The Parsed Corpus of Early English Correspondence

File format

 The PCEEC includes the same file formats as the PPCME2 and PPCEME. The parsed files of the PCEEC, however, also include information about the letters (date, etc.) and correspondents (name, date of birth, etc.) of a type not included in the other corpora.

This information comes in two forms.


Parameter coding

 The parameter coding in the PCEEC is a modified version of the Helsinki Corpus parameters. They appear as follows in the parsed files: 
( (CODE <B_BACON>))
( (CODE <Q_BAC_A_1569_FN_N2BACON>))
( (CODE <L_BACON_001>))
( (CODE <A_NICHOLAS_BACON_II>))
( (CODE <A-GENDER_MALE>))
( (CODE <A-REL_BROTHER>))
( (CODE <A-DOB_1543>))
( (CODE <R_NATHANIEL_BACON_I>))
( (CODE <R-GENDER_MALE>))
( (CODE <R-REL_BROTHER>))
( (CODE <R-DOB_1546?>))
Each collection is headed with the 'collection name' labelled B. This is also the file name. 
     <B_BACON>

The text identifier

Each letter is preceded by the 'text identifier', labelled Q 
     <Q_BAC_A_1569_FN_N2BACON>
The text identifier contains five codes separated by underscores:

Collection code
ALL Allen ARU Arundel BAC Bacon BAR Barrington BAS Basire
BEN Bentham BRE Brereton BRO Browne BRY Bryskett CEC Cecil
CEL Cely CHA Charles CHM Chamberlain CLE Clerk CLI Clifford
COI Corie CON Conway COR Cornwallis COS Cosin CRO Cromwell
DER Derby DUP Duppa EDM Edmondes ELY Elyot ESS Essex
FER Ferrar FFA Ffarington FIT Fitzherbert FLE Fleming FOX Fox
GAR Gardiner HAD Haddock HAM Hamilton HAR Harley HAS Hastings
HAT Hatton HAV Harvey HE8 Henry 8 HEN Henslowe HOL Holles
HOS Hoskyns HRT Hart HUT Hutton JON Jones JOS Jonson
KNY Knyvett LEY Leycester LIS Lisle MAR Marvell MAV Marchall
MIN Minette MOR More OR1 Original 1 OR2 Original 2 OR3 Original 3
OSB Osborne OXI Oxinden PAG Paget PAK Paston K PAR Parkhurst
PAS Paston PEP Pepys PET Petty PLU Plumpton POR Pory
PRI Prideaux RER Rerum RO1 Royal 1 RO2 Royal 2 RUT Rutland
SHI Shillingford SIG Signet SMY Smyth STC Stockwell STI Stiffkey
STO Stonor STU Stuart TIX Tixall VER Verstegan WEN Wentworth
WES WeSa WHA Wharton WIL Willoughby WYA Wyatt

Authenticity code

 Authenticity codes have the following values:
A autograph letter
B autograph letter by a person of whom little is known
C copy or secretarial letter
D autograph status unknown
The authenticity codes are provided by Helsinki, and are mostly based on information in the edited volumes, but also in some cases on study of the manuscripts.

Date of letter

Recipient type code

 Recipient type codes have the following values:
FN Family Nuclear (parents, children, siblings, spouses)
FO Family Other (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws etc)
FS Family Servant
TC Other Close (used for close friends)
T Other (all other recipients)

Writer code

 No list of writer codes is currently available. However, this information is duplicated by the author/recipient name, since each correspondent in the corpus is uniquely identified by name. See METADATA: Names.

Letter collection and number

The L code uniquely identifies each letter by collection and number. 
     <L_ARUNDEL_001>

Author/recipient information

The remaining codes give information about the author and recipient. The contents of these codes are discussed in detail under METADATA: Author and recipient information.

A Author name e.g. <A_THOMAS_MORE>
A-GENDER Author gender e.g. <A-GENDER_MALE>
A-REL Author relationship e.g. <A-REL_FATHER>
A-DOB Author date of birth e.g. <A-DOB_1539>
R Recipient name e.g. <R_WILLIAM_CECIL>
R-GENDER Recipient gender e.g. <R-GENDER_MALE>
R-REL Recipient relationship e.g. <R-REL_--->
R-DOB Recipient date of birth e.g. <R-DOB_1520>
The REL (A-REL, R-REL) category is a partial reduplication of the Recipient type code. It includes only family relationships (nuclear or otherwise), family servants, and friends. For others , this code is empty (<A-REL_--->). See METADATA: Relationship for more detail.