Livingstone's Manuscript Structure
Cite page (MLA): Wisnicki, Adrian S. "Livingstone's Manuscript Structure." Debbie Harrison, ed. In Livingstone's 1871 Field Diary. Adrian S. Wisnicki, dir. Livingstone Online. Adrian S. Wisnicki and Megan Ward, dirs. University of Maryland Libraries, 2017. Web. http://livingstoneonline.org/uuid/node/f2fbbb5a-5113-4031-b5ea-0a343971a1d6.
This section sets out an analysis of the structure of the 1871 Field Diary, including Livingstone’s numbering system, the distinction between journal entries and notes, Livingstone’s orthography, and a handful of additional elements (sketches, maps, calculations, extraneous foreign text, and flourishes to correct ink flow).
Introduction Top ⤴
The pages of the 1871 Field Diary conform to a series of basic patterns. Collectively, these patterns reveal the development of Livingstone's narrative objectives as he writes the diary. This section sets out an analysis of the structure of the 1871 Field Diary, including Livingstone’s numbering system, the distinction between journal entries and notes, Livingstone’s orthography, and a handful of additional elements (sketches, maps, calculations, extraneous foreign text, and flourishes to correct ink flow).
Page Numbers Top ⤴
Livingstone numbers the 64 pages of the Nyangwe segment (1871f) of the 1871 Field Diary with Roman numerals from CII to CLXIII. The sequence of numbers in this stretch is continuous except for a few mistakes and anomalies, as follows:
CXXXII – Livingstone repeats this number (1871f:CXXXII [v.1] and 1871f:CXXXII [v.2]).
CXXXIII – Livingstone repeats this number (1871f:CXXXIII [v.1] and 1871f:CXXXIII [v.2]).
CXXXIV – Roman numeral not present in the manuscript because the top of the folio has crumbled off.
CXXXV – Roman numeral not present in the manuscript because the top of the folio has crumbled off.
CXXXVII – Roman numeral not present in the manuscript because the top of the folio has crumbled off.
CXLI – Misnumbered in the manuscript as "CXL" (140).
CLIX – Mistakenly written as "CLVIX" in the manuscript.
CLXI – Roman numeral not present in the manuscript because the top of the folio has crumbled off.
A processed spectral image of a page of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871f:CLIX spectral_ratio), detail. Copyright David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre. As relevant, copyright Dr. Neil Imray Livingstone Wilson. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. Livingstone has mistakenly written 'CLIX' as 'CLVIX.'
Journal Entries and Notes Top ⤴
In general, the individual pages of the 1871 Field Diary contain either one or more "journal" entries or one or more "notes." With a few exceptions, 1871f:CII-CXIII all contain diary entries, and Livingstone does not further describe these pages than to add the following words after the Roman numeral on 1871f:CII: "to be copied into Journal at Ujiji now."
A processed spectral image of a page of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871f:CII spectral_ratio), detail. Copyright David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre. As relevant, copyright Dr. Neil Imray Livingstone Wilson. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. In this segment, which opens the 1871 Field Diary, Livingstone indicates his general plan to copy over the diary into the Unyanyembe Journal (1866-72).
However, from 1871f:CXIII onward, Livingstone labels each diary page as either "Journal" or "Note" or "Notes." Click here to visit a page showing all of Livingstone’s headers.
Processed spectral images of two page of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871f:CXXVI, CXXXII [v.1] spectral_ratio), detail. Copyright David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre. As relevant, copyright Dr. Neil Imray Livingstone Wilson. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. Examples of headers with (top) 'Journal' and (bottom) 'Note' designations.
The designation of "Journal," "Note," or "Notes" always appears in close proximity to the page number and, on the pages in question, conforms to a pattern that evolves as follows:
Page(s)* | Structure of first line | Remarks |
1871f:CXIII, CXV | page number - date - "Journal" | |
1871f:CXIV, CXVI | page number - "note for letter" | On both pages, the first line appears to be an after-the-fact addition. |
1871f:CXVII-CXXII |
page number - "Note" | On all these pages except 1871f:CXXI, the word "Note" appears to be an after-the-fact addition. |
1871f:CXXIII-CXXXI | page number - "Journal" - date | On 1871f:CXXXI, Livingstone has written the word "Journal" over the word "Note." |
1871f:CXXXII [v.1]-CXXXIII [v.2] | page number - "Note" | |
1871f:CXXXII [v.2]-CLVI | page number - "Journal" - date | The page numbers are torn off for 1871f:CXXXIV, CXXXV, CXXXVII. On 1871f:CXLIX the date appears on the second line. |
1871f:CLVII-CLVIII | page number - "Note." | On 1871f:CLVII Livingstone follows the page number and "Note." with "Manyema Nyangwe" and on the second line gives a date. |
1871f:CLXIX | page number - "Note Journal Note" | Livingstone appears to have written "Note," then "Journal" over it followed by "Note," then cancelled everything and added a sentence about "the foregoing Note" (on 1871f:CLVII-CLVIII), followed by the word "Journal" on the fifth line of the page and a series of diary entries. |
1871f:CLX | "Journal" - page number - date | |
1871f:CLXI | [page number] - "Journal" | The page number has crumbled off. The date appears on the second line. |
1871f:CLXII-CLXIII | "Notes" - page number | On both pages, the page number appears to be an after-the-fact addition. |
* The pages under Livingstone 1871k, 1871l, and 1871m consist wholly of diary entries and, outside of a "Journal" designation at the opening of 1871l:[1], receive no other designation from Livingstone. |
It emerges that 48 of the Nyangwe Diary pages begin with a new diary entry or note. Of the 16 pages that open with a diary entry or note continued from a previous page, half include a full or abbreviated version of the word "continued" immediately after the date on the first line of the page. (The first entry of 1871l:[1] also continues from a previous page, albeit one that has not survived). On those pages where space permits, Livingstone also includes a few words of the opening diary entry on the first line of the page following the date.
A processed spectral image of a page of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871f:CLI spectral_ratio), detail. Copyright David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre. As relevant, copyright Dr. Neil Imray Livingstone Wilson. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. An example of a header that continues an entry from the previous page.
There is no hard and fast distinction between the subject matter that might constitute a diary entry or a note. Diary entries tend to be relatively unreflective descriptions of the events and observations of a given day. Notes tend to take one of two forms: 1) reflective, at times heavily revised, drafts for letters, and 2) shorter jottings from the field such as vocabularies, descriptions of African cultural practices, and geographical information collected from informants. On occasion note-like material appears among a series of diary entries (e.g., 1871f:CII, CXII, CLX), while portions of some notes look and read like diary pages (1871f:CXXXIII [v.1], CLVII, CLXIII). Those notes with dates reinforce the argument advanced in the Composition section, namely that Livingstone did not write the pages of the 1871 Field Diary in sequential order.
Processed spectral images of three pages of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871f:CXXV, CXV, and CXLVI spectral_ratio), detail. Copyright David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre. As relevant, copyright Dr. Neil Imray Livingstone Wilson. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. These images provide examples of (top) a header diary entry with day, month, and year; (middle) a diary entry recording the day of the week; and (bottom) a diary entry beginning with a time. In addition, the latter two images show Livingstone's tendency to separate entries with one or two lines drawn across the page.
Diary entries typically begin in one of two ways. The first diary entry on a given page usually includes the day, month, and year. Subsequent entries begin with the day only. On the first of each month, Livingstone always gives the day, month, and day of the week, and maintains this practice throughout the 1871 Field Diary. On three occasions, Livingstone also notes the last Sunday of the month (28 Apr. 1871, 26 May 1871, 29 July 1871), and on two occasions records that a particular day is a Saturday (19 Aug. 1871, 3 Nov. 1871). In addition, Livingstone breaks down the entries for 16 July 1871, the day immediately following the Nyangwe massacre, by time of day so that there are entries for "12 AM [sic]," "1 PM," "2 PM," and "4 PM." Finally, in an apparently random manner Livingstone sometimes separates individual diary entries or notes with one to two (and, in the case of 1871f:CLIII, three) horizontal lines drawn across the page.
In nearly all cases, page entries run to the bottom of the page. The exceptions consist of two pages that end with an unusually large space at the bottom (1871f:CX, CXLII), one page (1871f:CXX) where Livingstone has left the bottom quarter of the page blank, and 1871f:CXXXI of the first copy-book, where Livingstone ends with a unique line of text in the lower right-hand corner of the page. The text reads: "Turn to other sheet CXXXII."
A processed spectral image of a page of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871f:CXXXI spectral_ratio), detail. Copyright David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre. As relevant, copyright Dr. Neil Imray Livingstone Wilson. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. The text directs the reader away from the pages that follow in Livingstone's first copy book (CXXXII [v.1] and CXXXIII [v.1]) and to the opening page of the next copy book (CXXXII [v.2]).
The two pages that follow in this copy-book, 1871f:CXXXII [v.1]-CXXXIII [v.1], consist of notes, so this line of text clearly serves to connect 1871f:CXXXI to 1871f:CXXXII [v.2], which comprises the first page of the second copy-book.
Livingstone’s Orthography Top ⤴
Although Livingstone writes with a very neat hand, the orthography of the 1871 Field Diary suggests that Livingstone’s primary concern was recording his experiences in a simple and concise manner rather than producing elaborate and refined diary entries. Long stretches of the texts contain few if any additions, deletions, or more extensive cancellations. In fact, Livingstone seems to have generally confined such editorial work to those pages designated as notes, which at times can present reading challenges because of the extensive revisions present.
A processed spectral image of a page of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871f:CXVI spectral_ratio), detail. Copyright David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre. As relevant, copyright Dr. Neil Imray Livingstone Wilson. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. This is an example of a heavily-revised passage. Such passages are the exception not the rule in the 1871 Field Diary.
For reasons of simplicity, Livingstone also limits his punctuation primarily to en-dashes (which often shade into em-dashes or even longer dashes) and equal signs (=). He distinctly prefers en-dashes, but he uses these interchangeably with equal signs in places of such punctuation as commas, colons, semicolons, and periods as well as to mark simple pauses in the text. When Livingstone uses an en-dash to introduce or follow a quotation, he places the en-dash directly below the opening or closing quotation marks rather than next to them. Curiously, the abundances of these two forms of punctuation, en-dashes and equal signs, distinguishes the 1871 Field Diary from the much more polished Unyanyembe Journal (Livingstone 1866-72). In the latter, Livingstone continues to use en-dashes and equal signs as the primary form of punctuation, but simply uses less of each.
A processed spectral image of a page of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871f:CXXXIII [v.1] spectral_ratio), detail. Copyright David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre. As relevant, copyright Dr. Neil Imray Livingstone Wilson. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. A representative portion of text where Livingstone appears to use en-dashes (-) and equal signs (=) interchangeably as his main forms of punctuation. The passage ends with a long em-dash (—).
Livingstone does not consistently capitalize words when he should. For instance, he often begins sentences and even diary entries with lower-case letters, and he frequently fails to capitalize proper names. Moreover, in many instances, the reading of a given letter as upper- or lower-case can be rather subjective.
Livingstone often, but by no means always, indents new diary entries and paragraphs. Even on the same page the amount of such indentation can vary considerably. On occasion, Livingstone also indents the opening Roman numeral on a page. Likewise, Livingstone’s spacing between words can be erratic. In general, he places the equivalent of one space between words, but as occasion demands – for instance, to avoid obtrusive printed undertext, to fit in text added above or below a line, or to write around characters hanging down from a previous line – he spaces his words farther apart.
Livingstone emphasizes words by underlining or, much less frequently, double-underlining them. Livingstone’s reasons for using the latter over the former are not always clear. For example, when opening one diary entry he double-underlines the superscripted "nd" in the date "2nd July 1871." Livingstone often underlines African words, but rarely does so when using words from European languages.
A processed spectral image of a page of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871f:CIX spectral_ratio), detail. Copyright David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre. As relevant, copyright Dr. Neil Imray Livingstone Wilson. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. An example of Livingstone's tendency to draw the moon rather than write the word 'moon.'
Livingstone uses both "and" and "&" to connect words and phrases, but he clearly prefers "and." He consistently misspells "receive" and "conceive" as "recieve" and "concieve," respectively. He is also less than punctilious in using an apostrophe with the possessive "s." On occasion, when noting the appearance of a new moon, he draws a crescent moon rather than write out the word "moon." Finally, when breaking up a word over two lines, Livingstone sometimes places a hyphen at the end of the first line, sometimes at the beginning of the second line, sometimes in both places, and sometimes does not use a hyphen at all.
For more on Livingstone’s orthography, see our XML encoding practices.
Additional Textual Elements Top ⤴
In addition to diary entries and notes, Livingstone’s manuscript contains five unique features: sketches, maps, calculations, extraneous foreign text, and pen flourishes to correct ink flow. The number of each of these items is limited, especially when compared to other Livingstone field diaries and notebooks.
▲ Sketches. Livingstone includes a number of sketches on two pages of the 1871 Field Diary. The first, of a fish, appears on 1871f:CXXIII and accompanies Livingstone’s note that he "[s]aw pieces of a remarkable spotted fish with scales and tail prolonged above" (30 Apr. 1871). It appears that, prior to sending the newspaper to Livingstone, Horace Waller circled a portion of the newspaper undertext on this page that reports the arrival of a Livingstone letter (which no longer survives) in Bombay. When Livingstone turned this page 90° clockwise to write his diary entries, he inadvertently (or perhaps deliberately) drew part of his fish over the same area that Waller has circled. The result is an amalgamation of two distinct figures that, at least under multispectral light, looks distinctly like a hammer.
Two natural light images and one processed spectral image of a page of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871f:CXXIII color and spectral_ratio; the last image is rotated 90° clockwise), details. Copyright David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre. As relevant, copyright Dr. Neil Imray Livingstone Wilson. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. Here the portion of printed undertext that refers to Livingstone has been circled in red pencil, probably by Horace Waller who sent the newspaper to Livingstone.
1871f:CLX contains several additional sketches. The first three, of the heads of three African individuals, appear in a vertical column along the upper right-hand side of the page. The first two heads are in profile, the third looks straight ahead. Livingstone makes no textual reference to these sketches, but it appears that he is trying to illustrate two to three distinct local hairstyles. The last sketch on this page, which appears in the middle of the left-hand side of the page, represents a local foundry, as the accompanying text indicates: "about thirty smithies or rather foundries in the villages we passed" (2 Aug. 1871).
An image of a page of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871f:CLX), detail. Copyright David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre. As relevant, copyright Dr. Neil Imray Livingstone Wilson. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. On the right side of this segment Livingstone has sketched the heads of three African individuals. In the lower left-hand corner he has drawn a local foundry in Manyema.
▲ Maps. Maps appear on two leaves covered by the present critical edition. The first, which illustrates a portion of the supposed drainage of the Lufira and Lualaba Rivers into the Kamolondo Lake, occupies the center of 1871f:CXXI. As the accompanying text indicates, Livingstone uses the map to both illustrate and critique a bit of oral geography collected from Hassani, an Arab trader at Nyangwe.
A processed spectral image of a page of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871f:CXXI spectral_ratio), detail. Copyright David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre. As relevant, copyright Dr. Neil Imray Livingstone Wilson. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. Livingstone has drawn a map of a portion of the river system in eastern Congo based on information collected from the Arab trader Hassani.
The second map occupies a small portion of the right hand side of 1871k:[1]. This map illustrates the course of the Lombonda and Loelo Rivers near a range of mountains, as observed by Livingstone. The map also indicates the location of the village of a local chief, Monandenda, where Livingstone briefly stayed. The adjacent diary entries chronicle Livingstone’s journey through the region sketched in the map.
An image of a page of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871k:[3]), detail. Copyright National Library of Scotland. As relevant, copyright Dr. Neil Imray Livingstone Wilson. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. Livingstone has illustrated a stretch of the Lombonda and Loelo Rivers.
▲ Calculations. Livingstone includes a variety of calculations among his diary pages, none of which have been transcribed for the current edition. In most cases, Livingstone seems to have first made the calculations on the page, then written his diary entries around them. The calculations can be divided into three general types:
- Calculations of distance or time that relate to the surrounding text: 1871f:CLI, CLII
- Calculations of unclear purpose and indeterminate relation to the surrounding text: 1871f:CXII, CXV, CLX; 1871m:[4]
- Astronomical observations with indeterminate relation to the surrounding text: 1871l:[2]; 1871m:[2], [3]
In addition, Livingstone has covered the leaves of 1871k with a series of figures recording "Total Rainfall in Manyema 1870-71" as well as astronomical observations made at the Islet of Kasenge in Lake Tanganyika, Kasongo’s village, and Nyangwe.
A processed spectral image of a page of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871k:[8] spectral_ratio), detail. Copyright David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre. As relevant, copyright Dr. Neil Imray Livingstone Wilson. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. The calculation at right shows the 'Total Rainfall in Manyema 1870-71.'
Although Livingstone usually kept separate notebooks for astronomical observations (see Clendennen and Cunningham 1979:280), he eventually copied over the observations from 1871k into another copy-book relating to the same period (see Clendennen and Cunningham 1979:276, Field Diary 33).
▲ Extraneous Foreign Text. The 1871 Field Diary sometimes includes foreign words and phrases among the diary entries and notes. However, on three occasions the diary pages contain extraneous foreign text that bears no obvious relation to the adjacent diary entries.
The first example runs perpendicular to the diary text and appears in the lower left-hand corner of 1871f:CXI. Here Livingstone has written a single line of Hebrew text (which has yet to be deciphered) as well as all the letters of the Arabic alphabet spread over three lines. In addition, Livingstone makes a second, abortive attempt to write the alphabet on a fourth line, but gets no further than the second letter.
Processed spectral images of two pages of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871f:CXI, CXIV spectral_ratio), detail. Copyright David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre. As relevant, copyright Dr. Neil Imray Livingstone Wilson. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. The first image (left; top in mobile) contains an undeciphered line of Hebrew followed by two attempts to write the Arabic alphabet. The second image (right; bottom) shows one Arabic and two Hebrew characters, all representing the sound 'sh.' |
The second example appears at the center of the right-hand side of 1871f:CXIV. In this case, Livingstone has written two Hebrew characters and one Arabic character, all of which represent the sound "sh." It appears that Livingstone first wrote the diary entry on this page, then wrote these three characters over that text.
A processed spectral image of two pages of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871k:[4]-[5] spectral_ratio), detail. Copyright National Library of Scotland. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported. The right-hand side of the folio contains five lines of text, three in Arabic and two in Nagari. The quality of the calligraphy and the Arabic text indicate that Livingstone did not write these lines. The Nagari has not yet been translated.
The final examples appear on the right-hand side of 1871k:[5]. There are five lines of text here, three in Arabic and two in Nagari (the conventional script for Sanskrit as well as Hindi and Marathi). The Arabic corresponds to the English undertext on this page ("Dr David Livingstone HRM Consul Ujiji & Elsewhere") and the first two lines can be translated thus: "This is to the most honorable Doctor Livingstone, consul of the Glorious [or Great] Queen, in Ujiji." The last Arabic line reads simply, "Amen." However, this is not an absolute translation. "This is to" can also be read as "the one who writes this informs," while "most honorable" can also be read as "may his glory be eternal." The Nagari has yet to be translated.
▲ Flourishes to Correct Ink Flow. Livingstone’s manuscript includes a series of randomly placed flourishes. The flourishes have no semantic value and appear to be Livingstone’s means of correcting the ink flow of his pen. Livingstone has drawn these flourishes on 1871f:CV, CXII; 1871m:[2], [3], [4]. Curiously, although Livingstone usually limits himself to no more than a few flourishes at one time, he has covered nearly all the available space on 1871m:[4] with them.
An image of a page of the 1871 Field Diary (Livingstone 1871m:[4]), detail. Images copyright The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Used by permission. This image shows the reused envelope that Livingstone has covered in flourishes to correct ink flow.