ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. This book maps out a structure for the questioning process through which any would-be editor will need to proceed, moving broadly through five stages of editing before turning to case studies. It is divided into four distinct sections: Before Editing; Editing: Principles and Practice; Digital Editing; and five lengthier Case Studies. The current abundance of editorial activity might seem unsurprising, given intense critical interest in materiality and the history of the book in the last few decades. Paradoxically, however, one result of this attentiveness to the details of textuality has been a movement against the idea of editing itself, at least as derived from the classic model of analytical bibliography spearheaded in the first part of the twentieth century by R. B. McKerrow, W. W. Greg, Fredson Bowers, and others.
