The aim throughout has been to provide an accessible edition of William Porlond's Brewers’ Book that is close to the original.

Passages in Latin or French are indicated [Latin] or [French] and have been calendared. The English in some of the lengthy, repetitive passages has been streamlined.

For the list of crafts, the Latin names have been retained, with a suggested translation in the footnotes, whilst the names of crafts that were written in English have been copied as the clerk wrote them in 1421–2 [26–7]. George Unwin deserves great respect for being amongst the first to consider the trades and guilds of London, but a few of his interpretations are open to question: he interpreted Bladesmyths as Blacksmiths, and Setters as Potters, whilst what he saw as Brothmakers could equally be Brochemakers, and he translated Cementarii as plasterers, although this word can also mean masons. He also omitted Bokelermakers just above Botelmakers, which gives us a list of 112 trades, not 111 as he stated. It seems right to present this list as the clerk wrote it, as far as possible, for future discussion, without a layer of interpretation.

Place names and the names of parishes have been modernised where possible. Where dwelling places or names of brewhouses were given, the entry ‘atte Swan’ has been translated as ‘at the Swan’. Henry Harben, A Dictionary of London, has been a great help, as has the map Tudor London: The City and Southwark in 1520.

Surnames have been left as Porlond or other clerks wrote them, with the various versions shown in the Index. First names have been modernized unless they are unusual, such as Idonea, or have no obvious modern equivalent, such as Weveyne.

Money has been converted from Roman numerals to Arabic – i.e. xijd. to 12d.

The accounting has been left as Porlond recorded it and corrections have not been added. Frequently the amounts are correct. Sometimes, however, the accounting does not add up and there must have been other factors at play, recorded elsewhere, known to Porlond at the time, but lost to us.