ABSTRACT
Since for those works which appeared more than once in Spenser’s lifetime we do not know the measure of his control of textual detail, it does not seem profitable to lay too great stress on the sort of variable that might be due to the printer, or to worry too much about the choice of edition on which statistical tables are to be based (the figures in such tables must for other reasons be interpreted as approximate). Full textual details are available in the Variorum edition, which has been consulted on all points at issue; but of carefully edited single texts it is likely that the most widely current is that edited by J.C.Smith in 1909, which was incorporated in Spenser ed 1912 and taken as textual basis of FQ ed 1977.
