This book argues that nineteenth-century editors created the modern idea
of English Renaissance literature. The book analyses the theories and
practices of editors who worked on Shakespeare, but also on complete
editions of a remarkable range of early modern writers, from the early
nineteenth century through to the early twentieth century. It reassesses
the point at which purportedly more scientific theories of editing began
the process of obscuring the work of these earlier editors. In
recreating this largely ignored history, this book also addresses the
current interest in the theory and practice of editing as it relates to
new approaches to early modern writing, and to literary and book
history, and the material conditions of the transmission of texts.
Through a series of case studies, the book explores the way individual
editors dealt with Renaissance literature and with changing ideas of how
texts and their contexts might be represented.