Readers should be aware that Paddy’s letters are not necessarily reproduced in full here: I have chosen to omit the more mundane passages which often refer to practical arrangements, or points of obscure detail of little general interest. Excisions are indicated by ellipses. I have taken it upon myself to omit repeated words and phrases and to correct the occasional spelling error, particularly in the use of foreign words and names (though I decided to retain Paddy’s delightful spelling of ‘picknick’). I was tempted to retain Paddy’s spelling of ‘Teusday’, which makes aural sense, but looks so odd that I decided against. I have also standardised Paddy’s somewhat erratic punctuation. As he himself would frequently lament, his handwriting is notoriously difficult to decipher, so I have sometimes been obliged to resort to guesswork, and no doubt my guesses have been wrong on occasion. In the handful of instances where I have been completely stumped, I have written ‘illegible’ in square brackets. I have used the same device for simple translations or other brief expository material, to avoid unnecessary annotation. Words and phrases such as book titles that Paddy underlined are usually presented in italics, to conform to standard publishers’ practice. Short profiles of the people mentioned most often in the letters, including most of the addressees, are provided in an alphabetical dramatis personae at the end of the book.