Source and Editorial Note

The source is the 1898 Cambridge University Press edition edited and translated by Reynold A. Nicholson. The primary facsimile is available at Internet Archive. A supplementary scan was used to clarify damaged or unclear areas, including words lost at the right edge of original pages 179 and 187.

Duplicated leaves in the primary scan are represented once. Original blank leaves and the original-script index are omitted. The English index and all four appendices are retained. The new contents page replaces the historical contents list.

Poem I.7: the printed ‘Adrā has been changed to ‘Adhrā, following the original Addenda and Corrigenda, page liii, for page 5, line 2. The underline belongs to Nicholson’s transliteration. This is the only deliberate wording correction applied to the main English poems.

New typography, spacing, navigation and editorial omission notices belong to this reading edition. No new translation has been introduced. Reference transcription corrections restore T. 4. 12ᵃ on original page xxxvi, T. 187. 2ᵃ on page 205, and T. 215. 1ᵃ on page 207; these follow the printed facsimile. Further transcription restorations include note and volume numerals, missing note headings, original emphasis, metrical signs and transliteration diacritics. These restore the scan rather than revise the translation. Three demonstrable index slips in the original are corrected and identified in the Guide to the References.