Perhaps that is the reason for transcriptions these days, however when I started transcribing it was the only method of obtaining a copy of the records. My reason for transcribing is to make inaccessible records easily accessible. If the person has access to the original then I believe they should read the original document rather than the transcript. Quite honestly I don't care how people transcribe, but was giving pointers to what I consider to be best practice gleaned from decades of experience. Whether the advice is discarded, used in part or followed implicitly is totally up to the person reading it, there is no law that says it must be followed. Cheers Guy norman.lee1 wrote: > Am I missing something, or is the main object of transcription of the old > handwritings an attempt to make them intelligble to those who don't know > these hands? I'm not promoting the complete modernisation of what is written > but to faithfully reproduce all the abbreviations would surely enforce the > average person to abandon the attempt to read the transcription or, if very > determined, to take up paleography in order to read it. In the latter case, > he/she might as well read the original document for him/herself. > > Audrey > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Guy Etchells" <guy.etchells@virgin.net> > To: <OLD-ENGLISH-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2004 8:40 AM > Subject: Re: [OEL] What do I do with that extra "f" > > > >>There are a number of fonts available that allow a variety of Latin >>letters, secretary hand, and court hand etc. to be displayed on your >>computer some are free some are commercial and have to be bought. >> >>As an example Junicode (Junius Unicode)[a basic latin character set] >>allows not only letters with acutes, graves and circumflexes but also >>diaeresis, cedilla, macron, tilde, ligiture Ij, and a wide number of >>other diacritics and phonetic extensions. >> >>There is no reason to be limited to the basic font set that comes with >>your computer. >> >>It is not all plain sailing though as such fonts do not work in email >>and if used on websites create other problems, though these can be >>overcome with thought. >>Cheers >>Guy >> >>Ruth Barton wrote: >> >>>It is all well and good to transcribe exactly what is written if you are >>>doing it by hand but I am transcribing some letters that have some > > peculiar > >>>little curliques on the end of, usually abbreviations or number dates, >>>words that there are nothing even remotely resembling them on the >>>computer. So I just do the best I can. >>> >>>Now I have a question. What do you do if a word has been crossed out in > > a > >>>letter? I can't find any way to "line through" on my computer like I > > could > >>>on a typewriter. Most of the crossed out material is just a botched > > word > >>>or misspelling that he starts over and I just ignore it but don't know > > if > >>>that's what I should do or not. Ruth >> >>snip >>-- >>Wakefield, England >>http://freespace.virgin.net/guy.etchells The site that gives you facts >>not promises! >>// >> >> >>==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== >>To contact the list administrator: >>OLD-ENGLISH-admin@rootsweb.com >> >> > > > > ==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== > To UNSUBSCRIBE from list mode -- > Send the one word UNSUBSCRIBE to > OLD-ENGLISH-L-request@rootsweb.com > > -- Wakefield, England http://freespace.virgin.net/guy.etchells The site that gives you facts not promises! I use Archive CD Books in my research http://www.archivecdbooks.org http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~framland/dh/ Whitefield Transcripts, Etch/ells Transcripts

Guy, Totally agree with your point of view. Regards, Martyn