Establishing a genealogy of manuscripts: the case of Andres Bello´´'s Cuadernos de Londres

Abstract

In this article we discuss some aspects of the process of philological transcription of the last unpublished set of Andrés Bello’s manuscripts: the Cuadernos de Londres. Bello wrote the Cuadernos when he was investigating in the reading room of the British Museam, between the years 1814 and 1823, while he was exiled in London. In this study we refer to four central themes: the history of the manuscripts; relevant aspects of the process of transcription; a relexion about how the purpose of the manuscripts inluences their discursive form; and a proposal for a thematic organization of the Cuadernos.