Thanks JP. Option 1 (righttext) is clearly the solution I was looking for. But from where I am writing this (other side of the world) it is night time and I will need to wait till tomorrow to test it out. Grateful for your timely, prompt and detailed response. I'll be in touch. Julian
On Sun, 16 Aug 2026, 5:42 pm Jean-Pierre Delange via ntg-context, < [email protected]> wrote: > Hi Julian, > > I think there are actually two possible approaches here, depending on > whether you want to keep this entirely within your present APA setup, or > whether Augustine is part of a larger body of patristic/classical material > for which a canonical-reference model would be useful. > > 1. Keep APA and add the canonical locator only to the citation occurrence > > If all your other references are author–year, I would probably keep your > present APA setup unchanged. > > ConTeXt citations can take a righttext parameter. With APA this is > particularly convenient because righttext is added as supplementary > material inside the parenthetical citation. > > So instead of: > > \cite[authoryear][main::augustine1991confessions] > > you can use: > > \cite > [alternative=authoryear, > righttext={X.33.50}] > [main::augustine1991confessions] > > which should give: > > (Augustine, 1991, X.33.50) > > while all your ordinary citations can remain: > > \cite[authoryear][main::someotherwork] > > and continue to produce the normal: > > (Author, 2020) > > If you want the work title to be explicit as well, you could equally write: > > \cite > [alternative=authoryear, > righttext={{\em Confessions} X.33.50}] > [main::augustine1991confessions] > > The useful distinction here is that X.33.50 belongs to this particular > *citation > occurrence*, not to the bibliographic identity of the 1991 edition. So > there is no need to add it permanently to the .bib record, nor to create > a special rendering just for Augustine. > > 2. Use SBL modelling if Augustine is part of a larger patristic/classical > corpus > > If, however, the book contains many references to Augustine or other > ancient/patristic texts with canonical locators, then the module > context-sbl may be worth considering. > > The SBL implementation provides a @classictext category specifically for > classical texts and ancient works by Church Fathers. In that model, the > ancient work itself can be kept distinct from the modern edition or > translation being used. > > Schematically: > > @classictext{augustine-confessions, > author = {Augustine}, > title = {Confessions}, > shorttitle = {Conf.}, > crossref = {augustine1991confessions}, > } > @book{augustine1991confessions, > ... > } > > The canonical locator then belongs to the citation of the ancient work, > while the 1991 translation remains the bibliographic edition behind it. > > This is a more structural solution than righttext, and is useful when > canonical references are not merely occasional exceptions but a recurring > feature of the document. > > So, roughly: > > APA + righttext > -> simplest solution for a few isolated canonical locators > SBL + @classictext > -> structural solution for a corpus of ancient or patristic texts > > I would not switch an otherwise APA-based document to SBL merely to solve > one Augustine citation. For your present example, righttext is probably > the simplest and most appropriate answer. > > Incidentally, your question is very useful feedback for the new > bibliography material on the ConTeXt Garden. This particular case — keeping > an author–year style while adding a canonical or work-specific locator only > to selected citation occurrences — deserves a small explicit example there. > > I should also mention that ANSS-CE is expected to receive, this autumn, a > set of additional chapters devoted specifically to bibliography and > citation management in ConTeXt. Those chapters are currently being written > and are intended to provide a more systematic treatment of datasets, > renderings, local and cumulative bibliographies, citation occurrences and > locators, specialised styles such as SBL, and multilingual or multiscript > bibliography. > > That does not make the Garden material redundant. On the contrary, the > Garden remains the natural place for concise, task-oriented examples and > for cases that emerge from actual user questions — like this one. > > Best, > > JP > > > Le 16/08/2026 à 01:54, jbf a écrit : > > It is possible that the answer to my question already lies somewhere in > the extensive (new) bibliography material in contextgarden, but if so I > have missed it. And indeed it may be a very simple solution, but I can't > work it out at the moment. > > I am typesetting an academic work by an author who wants local (end of > chapter) bibliographies as well as, obviously, a final complete > bibliography. No problem. I can do that and in fact have done so > successfully. My problem lies with one particular set of citations from > Augustine's* Confessions*, where the canonical references are something > like Augustine, 1991, *Confessions* X.33.50. All I can manage to produce > at the moment is the usual author-year APA inline format (Augustine, 1991) > [Obviously we are referring to a modern 1991 translation, but that is > immaterial here]. > > My current set up is: > > \usebtxdataset > > [main] > > [references.bib] > > \usebtxdefinitions > > [apa] > > \definebtxrendering > > [chapterlist] > > [apa] > > [dataset=main, > > sorttype=authoryear] > > \definebtxrendering > > [finallist] > > [apa] > > [dataset=main, > > sorttype=authoryear] > > And where I need to reference Augustine inline I write, e.g. > \cite[authoryear][main::augustine1991confessions] which gives me > (Augustine, 1991). Is there is a way I can also include X.33.50 in this > inline reference, but only for the Augustine citations? All other citations > are strictly author-year. > > Julian > > > ___________________________________________________________________________________ > If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to > the Wiki! > > maillist : [email protected] / > https://mailman.ntg.nl/mailman3/lists/ntg-context.ntg.nl > webpage : https://www.pragma-ade.nl / https://context.aanhet.net (mirror) > archive : https://github.com/contextgarden/context > wiki : https://wiki.contextgarden.net > > ___________________________________________________________________________________ >
___________________________________________________________________________________ If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki! maillist : [email protected] / https://mailman.ntg.nl/mailman3/lists/ntg-context.ntg.nl webpage : https://www.pragma-ade.nl / https://context.aanhet.net (mirror) archive : https://github.com/contextgarden/context wiki : https://wiki.contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________
