Since its inception, EMLO has worked in close partnership both nationally and internationally with scholars, research projects, institutions, and publishing houses. Following the publication in 2012 by Librairie Droz of Paul Botley’s and Dirk van Miert’s eight-volume edition of The Correspondence of Joseph Justus Scaliger, the metadata from which provided an inventory for the catalogue of Scaliger’s correspondence in EMLO, it is a joy to be working for a third time with Paul Botley.[1. The Correspondence of Joseph Justus Scaliger, ed. Paul Botley and Dirk van Miert, 8 vols (Geneva: Librairie Droz, 2012), ISBN-13 978-2-600-01552-3.] On this occasion, Paul has, together with Máté Vince, generously contributed metadata created in preparation for the edition of Isaac Casaubon’s letters written and received during the years the scholar resided in England, and this is now published in EMLO as part of a catalogue of the correspondence of Isaac Casaubon (1559–1614).

The impressive four volumes that make up The Correspondence of Isaac Casaubon in England are published once again by Librarie Droz.[2. The Correspondence of Isaac Casaubon in England, ed. Paul Botley and Máté Vince, 4 vols (Geneva: Librairie Droz, 2018), ISBN-13 978-2-600-05888-9.] Focussed on the surviving letters Casaubon sent and received between his arrival in England in 1610 and his death in London on 1 July 1614, edited transcriptions have been included for a total of 731 letters, 312 of which are published for the first time. Header-level descriptions of these letters, including extended incipits, are now brought together in EMLO to join records for earlier letters both to and from Casaubon found in the catalogues of Hugo de Groot [Grotius] (1583–1645) (contributed by the Circulation of Knowledge project from the ePistolarium database); Amandus Polanus of Polansdorf (1561–1610) (contributed by Iva Lelková at the Institute of Philosophy at the Czech Academy of Sciences); Johannes Isacius Pontanus (1571–1639) (contributed by the Cultures of Knowledge project); Johann Wilhelm Stucki (1542–1607) (contributed by Marc Kolakowski); Richard Thomson (c. 1569–1613) (contributed again by Paul Botley); and of course that of Scaliger, contributed by Paul Botley and Dirk van Miert, as well as three additional letters located in the Stuart State Papers at the UK National Archives, Kew, that came to our attention during work on the recent Networking Archives project.

To witness the inventories of these scholars’ letters being knitted together in a union catalogue is a exciting and a privilege, and their correspondences will by joined shortly by a catalogue for the letters of Dutch statesman and historian Janus Dousa the elder (1545-1604), thanks to the research of the late Chris Heesakkers and the indefatigable work carried out over the past couple of years by Wil Heesakkers-Kamerbeek. As you wait for this catalogue to join the cluster, we hope very much you will enjoy browsing the inventory of Casaubon’s letters, and that you will consult the texts of the letters in this impressive edition.