The editors wish to thank the contributors for their instant enthusiasm for the project and their extraordinary willingness to produce chapters to an unyielding ceiling of 3,000 words (including title and endnotes) – a limitation we imposed for three reasons: for speed of production, for maximum focus, and because everyone we contacted initially said an immediate yes, thereby giving us (highly welcome) space issues. This eager participation can be attributed, it goes without saying, to the contributors’ considerable regard, and genuine fondness, for Ann Thompson.
We would like to give special mention to John O. Thompson, Ann’s husband, who knew about the project from early on, and who guarded the secret impeccably until we finally spilt the beans.
And we would like particularly to thank Margaret Bartley, Arden’s indefatigable editor, for her instant and wholehearted support for the project, and for the efficiency with which she has put the book through the press. She and her team at Bloomsbury and at Fakenham Prepress – Claire Cooper, Emily Hockley, Kim Storry, Rosemary Morlin, and no doubt others we have yet to encounter at the stage at which these acknowledgements have been written – have worked rapidly and with great efficiency, and we are very grateful to them.