks followthe sequence in which they were left by him; details concerning thatsequence are to be found in the Introduction, note 1 5. The accuracy ofthe transcription and reproduction of the materials is limited by humanerror, further by the difficulties inherent in the transfer of the writingsfrom manuscript to typescript to printed page. While the reproductionof Marx’s manuscripts has been as faithful as possible, departures fromthis aim have been conscious in certain cases:1. Punctuation, including periods and commas, etc., has been occasionallyinserted. Square and round brackets drawn by Marx have beenclosed where necessary, or made consistent, so that a bracketingintroduced as round is closed as such, etc. These matters have beentreated without further indication. An exception to this will be foundin the Introduction, note 16: the matter of that note touches anothercorpus of Marx’s manuscript materials; it was treated differently, andthe difference is set forth in that place.2. Marx’s note-taking style included abbreviations standardized accordingto his practice: u. = und; od. = oder; d. = any definite article ofthe German language; dch = durch, ddch = dadurch; whd = während;it also included non-standardized abbreviations, word-shorteningssuch as elimination of vowels, reduction of consonantclusters, contractions, etc. Thus, bdtde = bedeutende; df, drf =darauf; flgde = folgende; v., vn = von; nothwdg = nothwendig;wdn = werden or wurden; wf, wrf = worauf; etc. Marx rendered‘wahrscheinlich’ variously as whsclich, wrsclich, whrsclich, etc.;Gesellscft, Bildg, Verwandscft, Verwdtscft, have been left in theform in which they were found, the editor being persuaded that thiswill be generally obvious.Where there is reason to doubt whether the form of the shortenedword will be readily understood, it has been either filled in by the useof angle brackets ( ) by the editor, or else it has been given in fullwithin the text and annotated. More rarely, where a word appears tobe wanting from a phrase, it has been filled in by the editor, againwith the use of angle brackets. All square and round brackets found91