Bibliographical Note

The text of the present edition of A Sentimental Journey is based on that of the second edition (1768), with the following modification: I have carefully compared the printed text with the MS. in the British Museum. This MS. covers only the first volume, and that not completely. Any substantial divergencies between the MS. and the text are referred to in the notes at the end of this edition; but the punctuation has been brought into closer accord with the MS., since I am convinced that the MS. represents a more personal rhythm. The MS. is evidently a fair and deliberate copy and is the one used by the printer; but the printer probably thought himself at liberty to insert numerous commas, and to leave a few out, and necessarily to play havoc with the Shandean dash. I have a great respect for the Shandean dash: it has a part in the rhythm of Sterne’s periods, which would often avoid anything so abrupt as a full-stop. I have therefore restored the simple dash in almost every case where the MS. indicates it. I have also made one or two changes of paragraphing for the same reasons.

For that part of the book not covered by the MS. I have only ventured to make a very few modifications of punctuation on the basis of what I conceive to be Sterne’s practice.

Sterne’s use of capital initials does not seem to be very systematic in the MS.; he almost invariably uses a capital “L,” and almost invariably a small “f,” whatever the significance of the word. But again, in a few cases, I have thought it desirable to follow the MS.

For a full bibliography of Sterne’s writings, the reader may be referred to The Life and Times of Laurence Sterne, by Professor Wilbur L. Cross (2 vols., Yale University Press, 1925)—an authoritative work to which I have been greatly indebted in my studies of Sterne.

H. R.