Pericles, probably only Shakespeare's in part, and surviving in a single text, namely a bad quarto, obscure in origin and evidently much corrupted by unknown agencies of transmission, offers the editor a task of extreme perplexity in return for which he can expect little gratitude. I can assure Mr J. C. Maxwell that in generously undertaking it he has earned the sincere thanks of one man at least. For what follows, apart from the stage-history, he is in fact entirely responsible, my own contribution being limited to suggestions here and there, mostly to the best of my recollection, of minor importance.

Since my first edition, a very thorough one by F. D. Hoeniger has appeared in the Arden Shakespeare (1963). I have introduced a few corrections from it, but must refer readers to it for discussion of difficulties. Mr Hoeniger presents John Day as a possible author of the non-Shakespearian portions. He has also had access to unpublished marginalia by Lewis Theobald, which anticipate many emendations of later scholars. I have also been fortunate enough to be able to consult marginalia by H. H. Vaughan, author of New Readings and New Renderings of Shakespeare's Tragedies (1878–86), who annotated an interleaved copy of Steevens's edition of 1793 with a view to publication. Through the generosity of Sir Gyles Isham, these volumes are now in the English Faculty Library, Oxford. I quote the annotations as ‘Vaughan MS’.