Most readers won’t notice and won’t care about such tiny details. But the occasional purist may say, “Hey, wait a minute, my original edition has a colon here, and this new edition has a comma!” Granted, there won’t be many who will be so persnickety. But for those few of you, I will only say that I have made use of as many original editions as possible—for nearly every title at least two, sometimes more—to compare these minor distinctions. Then I have followed what I consider the “best” usage or punctuation under the circumstances (which is obviously my own judgment call) and that which I consider the most likely usage MacDonald himself originally would have employed. But obviously in some cases I may be mistaken.

* “George MacDonald: A Personal Note” by Ronald MacDonald, Chapter 3 in From A Northern Window, James Nisbet & Co., 1911, reprinted in book form as From A Northern Window, Volume One in The Masterline Series, Sunrise Books, Eureka, CA 1989.

* For the texts of the books of the series, and quotes referenced from them, I have preserved most British spellings. In my introductions, when I am speaking for myself, I use American spellings. In quoting from other books and authors, I obviously retain the usage of the original source.

Introduction to Weighed and Wanting

* Photograph 1884.

* This dramatic side of the MacDonald “family story” is chronicled in much greater detail in other sources, including George MacDonald and His Wife Part 10, Chapter 1, Chapter 34 of Hein, Mythmaker, and Chapters 30-31 of Raeper, MacDonald.

1. A Bad Weather Holiday

* Image from frontispiece of 1882 Lothrop edition.