All text editing begins with a choice: what text to edit. How do we choose the text we edit? Are all texts worth editing, simply because they are texts? Even once we have chosen what we are to edit, further choices lie ahead of us. If a text exists in many versions, and in many documents: are all versions, and all documents, equally worthy of editing? If we choose to focus on a particular version, or a particular document, how do we make this choice, and how do we justify it to others? Once we have made these decisions: choices of method will also be affected by perceptions of value. Should we publish the full text of a particular version or document; or publish its variants only, in an apparatus? and if we choose to publish variants only: what are our criteria to determine which variants are worth publishing?

The programme chairs invite the submission of full panels or individual papers devoted to the discussion of current research into the different aspects of textual work, preferably focusing on the topics mentioned above. Proposals and abstracts (250 words) should be submitted electronically to: Peter Robinson, p.m.robinson@bham.ac.uk, by 31 May 2010.

Conference committee:
Peter Robinson (ESTS, Birmingham) and Andrea Bozzi (Pisa): co-chairs
Marco Rufino (Florence), Laura Cignoni (Pisa), Caroline Macé (ESTS, Leuven)

For more information about ESTS and membership applications visit our website at http://www.textualscholarship.eu/conference-2010.html.

The conference programme will be as follows. The Thursday and Friday sessions are held at the CNR, Pisa. The Saturday session will be hosted by the Società Dantesca Italiana, and held in the Palagio dell'Arte della Lana, Florence.