The paper deals with the problem of encoding the verses and textual variants in the critical edition of Foglar’s Manuscript, a Styrian Baroque hymn book from the mid-eighteenth century. We first show the diplomatic transcript of the verse in selected problematic cases, after which we present the method applied to produce a critical apparatus for approaching textual variants. The base text, i.e. Foglar’s Manuscript, is compared with versions in eight other manuscripts and prints from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Variants are encoded with XML elements according to the TEI Guidelines as units of the critical apparatus. We highlight some examples of the detailed encoding of rhymes, feet, verse replacements, and textual variants on the spelling, vocabulary and lexical levels of the language. To conclude, we present a number of possibilities for the online display of the electronic diplomatic transcript. The need for the adaptability of these tools to the Slovenian literary tradition is evident.