Document type and inspection are separate
A document can be a primary record even when its original has not yet been consulted here. Each catalogue record therefore gives two separate fields.
- Document type: historical publication, archival document, catalogue, research publication, report, testimony or literature.
- Inspection: stated source examined; extract or selected material examined; metadata only; original not examined; or underlying files not located.
The detailed inspection note identifies what was actually read: a complete paper, a selected page, an indexed description or a reproduction in another publication. “Examined” is an access description, not a guarantee of historical truth.
Using the evidence
- Historical conclusions are limited to what examined primary evidence supports. Identify observation, hearsay and interpretation within a source.
- Attribute claims transmitted through Nielsen or another later study. Its bibliography does not mean that every cited original has been independently checked.
- Preserve conflicting reports, distinguish event and publication dates, and keep the stone chest, stone fragment, wooden coffin and remains in their separate documentary contexts.
- A catalogue attribution, reported permission, proposed expedition or missing-ship notice supports only the particular statement it records.
- Conventional names and reconstructed parts of drawings remain explicit. Literary scenes and conditional scenarios are not entered as established findings.
- Absence from the examined selection does not establish that a document survives nowhere.
Coverage and original files
The catalogue contains 66 records and 24 local original PDFs. Several records are leaves or plates from the same 1840 volume, not independent witnesses. The selection also contains research reports, catalogues and unexamined archival leads.
Original supplied PDFs retain their bytes. New plate PDFs are leaf extractions from the complete public-domain scan. Printed page numbers and digital leaf identifiers are recorded separately.
Checked passages and OCR
Selected Vyse passages have been visually compared with the original page images. Their records identify pages, editorial omissions and normalised line breaks. This checking concerns the wording of the selected passage; it does not independently corroborate the event described.
Automatically extracted full-page text remains separately labelled as uncorrected OCR. Consult the scan for quotations outside the checked selection. PDF hashes identify file bytes; they do not establish historical truth.
Images, reuse and oral evidence
Image credits identify creators, sources, licences and processing. Historical drawings retain their restored elements; comparison photographs document their own objects and environments. The six official EA6646 photographs retain their museum asset identifiers and stated CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 credits.
This archive is non-commercial. Interviews and recollections, when added, will identify date, role and scope; publication requires the necessary agreement and attribution.
Full image credits ↗Preparation, review and corrections
Preparation includes AI-assisted research, transcription checking, translation and editing. This edition has not undergone independent external scholarly peer review. Editorial responsibility remains with the project editor.
Corrections should identify a passage and its supporting original evidence. New archival correspondence is distinguished from receipt of documents and examination of their contents.
Corpus version 3.0 · 19 October 2026.