This collection of twenty-six essays, written by acknowledged experts in literary studies, surveys the history of scholarly editing, describes the major research in a variety of disciplines, summarizes the resources available to scholars, and analyzes the issues currently facing textual editors.

The book begins with an overview of scholarly editing, followed by four essays on the long tradition of editing the Bible and the Greek and Latin classics. The next cluster of essays proceeds through the major periods of British and American literature, from medieval to modern, further subdividing the Renaissance and the nineteenth century by genre and including a chapter devoted to Shakespeare. Additional essays cover other European literatures: French (Old French and early modern), Italian, medieval Spanish, German, and Russian. The concluding essays discuss representative non-European literatures and the “nonliterary” editing of folk literature in various languages. Each chapter includes a history of scholarly editing in the field, a citation of exemplary editions, and an introduction to a recommended list of further readings.