there are multiple div's in each document, but only the first one
contains an h1, and the I am trying to get the text of the p following
the h1, but before the br in the p, so
<p><i><b>Excerpt from </b></i><b>Journal of Theodore
Upson</b><br/><b>Written in April 1861; originally published in
1943</b></p>
would become
<p>Excerpt from Journal of Theodore Upson</p>

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>

<xsl:template match="node()|@*">
	<xsl:copy>
		<xsl:apply-templates select="node()|@*" />
	</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="div/p[preceding::*[1][self::h1]]">
<xsl:copy>
	<xsl:apply-templates select="@*" />
	<xsl:if test="br">
		<xsl:copy-of select="br[1]/preceding-sibling::node()/descendant-or-self::text()"/>
	</xsl:if>
	<xsl:if test="not(br)">
		<xsl:value-of select="."/>
	</xsl:if>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>

regards,
--
Joris Gillis (http://users.telenet.be/root-jg/me.html)
B+Et ipsa scientia potestas estB;  - Francis Bacon , Meditationes sacrae