Notes: Edited by William A. Ringler, Jr. and Michael Flachmann. The editors list the the length of the story as 18,000 words including the author's margin commentary which is an integral part of the story. The spelling and punctuation of the text are modernized. The text is taken from a careful 1847 transcription of a copy of a now lost first edition published by John Alide for John Arnold in 1570. A second edition was also published in 1570 by Wylliam Gryffith. The existing fragmentary copy consists of only the first four pages including the title page. The title page, with a date of 1570, is reproduced in this book. Two copies of the 1584 edition published by Edward Allde in 1584 are known to exist but neither has a title page. The editors state that evidence for a 1561 edition "is probably an error". There are specific references to events of the 1552-1553 Christmas period. There are also two appendices which discuss the beginnings of the English novel.