LEMDO: Encode Finis in Semi-Diplomatic Transcriptions

Encode Finis in Semi-Diplomatic Transcriptions

Prior Reading

Encode Back Matter in Semi-Diplomatic Transcriptions

Introduction to Style in Semi-Diplomatic Transcriptions

Rationale

Finis commonly appears at the end of playbooks. Finis also occasionally appears within playbooks. For example, in the case of the quarto Pericles, Finis appears twice, once before and once after Gower’s final chorus; likewise, in the folio Henry IV, Part 2, Finis appears before the Epilogue.

Even when Finis is the last word of the text, LEMDO does not treat this word as back matter, even though it is unspoken text. We include it in the body of the text, just like the printer’s headpiece and the main title that conventionally appear on the first page above the spoken text are included in the


                                          <body>

element even though they are unspoken text.

Note that Finis goes in the


                                          <body>

element even if it is followed by a cast list, colophon, or imprint. However, if the Finis appears at the end of the cast list, colophon, or imprint, you will include it in the


                                          <back>

element. Do not move where Finis appears in the transcription.

Practice

Wrap the word Finis and any terminal punctuation in the


                                          <label>

element.¹

Do not add a


                                       @type

. Even though we usually add


                                       @type

to the


                                          <label>

element with the "heading" in other contexts, Finis is clearly not a heading.

Finis is often centered, italicized, and/or letterspaced. By default, Finis will render as centered in roman type with no letterspacing. To indicate that Finis is in italic type or is letterspaced in your copytext, add a


                                       @rendition

attribute to the


                                          <label>

element with a pre-composed rendition (i.e., "rnd:italic" or "rnd:letterspace"). For more information on using pre-formed renditions, see Encode Inline Style Using Pre-Formed Values in Semi-Diplomatic Transcriptions.

If the typography cannot be described using one of our pre-formed values, you may style it using the


                                       @style

attribute. For more information on using the


                                       @style

attribute, see Encode Inline Style Using CSS and CSS Flex in Semi-Diplomatic Transcriptions.

If Finis in your copytext is not centered, use the


                                       @place

attribute to indicate where on the page it is. See Practice: Encode Stage Direction, Page Number, and Heading Placement for more information about encoding placement of Finis.

Examples

These examples omit the WLNs on the


                                          <lb>

elements.

This example from Q1 of The Honest Whore, Part 1 shows common context for Finis at the end of the text following the final exeunt:

<lb/>
<stage xml:id="emd1HW_Q1_sd129" type="exit" place="plc-right-inline"> Exeunt. </stage>
<space dim="vertical" unit="line" quantity="1"/>
<lb/>
<label rendition="rnd:letterspace">FINIS.</label>

In this example from the quarto of Pericles, Finis occurs in the body of the text both before and after Gower’s final speech:

<label rendition="rnd:italic rnd:letterspace">FINIS.</label> <lb/> <sp>
  <speaker>Gower.</speaker>
  <ab>
    <lb/>In <hi rendition="rnd:italic">Antioch<g ref="lig:us">us</g>
  </hi> and his daughter you haue heard <lb/>Of monstrous lust, the due and iust reward: <lb/>So on your Patience euermore attending, <lb/>New ioy wayte on you, heere our play has ending. </ab>
</sp> <lb/> <label>FINIS.</label>

In this example from the folio Henry IV, Part 2, Finis occurs before the Epilogue:

<label rendition="rnd:letterspace">FINIS.</label>
<space dim="vertical" unit="line" quantity="2"/>
<figure type="horizontal-rule"/>
<space dim="vertical" unit="line" quantity="2"/>
<figure type="ornament"/>
<pb n="2g8r" facs="facs:F1_SLNSW|0416"/>
<figure type="horizontal-rule"/>
<space dim="vertical" unit="line" quantity="1"/>
<figure type="ornament"/>
<space dim="vertical" unit="line" quantity="1"/>
<lb/>
<label rendition="rnd:letterspace"> EPILOGVE. </label>

Note that this example includes verticle spacing and figures, as is common around Finis.

Notes

1.Readers who are well versed in TEI might wonder why LEMDO does not use the


                                    <trailer>

for Finis. The


                                    <trailer>

element is a member of model.divBottomPart, which means it can occur only at the end of a text division. Given the case of the quarto Pericles, we anticipate seeing other instances of Finis in places where


                                    <trailer>

is not permitted. The TEI Guidelines’ definition of


                                    <label>

—any label or heading used to identify part of a text— is loose enough to cover our particular use case.↑

Prosopography

Janelle Jenstad

Janelle Jenstad is a Professor of English at the University of Victoria, Director of The Map of Early Modern London, and Director of Linked Early Modern Drama Online. With Jennifer Roberts-Smith and Mark Beatrice Kaethler, she co-edited Shakespeare’s Language in Digital Media: Old Words, New Tools (Routledge). She has edited John Stow’s A Survey of London (1598 text) for MoEML and is currently editing The Merchant of Venice (with Stephen Wittek) and Heywood’s 2 If You Know Not Me You Know Nobody for DRE. Her articles have appeared in Digital Humanities Quarterly, Elizabethan Theatre, Early Modern Literary Studies, Shakespeare Bulletin, Renaissance and Reformation, and The Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. She contributed chapters to Approaches to Teaching Othello (MLA); Teaching Early Modern Literature from the Archives (MLA); Institutional Culture in Early Modern England (Brill); Shakespeare, Language, and the Stage (Arden); Performing Maternity in Early Modern England (Ashgate); New Directions in the Geohumanities (Routledge); Early Modern Studies and the Digital Turn (Iter); Placing Names: Enriching and Integrating Gazetteers (Indiana); Making Things and Drawing Boundaries (Minnesota); Rethinking Shakespeare Source Study: Audiences, Authors, and Digital Technologies (Routledge); and Civic Performance: Pageantry and Entertainments in Early Modern London (Routledge). For more details, see janellejenstad.com.

Joey Takeda

Joey Takeda is LEMDO’s Consulting Programmer and Designer, a role he assumed in 2020 after three years as the Lead Developer on LEMDO.

Mahayla Galliford

Project manager, 2025-present; research assistant, 2021-present. Mahayla Galliford (she/her) graduated with a BA (Hons with distinction) from the University of Victoria in 2024. Mahayla’s undergraduate research explored early modern stage directions and civic water pageantry. Mahayla continues her studies through UVic’s English MA program and her SSHRC-funded thesis project focuses on editing and encoding girls’ manuscripts, specifically Lady Rachel Fane’s dramatic entertainments, in collaboration with LEMDO.

Martin Holmes

Martin Holmes has worked as a developer in the UVic’s Humanities Computing and Media Centre for over two decades, and has been involved with dozens of Digital Humanities projects. He has served on the TEI Technical Council and as Managing Editor of the Journal of the TEI. He took over from Joey Takeda as lead developer on LEMDO in 2020. He is a collaborator on the SSHRC Partnership Grant led by Janelle Jenstad.

Navarra Houldin

Training and Documentation Lead 2025–present. LEMDO project manager 2022–2025. Textual remediator 2021–present. Navarra Houldin (they/them) completed their BA with a major in history and minor in Spanish at the University of Victoria in 2022. Their primary research was on gender and sexuality in early modern Europe and Latin America. They are continuing their education through an MA program in Gender and Social Justice Studies at the University of Alberta where they will specialize in Digital Humanities.

Tracey El Hajj

Junior Programmer 2019–2020. Research Associate 2020–2021. Tracey received her PhD from the Department of English at the University of Victoria in the field of Science and Technology Studies. Her research focuses on the algorhythmics of networked communications. She was a 2019–2020 President’s Fellow in Research-Enriched Teaching at UVic, where she taught an advanced course on Artificial Intelligence and Everyday Life. Tracey was also a member of the Map of Early Modern London team, between 2018 and 2021. Between 2020 and 2021, she was a fellow in residence at the Praxis Studio for Comparative Media Studies, where she investigated the relationships between artificial intelligence, creativity, health, and justice. As of July 2021, Tracey has moved into the alt-ac world for a term position, while also teaching in the English Department at the University of Victoria.

Orgography

LEMDO Team (LEMD1)

The LEMDO Team is based at the University of Victoria and normally comprises the project director, the lead developer, project manager, junior developers(s), remediators, encoders, and remediating editors.

Metadata

Authority title	Encode Finis in Semi-Diplomatic Transcriptions
Type of text	Documentation
Publisher	University of Victoria on the Linked Early Modern Drama Online Platform
Series	Linked Early Modern Drama Online
Source	TEI Customization created by Martin Holmes, Joey Takeda, and Janelle Jenstad; documentation written by members of the LEMDO Team
Editorial declaration	n/a
Edition	Released with Linked Early Modern Drama Online 1.0
Encoding description	Encoded in TEI P5 according to the LEMDO Customization and Encoding Guidelines
Document status	prgGenerated
Funder(s)	Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
License/availability	This file is licensed under a CC BY-NC_ND 4.0 license, which means that it is freely downloadable without permission under the following conditions: (1) credit must be given to the author and LEMDO in any subsequent use of the files and/or data; (2) the content cannot be adapted or repurposed (except in quotations for the purposes of academic review and citation); and (3) commercial uses are not permitted without the knowledge and consent of the editor and LEMDO. This license allows for pedagogical use of the documentation in the classroom.