Editorial apparatus

Editorial 'headnotes' and 'entry notes'

Information about the individual characteristics of each workdiary is given in a 'headnote' at the start, including any complications over pagination or the numbering of entries. Each entry has been given an editorial 'entry note' detailing its date, handwriting and any unusual features about it.

Biographical register

References to persons and authors named in the workdiaries are hyperlinked to a Biographical register which, where possible, identifies them. It also includes certain individuals who are not named but about whom sufficient information is given for them to be identified. Institutions such as the Royal Society are also included, as are characters in the romances from which extracts are given in the earliest workdiaries.

Placenames register

Places are included in the Placenames register according to two criteria. (1.) Places that require an editorial explanation or comment, such as 'not identified' for unknown places; an equivalent modern name for places which have changed their name; or additional geographical information for places regarded by the editor as not instantly recognizable. (2.) Places are included if they appear in the workdiaries in a non-standard spelling form or spelt in multiple different ways or in different languages. In each of such cases, the standard, modern spelling of the name is given, with all variant spelling form(s) provided in square brackets, e.g. 'Araja [Harraiya]', 'Breslau [Uratislavia, Vratisaviæ]', 'Cape of Good Hope [Cape of Bona Speranza]', 'Copenhagen [Coppenhagen, Hafnia]'.

The Placenames register therefore offers explanations of names that are difficult to identify (because obscurely spelt, archaic, or unidentified), plus a reference list of all variant spelling forms for anyone wanting to use the free-text search facility to find a particular place. Well-known and identifiable names that are consistently spelt in the same way as the stardard modern English form (such as, 'America', 'Bath', 'France', 'London') are not included.

References to places within the workdiaries are hyperlinked to the Placenames register if they appear there with an editorial comment and/or if they appear in the workdiary in a non-standard spelling of form (for example, there are hyperlinks from 'ingland', 'Dania', and 'Rushia' but not from 'England', 'Denmark', or 'Russia').

Register of Boyle's works

References to Boyle's own writings within the workdiaries are hyperlinked to the Register of Boyle's works. This gives a brief identification of the work in question and its position in Boyle's works or elsewhere, or records nescience where the work has proved impossible to trace. Throughout, The Works of Robert Boyle, ed. by Michael Hunter and Edward B. Davis, 14 vols (London, 1999-2000), is abbreviated as Works. Published works are referred to by the short titles given in Works, i, xvi-xx. Other writings, including sections of books, are listed under the title by which Boyle refers to them. Workdiary references have the workdiary number then the entry number, for example: 21-253 (Workdiay 21, Entry 253).