Abigail's about the varying quality of Migne's editions is supported by
Howard Bloch in his fascinating biography of the always conniving Migne
called _God's plagiarist : being an account of the fabulous industry and
irregular commerce of the abbe Migne_ (U of Chicago, 1994). Apparently
Migne had a vast talent for commissioning editions from other scholars to
which he always prominently attached his name in the printed edition. His
enormous skill at self-promotion would make him very comnfortable in
today's commericial world.
On Thu, 8 Apr 1999, Abigail Ann Young wrote:
>
> I also think it's worth pointing out that the PG/PL editions are not
> necessarily 'uncritical'. You have to judge each set on their own
> merits, by checking who edited a particular author and on what basis
> (eg, MSS, early printings, a combination of the two, etc). Migne
> published the best edition he could get, and sometimes that was in
> fact a critical edition (modern textual criticsm was not, after all,
> invented in the 20th century!). Some of what's in PG/PL has been
> entirely superceded by more recent critical editions in the CSEL or
> CCM, but in other cases you need to consult both the Migne edition and
> the modern edition.
>
> Abigail Ann Young (Dr), Associate Editor/ Records of Early English Drama/
> Victoria College/ 150 Charles Street W/ Toronto Ontario Canada
> Phone (416) 585-4504/ FAX (416) 585-4594/ [log in to unmask]
> List-owner of REED-L <http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~reed/reed-l.html>
> http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~reed/reed.html => REED's home page
> http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~reed/stage.html => our theatre resource page
> http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~young => my home page
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
John Shinners e-mail:[log in to unmask]
Chair and Professor Phone: (office): (219) 284-4494
Humanistic Studies Program Phone (dept.): (219) 284-4501
Saint Mary's College Fax: (219) 284-4716
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|