Editors' Fence

EDITORS' FENCE 1. A Welcome to Volume 26: We welcome our readers to the beginning of ELT's twenty-sixth year. No doubt you have already noted a new look to the journal. In addition to being more attractive and providing more space for content, the improved quality of print and justified right margins should afford easier reading. And while the new typeface and bolder, more colorful appearance to the cover signal some changes, the editorial guidelines and practices remain fundamentally the same. We will continue to publish bibliographies; they are useful research tools and stimulate scholarship. The Editors' Fence—with a slight change in the placement of the apostrophe —will remain a standard feature, appearing in numbers 1 and 3. As in the past, the Fence is not a place for pontification. Like Hal Gerber, we lean across our Fence to talk to friends, to tell you about the work of your colleagues, and to keep you informed about the journal. The Announcement section will also continue to be a standard feature. Please don't hesitate to send us information about conferences, scholarly associations, unique bookstores, whatever may be of interest to ELT readers. 2. Expanded Coverage of Books in the 1880-1920 Period: One change in content is an expanded survey of books in the period. Each number will include eight fulllength reviews of recent publications pertinent to ELT authors. We cannot, of course, review all the new books in the field. The Briefer Mention section, however, will provide the opportunity for basic comments on publications of general interest as well as those that contain selected chapters readers may want to pursue further. The Books Received section will list relevant titles that in some cases would merit thorough reviews if space permitted. The approach is designed to bring your attention to principal as well as ancillary publications on ELT figures. If you know of a new book or have a forthcoming book in press, please let us know. 3. A New Feature: A completely new feature, the Special Collections Report, will appear periodically in either numbers 2 or 4. Keepers of archives and manuscripts in the U.S. and Europe will present reports on primary holdings in a wide range of libraries. The reports will offer useful information and may lead scholars into new areas of research. We should point out, too, that ELT would be most interested in publishing significant primary materials of 1880-1920 authors that are not available elsewhere. 4. Foreign Reports: These overviews of scholarship in Canada, Europe, and Japan will continue to appear in numbers 2 and 4. They are particularly helpful to American scholars and, perhaps more importantly, aid in pushing back the often self-induced barriers of parochialism. 5. Quality Essays: Like every scholarly publication, we want quality essays. You can help. If you attend a conference and hear an accomplished presentation that could be converted into a superior essay, encourage the lecturer to revise the paper for publication and send it to ELT. 6. ELT Subscriptions: We believe the 1983 subscription rates are most reasonable for what we offer our readers. We hope to keep the rates the same for 1984; this will depend mainly on the madcapped mutability of Uncle Sam's postage surcharges (they can no longer be called rates). Be assured, though, that we will do our best to sustain current prices. Hal's philosophy is ours: ELT should remain as inexpensive as possible, for the journal is then accessible to the widest possible audience. Again, you can help us by making sure your libraries, university and local public, and interested friends subscribe to ELT. 7. Forthcoming: Volume 26:3 will present "Pater's Letters to Raffalovich" (Peter J. Vernon, University of Tunis) and "Wilde at Bay: The Diaries of George Ives" (John Stokes, University of Warwick) among other features. Number 4 will offer "'Vernon Lee': A Reintroduction and Primary Bibliography" (Phyllis F. Mannocchi, Colby College) and "'Vernon Lee': An Annotated Secondary Bibliography of Writings About Her" (Carl Markgraf, Portland State University). Numbers 3 and 4 will contain among others reviews of John J. Conlon's Walter Pater and the French Tradition (Gerald Monsmon), Joseph Connolly's...