Le Matelot And "Lodestar"

"Hiding Place" is the first of three stories collected in Trader To The Stars, Volume I of Poul Anderson's Technic History in its original publication order, and the last of eleven instalments collected in The Van Rijn Method, Volume I of Baen Books' The Technic Civilizatiion Saga, presenting the Technic History in chronological order of fictional events. 

"Lodestar" is the tenth of twelve instalments collected in The Earth Book of Stormgate, Volume VI of the Technic History in its original publication order, and the last of seven instalments collected in David Falkayn: Star Trader, Volume II of The Technic Civilization Saga.

In Trader To The Stars, "Hiding Place" is preceded by a fictional introduction attributed to "Le Matelot." However, Le Matelot introduces the Polesotechnic League period as a whole, not this particular story. The Van Rijn Method reproduces "Le Matelot" as an introduction to "Hiding Place." However, the Acknowledgements at the beginning of The Van Rijn Method inform us that this introduction was not published with "Hiding Place" in Analog but was added in Trader To The Stars. Therefore, "Le Matelot" introduces the collection, not just its first story.

Since "Le Matelot" introduces the League period, The Van Rijn Method should have included it not before "Hiding Place" but before the first van Rijn story, "Margin of Profit," which is the fourth of the eleven in this volume. "Le Matelot" and "Lodestar" should be further apart because it is the latter that informs us that the Pax Mercatoria is coming to an end.