I regard electronic editions as an inexpensive and relatively easy way to present_visual_ information (manuscripts, typescripts, illuminations, etc.) to a wider audience. They can be disseminated via the web and also on physical media. To do this sort of thing with the printed book and color plates would be considerably more difficult and cost much much more. The other kinds of things electronic editions can do (search engines, text manipulation, etc) I consider to be at best ancillary benefits and at worst detrimental: the Luddite in me wants to warn people that gizmos of the latter variety may become an ersatz for good old-fashioned reading and thus over time may cause people to lose sight of what it means to come to know a body of work intimately. Tim Romano P.S. In the near future -- five years, max-- it will be possible to read such editions on little handhelds, which will also play films and deliver high-fidelity sound. Tenured Professors of English Literature will be able to bring an entire library with them to their mountain chalets. Richard Edwards sent the following to me personally though I believe his intention was to post it to the list; I didn't want to edit his posting so I've kept the opening word of praise ;-) Richard Edwards wrote: I've had a look at Tim Romano's "Wanderer" site and I must say it's impressive. But what works for a short poem won't necessarily work for a work as big as the Cantos. Who goes to the electronic literature foundation site to read Paradise Lost? They might go there to do a word search, but not to read it, surely. And what's wrong with using a concordance? I'm not a Luddite and I don't want to spoil anyone's fun but although the web is a remarkable resource I don't believe it is a substitute for books. Web document formats come and go; the world is in danger of suffering a massive memory loss merely through the progressive obsolescence of computer software (eg I understand that a substantial proportion of the US census information is now irretrievably lost on account of unresolved software incompatibility). Is it worth the mammoth effort of producing an electronic edition which within months will be attracting the scorn of techies like Martin Deporres? Of course I realise you are not suggesting web presentation as a substitute for paper publishing and I can see that it might be a way of making a facsimile of the typescripts inexpensively accessibl. But given the current state of Pound's text isn't web publication rather a long way down the list of priorities? And aren't there more pressing things to discuss at the MLA? Richard Edwards