Excerpt from An English Settler in Pioneer Wisconsin: The Letters of Edwin Bottomley, 1842-1850 For the greater part the preliminary information which should be put before the reader of this volume is included in the historical introduction. Here, it seems desirable to call attention to the editorial principles which have governed me in the preparation of the volume for the press. In general the original manuscript has been reproduced verbatim. In a few cases obviously inadvertent and meaningless errors of the writer have not been reproduced in print. Commonly, however, such errors have been reproduced, accompanied, where deemed advisable, by the editor's interpretation printed in brackets. The original letters are without paragraphing; for this feature of them as printed the editor is, therefore, responsible. With respect to capitalization and punctuation, the original manuscript has been carefully followed, with one important qualification. In the manuscript the sentences commonly run into one another without any indication of the close of one and the opening of a succeeding sentence. For the convenience of the reader, in such cases, the transition point between sentences has been indicated by the introduction of the spacing known to typesetters and proofreaders as the quad. To do this involved the frequent application of an editorial interpretation, not necessarily infallible, of the manuscript. However, the careful student who wishes to see the copy, with respect to this matter, just as it runs in the original manuscript, may do so by the simple process of ignoring these printers' quads. The great majority of readers, it is believed, will welcome the editorial assistance which is thus afforded them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.