This is a query directed specifically to anyone currently working at the
Huntington or the British Library and having time to check something.
In Book II, canto 10 of The Faerie Queene, Lud is said to have repaired
the walls of Troynovant. The word, in ine 4 of stanza 46, is
"reaedifye."
In their collation notes, Yamashita et al record a Press Variant in the
1590 edition, with some copies reading "readisye" (with a long 's').
The two copies that Yamashita et al record as showing the (presumably)
uncorrected variant are British Lib. 2 (G11536) and Huntington Lib. (RB
56742).
Here's the question: if you look closely, preferrably with a
magnifying glass, does the long 's' turn out to be a lightly-inked 'f'?
I hope to check these copies myself one day; for now, I ask because
among the copies I have examined, one does show an 'f' impersonating a
long 's', with the right-hand half of its cross-bar lightly inked and
barely visible. This leads me to wonder whether there's a true variant
here at all.
With thanks in advance for any undertakers who respond--
David
David Lee Miller
Department of English
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
[log in to unmask]
803 777-4256 (office)
803 777-4256 (fax)
803 466-3947 (cell)
|