How we checked the 1908 text

Every edition of a classic begins with a simple, serious question: which text are we publishing? In the case of Memorial de Aires, the answer is the text of the first edition, published by H. Garnier in Rio de Janeiro and Paris in 1908.

Where we start

We start from a public-domain digital transcription and check it, word by word, against a second, independent transcription. Where the two differ, the case is examined, decided and recorded in the edition’s working files. Obvious transcription errors are corrected. Doubtful cases are noted.

What we changed

We updated the spelling to the 1990 Portuguese Orthographic Agreement, in force in Brazil. Only spelling variants change: elle becomes ele, annos becomes anos, Sophia becomes Sofia. We also expanded the abbreviations of saints’ names, wrote the months in dates with a lowercase initial and made the punctuation of dialogue uniform, with dashes.

There is one typesetting detail: the 1908 edition repeats quotation marks at the start of every paragraph of Rita’s note. We removed those marks, because the note is set apart on the page.

What we kept

Everything else. The author’s punctuation, syntax, pronoun placement and vocabulary stay as Machado wrote them, including period forms such as cousa, dous, mui and peor. Modernizing those words would erase the narrator’s tone, the ironic courtesy of a retired diplomat.

The quotations in other languages and the medieval epigraph were also kept as in the original, and the footnotes give the translation.

Why tell all this

Because readers have the right to know what they are reading. That is why every book ends with a “Note on the text” giving this same account. If you disagree with a choice, or find a flaw, write to us through the contact page.