This edition could not have been prepared without the help of the people listed on the title page, and it is my privilege as general editor to be able to thank them for their hard work, dedication, and accuracy.
In addition, I owe a great debt of gratitude to staff members at several libraries, but most particularly at the University of Calgary (I can mention Appolonia Steele in particular for her willingness to have our few medieval manuscript leaves subjected to photography); at Trinity College, Dublin; and at the Bodleian Library, where Dr. Bruce Barker-Benfield was of considerable assistance, especially in arranging the rephotographing of the three manuscripts for the image files on this CD-ROM.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the support and constructive criticism of professional colleagues who have learned of this project in various ways and offered advice and objections that have been of considerable use in shaping it. In particular, I would mention the anonymous reviewer of a proposal for a University of Calgary Starter Grant who first made me realize the importance of photographs to the project; the audience member at an MLA session in Chicago in 1990 (I think it was Joanne Norman) who first suggested the Book of the Duchess as a text worth treating in this way; the anonymous reader for Cambridge University Press who helped me to clarify the goals of the project (and decide that they did not coincide with the goals of the Canterbury Tales Project); the participants at the Electric Scriptorium conference in Calgary in 1995 (and the on-line discussion list for that conference) who provided such a stimulating environment for thinking about our common problems as "electronic editors"; and the scholars who participated in beta-testing of the CD-ROM, particularly Karen Arthur, Barbara Belyea, and Susan Yager.
--Murray McGillivray
To Georgina, without whose patience I could never have completed this project.
To Patrick and Madeleine, who have had to grow up believing that "editing the Book
of the Duchess" was their father's job (and peculiar obsession).