I. Versions and variants

Since the Paris manuscript BNF Fr. 12265 reveals many revision stages, it was crucial for the editors to make explicit the main stages of revision in structure and content made by Émilie Du Châtelet, through establishing them as textual versions on their own, rather than placing them in the variant apparatus. On the one hand, this makes it easier for the reader to perceive the differences by presenting the versions as distinct texts, so that the reader does not need to reconstruct all revision stages from the entries in the variant apparatus, which at times is quite a complicated task. On the other hand, in order to analyze the differences between the revision stages in detail, the reader needs to compare the online edited versions by arranging them in separate windows on the screen or display. This might be demanding at times, yet it is still easier than reconstructing all revision stages from the variant apparatus.

However, in order to make the comparison between the distinct versions easier, we decided to offer, in these introductory notes, a survey of some striking differences between the versions. We continue to provide a variant apparatus, however, representing the finer-grained revisions made by Émilie Du Châtelet.

By consequently establishing versions as texts on their own, and as distinguished by the amount of changes in structure and content, we also establish revision stages as variants which might only consist of one word being changed.

We have identified nine revision stages: seven handwritten stages (sigla A to G) and two printed ones (sigla H and I).

Of the seven handwritten revision stages, the first and seventh are established as full versions (A and G). Other handwritten revision stages are available in the edition as variants: B and C in the variant apparatus of version A, and D, E, and F in the variant apparatus of version G.

In addition to the manuscript drafts, we have also edited the 1740 Paris printed version (H), and added the variants from the 1742 printed version in the variant apparatus of version H.

VERSIONS AND VARIANTS	SOURCE
A = MAIN TEXT = VERSION	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12265, 326r-370r
B = VARIANT DOCUMENTED IN THE VARIANT APPARATUS OF VERSION A	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12265, 326r-370r
C = VARIANT DOCUMENTED IN THE VARIANT APPARATUS OF VERSION A	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12265, 326r-370r
D = VARIANT DOCUMENTED IN THE VARIANT APPARATUS OF VERSION G	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12265, 326r-370r
E = VARIANT DOCUMENTED IN THE VARIANT APPARATUS OF VERSION G	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12265, 326r-370r
F = VARIANT DOCUMENTED IN THE VARIANT APPARATUS OF VERSION G	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12265, 326r-370r
G = MAIN TEXT = VERSION	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12265, 326r-370r
H = MAIN TEXT = VERSION	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions de physique, Paris: Prault, 1740, 412-450
I = VARIANT DOCUMENTED IN THE VARIANT APPARATUS OF VERSION H	Émilie Du Châtelet: Institutions physiques, Amsterdam: Aux Depens de la compagnie, 1742, 435-475

II. Short survey of the main manuscript versions A and G

It can easily be seen that the two edited versions are quite different in length. There is a significant shortage taking place from version A to G.

III. Some significant differences between versions

Version A is a fair copy of the chapter. A significant portion of this fair copy was later cancelled out and replaced with a revised version of the beginning by Du Châtelet. However, some portions are not cancelled out and included, with minor corrections and intermediate variants, in version G. Fol. 354r to 361v (from „voici“ to the end of the chapter „son ouvrage“) we find an addition in Du Châtelet’s hand. Its last review was copied by a seceretary’s hand and again reviewed by Du Châtelet (see 362r pp.). In this additional text, which apparently completes version A, the §-numbers were added later in Du Châtelet’s hand. This makes it very likely that the fair copy was a draft of the chapter with the §-numbers only added later in order to prepare the 1738-print. The §-numbers, which were cancelled in G, range from §668 to §720. In the manuscript we don't find chapters with §-numbers either directly preceding or following chapter 21, even though in the later canceled §719 Du Châtelet tells us: "jay bien peur quil ne faille encore recourir a dieu pr le chocq des corps, mais c’est ceque j’examinerai dans un autre chapitre." However, there is no "autre chapitre" after chapter 21. In preparing the 1740 print, Du Châtelet cancelled §§713 to 720 from the earlier version A. This is striking insofar as in §720 Du Châtelet brings in the notion of "liberté" reminding us of her chapter 5 "De la liberté" (see our edition: Chapitre 5: De la liberté) which Linda Gardiner convincingly associated with an early version of the Institutions.

IV. Note on the technical and editorial presentation of the edition

There are still changes to come in the technical presentation of the edition. The design and structure as well as the information implemented in the XML files will be refined. Due to the work required to program all these refinements, it will take some time until the final edition can be presented online. Also to be added is the commentary on the texts.

For now, we show a preliminary version, a work in progress, which is the basis for all future refinements.