Exercise: Citation of a Manuscript
Here is a catalogue entry for a manuscript (of chapters of Jane Austen's Persuasion in the British Library in London). Imagine you wanted to cite the reverse of folio 14.
Correct footnote:
Your footnote above should look like this:London, British Library, MS Egerton 3038, fol. 14v.
Comment:
If you'd like to see what this MS looks like, it's available at: 'Two Chapters of Persuasion: Diplomatic Display', Jane Austen’s Fiction Manuscripts Digital Edition (2012) <http://www.janeausten.ac.uk/manuscripts/blpers/28.html> [accessed 3 September 2012].
There is a large amount of variation in the ways that different institutions catalogue their manuscripts. Some catalogues will provide very clear information about a manuscript, others will be more cryptic. It is always worth looking at the works of other critics in your field to see the standard forms used to cite manuscripts.
