Notes on Footnotes

This collection presents fourteen essays on annotating eighteenth-century literature. Authored by editors and annotators of current standard editions—such as California’s Works of John Dryden, the Florida Edition of the Works of Laurence Sterne, and the Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson—this book explores theoretical perspectives on critical editing and the practical work of annotation. Through examples from their own editorial work, the contributors illuminate the personal dilemmas and decisions confronting the annotator of texts: What information in the text needs annotation? When does one stop annotating? How does one manage the annotation-versus-interpretation problem?Brimming with erudition, Notes on Footnotes showcases the precision and attentiveness of some of the world’s foremost editors and annotators. The book is necessary reading—not only for scholars of the eighteenth century but also for scholarly editors of texts of all historical periods, book historians, and book lovers in general.In addition to the editors, the contributors include Kate Bennett, Robert DeMaria Jr., Michael Edson, Robert D. Hume, Stephen Karian, Elizabeth Kraft, Thomas Lockwood, William McCarthy, Maximillian E. Novak, Shef Rogers, Robert G. Walker, and Marcus Walsh.

“This collection synthesizes key issues of scholarly annotation for the first time, not by providing a single definitive set of rules and procedures but by setting out the broad spectrum of considerations that should be in the minds of editors (and publishers). It is by far the most comprehensive treatment of these issues to date and thus fills a long-felt want.”—Pat Rogers, author of Pope and the Destiny of the Stuarts: History, Politics, and Mythology in the Age of Queen Anne, “Every single essay in Notes on Footnotes is not just readable but entertaining, not just learned but intelligent, not just well-argued but compelling. This will be a book with appeal far beyond fellow-editors; it will make eager annotators of us all.”—Cynthia Wall, author of Grammars of Approach: Landscape, Narrative, and the Linguistic Picturesque, “A really fascinating look at a subject that few have given more than a passing thought to, Notes on Footnotes is a worthy addition to your bookshelf.”—Cliff Cunningham, Sun News Austin

Melvyn New is Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida. He is the general editor of the Florida Sterne, published in nine volumes between 1978 and 2014. His most recent editorial work has been as coeditor of Sir Charles Grandison for the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Samuel Richardson, published in 2022. He has authored 100 notes and essays and 85 book reviews in scholarly journals during his long career. Anthony W. Lee is the author or editor of six books, including most recently Community and Solitude: New Essays on Johnson’s Circle, Samuel Johnson Among the Modernists, and A Clubbable Man: Essays on Eighteenth-Century Literature in Honor of Greg Clingham. He is currently at work on an edition of Samuel Johnson’s periodical essays, The Annotated Rambler, and an edition of the Selected Johnsonian Papers of J. D. Fleeman. He teaches at Arkansas Tech University.