Parchment to PDF, or Confessions of a Freelance Academic Editor

​"Click. Add note to replace text. Add text box with notation for typesetting. Strike through text. Insert correct source at cursor." I am working in Adobe Acrobat on page proofs, preparing them for publication with a university press. I have been invested in this project from:

• the original manuscript submitted by the author to the press
• copyediting the entire manuscript
• sending it back to the author for review
• cleaning up the reviewed manuscript by incorporating my many edits, suggestions, queries, and the author’s corrections
• connecting directly with the author on any queries or points for clarification
• preparing the manuscript for final submission to production
• to now proofhandling the proofread printed pages and copyediting the index keyed to those pages.

A Different Kind of Manuscript
 
Twenty years ago, however, you would have found me in the venerable Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan or Biblioteca Statale of Cremona in Italy, perusing a different kind of manuscript – ones written by hand on vellum or parchment paper in the late Middle Ages. I imagined a life of research, studying the written treasures hidden within the pages of such medieval manuscripts – accessible only to those trained to read the cryptic script and qualified to handle the fragile pages – and teaching Latin to university students. How did I end up working on modern books, on digital platforms, for other scholars?

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