Editing the diary to appropriate scholarly standards so as to realize its unique potential as a research resource for all those working on the literature, history, and politics of the period is a considerable labour. The diary contains thousands of names, some of which are immediately recognizable, some of which are much more difficult to identify. For example, by the end of the 1790s Godwin was seeing something in the order of 140 different people a month (about half of whom were new or relatively new contacts). This figure probably does represent a peak, and there are certainly troughs when Godwin was working intensively on major projects, but throughout his long life, his remarkable sociability ensured he remained connected to an astonishingly wide range of people from London’s literary, artistic, scientific, political and cultural circles.
Godwin’s participation in a wide range of different
social and cultural networks suggests that editing his diary is a task
that is particularly
suited to collaborative consultation. We hope that by inviting scholars
from across the disciplinary spectrum we will be able to identify the
more obscure entries and that the unique perspective into Georgian London
over
a period of nearly fifty years the diary affords will be as penetrating
as possible. The creation of such a scholarly network is essential to
the project’s success.
Our intention is to have an occasional newsletter from January 2008 in
which we will report on progress and raise problems as we encounter
them. Contributors will be asked to respond to those queries which
pertain to their particular area of expertise. We anticipate that the
queries will largely be concerned with individuals whose identity is
uncertain and we will provide information that we hope will help an
expert provide a more certain identification. Such information might
include: the number of times this person appears in the diary; the
dates of those appearances; how the name is denoted (sometimes Godwin
varies the way he records individuals due to developing degrees of
intimacy); the location of the meetings between Godwin and the individual
(private residence, theatre); and the other people present at the meeting.
From this fragmentary information, it is hoped that experts in other
fields of interest and periods might be able to suggest possible identifications.
See here for an example.
The Diary project is working closely with a separately funded project, the OUP edition of Godwin's letters, edited by Pamela Clemit (Durham University). This is a long-term project which will be published in six volumes. For the duration of the Diary project we will be asking people for help in identifying names and other elements in the Diary. Similar problems will arise with the Letters and in many cases these will overlap with problems for the Diary. We are hoping that those who wish to subscribe to the Diary network will also be willing to be consulted on aspects of the Letters and we would roll queries relating to the Letters into the newsletter.
In all cases, those providing information will be thanked formally in the introduction to the website and/or the relevant volume of the edition, as appropriate. They will also be invited to attend a launch conference for the Diary in Oxford in 2010-11. It is hoped that the availability of both the Diary and the Letters will stimulate further research into Godwin and his circle by other scholars.
If you would like to participate in this project, please register your email with our mailing list