A factual and critical appraisal of a ‘worshipful deed’, P.J.C. Field's revision of Vinaver's Malory edition.

For Professor P.J.C. Field the necessity in revising Eugène Vinaver's Winchester Malory was that of maintaining the essential character and physical format of that great edition. Field's success in overcoming the difficulty immediately catches the attention of every reader: revision is strictly confined to what is factual and the tremendous number of pages of Vinaver's second edition (1759 pp.) is increased by only nine pages, despite Field's vast number of alterations (2850 by Field's own count) and occasional reductions (as in 40.12, 79.1, 795.30). What is less clear but of more importance is that the act of revision, though far-reaching quantitatively and qualitatively, is performed with admirable restraint (which gives us a strong sense of the continuity of Vinaverian scholarship) and with due attention to users of Tomomi Kato's Malory Concordance (the page and line allotment given there is kept almost intact by Field's tactful adjustment of footnote spaces in his revised edition).

This brief chapter focuses on what Field, in his ‘Note to the third edition’, so succinctly calls ‘the heart of the edition’, the text, or rather a suggestion for corrections and changes in the text (those published in print and those communicated to Field privately are not included here).