All extant manuscript, typescript, journal, and notebook pages in public archives or private collections for the nine poems in this edition have been digitally scanned or photographed and reproduced here. All published texts prior to The Complete Poems of George Whalley have been digitally scanned and reproduced. The complete texts, from front cover to back cover, of Poems 1939-1944 (1946) and No Man an Island (1948) have been scanned and reproduced. The digital scans were made using a flatbed scanner (e.g. Epson Perfection V500 or a comparable device) or a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera with a scan resolution of 300 dpi or higher. A few images were made using a handheld camera, only when a scanner was not available. These have been used to ensure the record is complete are will be replaced when digital scans are made.
All the extant audio recordings for poems in this edition have been digitized and reproduced here. Queen’s University Archives has two reel-to-reel machines: a Revox A77 MK II and a Revox B77 MK II. Both of them were used. They were connected to a computer using a RCA to 3.5 mm aux adaptor. Audacity, a free audio editor and recorder, was used to make WAV files of the recordings. These were converted into mp3 files that were saved as part of the records in the Whalley database. Additional editing was completed on a Mac computer using Logic Pro X.
The transcriptions in the pdf files are made to reproduce the original page as closely as possible and to render Whalley’s handwriting legible. We have deciphered as much as possible and acknowledge that some words and phrases remain unclear. Readers who can decipher them are welcome to contact the editors.
The chronology of the manuscripts and typescripts was established through a careful review that focused on tracing the revisions from version to version. In a few instances the chronology is unclear. We have acknowledged this in the editors' notes. At the end of the editors' note for each poem, a chronological list of documents contains entries that summarize the documents available for each poem. The list of versions in the left column is arranged chronologically.
In the Whalley database from which the images, recordings, transcriptions, notes, and metadata are drawn for the edition, the Rules for Archival Description (RAD) - the Canadian national standard for archives - provides the framework for the metadata recorded and organization of the digitized materials. The names of the documents and records comply with RAD conventions. This often produces names that are differentiated only by a number (e.g. “A Minor Poet is Visited by the Muse [02],” “A Minor Poet is Visited by the Muse [03],” “A Minor Poet is Visited by the Muse [04],” etc.). To clearly differentiate the various documents in the left column that lists the versions and in the editors' notes, we have substituted names that are used only in this edition. Draft denotes a substantial or full version of the poem. Fragment denotes a partial version, from a few lines to half a draft. Text indicates a published version. Audio is used for recordings. These key words are followed by numbers to differentiate the drafts, fragments, texts, and audio recordings. We note whether a paper document is a typescript (TS) or a manuscript (MS), and the former is used when the base copy in typed and has handwritten changes. The date is recorded when Whalley has written it or a letter clearly establishes it.