Understanding the Difference Between Copy and Original
Launch library · evergreen read
A copy, however carefully made, is a separate object from the original it reproduces, and that distinction matters more than it might first seem whenever questions of authenticity, alteration or precise physical detail become genuinely important to the underlying claim being carefully made about that one specific document in question.
Historical copying practices varied considerably, from careful handwritten transcription to early photographic reproduction, and each method introduced its own particular opportunities for small errors, omissions or unintentional changes to creep quietly into the copy without anyone necessarily noticing it at the time the copy was made.
Where the original still survives, checking a copy against it whenever the details genuinely matter is worth the extra effort, since even a widely trusted, frequently cited copy can occasionally diverge from its source in ways worth catching, particularly once a copy has itself been copied again and passed down through several further generations.