Q. What is the correct way to write an endnote where the author has used a quote from a letter that appears in a volume of letters by someone else, and it appears as one of the book’s appendixes? The book is Delius: A Life in Letters, 1862–1908. The editor is Lionel Carley. The letter quoted by the author of the essay I’m editing is from Jelka Delius, Frederick’s wife. I’ve looked in chapter 14 of CMOS, but can’t find anything that quite matches this. The author has put this:
“Jelka Delius: Memories of Frederick Delius,” appendix 7 in Lionel Carley, ed., Delius: A Life in Letters, 1862–1908, vol. 1 (London: Scolar Press, 1983), 408–15.
Is this correct? Should it be
Jelka Delius, “Memories of Frederick Delius,” in . . . ?
I hope I don’t get scolded for submitting a silly query.
A. Your query is certainly not silly! A complex citation calls for thoughtful formatting. The author’s version indicates that the book has an appendix titled “Jelka Delius: Memories of Frederick Delius.” Your version would suggest something different: that the book has an appendix titled “Memories of Frederick Delius” that was written by Jelka Delius. Unless you have the book in front of you to confirm that you are right, you should leave this as the author wrote it.
There is danger in forcing citations into a set style regardless of their meaning. The goals are rather to convey the sources accurately and to tidy the punctuation and styling as much as you can without doing any damage. In Chicago style, your citation would look like this:
“Jelka Delius: Memories of Frederick Delius,” appendix 7 in Frederick Delius, Delius: A Life in Letters, 1862–1908, ed. Lionel Carley (London: Scolar Press, 1983), 1:408–15.