Editor's note

This electronic version of the complete printed works of Menéndez Pelayo is, in a sense, a "new" edition of the production of a polygraph from Santander: due to the radical difference that the material of the electronic disc represents, in relation to the paper; due to the notable advantages that the free text electronic edition implies in the access to information, and this is not just in a few aspects, because the technological transformations have also involved a series of strictly editorial and/or scientific decisions.

It should be noted above all that the determination of such changes has been much easier thanks to the quality and solidity of the starting materials. Both the "National Edition" of the "Complete Works" undertaken by the CSIC, as well as the complete edition of the "Collection of Letters" that was published FUE are, in effect, two unequal pieces of Contemporary Spanish scientific editing, among other reasons, due to the rigour of the criteria used to set the texts or the critical apparatus of the editors.

For this reason, and within the requirements that the digital metamorphosis entails, the primary objective of this edition has been to maintain the highest possible similarity with the formal structure of those editions, so familiar already, and so used, by so many specialists from all over the world.

This concerns, in particular,  the "National Edition", which in its structure and critical apparatus faithfully reflects the complexity and breadth of Pelayo’s work. That is why we introduced, in this case, an essential element - from our point of view- for its consultation: the "explorer" through which it is possible to visit the "Complete Works" viewing, using drop down options, the complex structure of the writings of Menéndez Pelayo.

With the same criteria, the default option with which the "Summary" of the "Collection of Letters" is presented is the chronological sequence, by volumes, in identical order to the original edition.

When errata were detected in the original editions these were corrected, but, of course, we are aware that this new version will add its own contribution to the indecipherable world of errata.

In specific relation to the complete Works, one of the most recurrent problems was the divergence between the titles of chapters or headings as they appear in the body of the text and their mention in the general indices of each volume. As a rule, the one that offered the most detailed information was chosen.

In some (very rare occasions) some of the two footnote markers that form a note were not included in the original edition. In such cases, the context was examined in as much detail as possible and the so-called absent footnote marker was incorporated (body or footnote) so that, although we will never know if it matches the original location, discursive coherence is maintained for the reader.

The notes of the "National Edition" sometimes include, in turn, other notes. Making a new footnote marker to another "electronic space" was, in addition to being complex, impractical for the "e-reader". That is why we chose to introduce them in the text of the note, in square brackets, particularly those linked to texts in prose.

In the Collection of Letters the errata in the numbering of the letters and notes on the text has also been corrected, we focused our attention on the inaccuracies present in the names of the recipient, sender or place.

Also corrected, and with the same criteria to those indicated for the Complete Works, absences in the footnote markers

Finally, in the Bibliography, and by its very nature, much more suited to the electronic format, there is hardly any significant changes, except in those few cases where there were errors in the text, or defects (due to the absence or excess) in italics and quotation marks, following in the latter case the international cataloguing standards.

In the records corresponding to the Addendum, some references are shown without the author and/or title. They always correspond to press articles published recently, and are exactly as they were provided by the authors of this Addendum.

The volumes of the Complete Works and of the Collection of Letters corresponding to indices, have not been reproduced since the free text edition somehow expands the content of such indices.