This volume presents the findings of a conference of German studies experts on scholarly editing in Graz (Austria) centering on the subject of 'sources'. The various facets of meaning that this term can have, from almost indefinable initial impulse to immediate model or inspiration for a particular work, are discussed with special emphasis on the effects and repercussions of such sources on text-editorial activity. The purview is extremely broad, both in terms of period and text varieties, the range of examples extending from medieval documents to the contemporary German novel. All of them are used to exemplify the connections between source, text and editing reflected in the present-day approach to editing in German studies.