A variorum, short for ''(editio) cum notis variorum'', is a work that collates all known variants of a text. It is a work of

textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

, whereby all variations and emendations are set side by side so that a reader can track how textual decisions have been made in the preparation of a text for publication. The

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

and the works of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

have often been the subjects of variorum editions, although the same techniques have been applied with less frequency to many other works.

Etymology

The word ''variorum'' is Latin for 'of various ersons and derives from the phrase ''cum notis variorum'' ('with notes by various people') which was often used in the title-pages of Dutch books of the 17th century.

Original meaning

An older meaning of the word refers not to the text itself but to the assortment of illustrative notes printed with it: 'an edition of a text (usually

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

) which includes annotations by a variety of critics and commentators'. Variorum editions of this kind were a speciality of

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

publishers of the 17th century, including the

house of Elzevir Elzevir is the name of a celebrated family of Dutch booksellers, publishers, and printers of the 17th and early 18th centuries. The duodecimo series of "Elzevirs" became very famous and very desirable among bibliophiles, who sought to obtain th ...

. In these editions the text is usually taken, with little or no attempt at constructive modification, from a single widely accepted critical edition of the period; the interest lies in the notes, which often fill three-quarters of each page, and which typically embody the complete commentaries of two or three recognised specialists in the work of the author in question, together with selected passages from several other commentators. The notes will usually include textual variants, both documented and conjectural, together with examples of parallel usages and (for non-fiction texts) historical information. Usually some middle-ranking literary man was appointed as general editor; occasionally, however, a first-rate scholar would preside over the edition and include original work of his own within it,

Nicolaas Heinsius Nicolaas Heinsius the Elder ( la, Nicolaus Heinsius; 20 July 1620 – 7 October 1681) was a Dutch classical scholar, poet and diplomat. He travelled all over Europe to visit the major libraries and over time collected Europe's largest priva ...

's edition of

Claudian Claudius Claudianus, known in English as Claudian (; c. 370 – c. 404 AD), was a Latin poet associated with the court of the Roman emperor Honorius at Mediolanum (Milan), and particularly with the general Stilicho. His work, written almost e ...

(Elsevier, 1661) being a good example.

Notable variorum editions

A variorum of the

has been produced at various times in history and of various scopes. Documenting each line of text with variants in wording, from {{em, all known source documents, presented chronologically, helps translators of the Bible establish primacy and prevalence of various line readings. There have also been noteworthy variorums of the works of

, including the readings of all quartos and folios; the textual decisions, or choices, of past editors; and a compilation of all critical notes. The first was that of

Isaac Reed Isaac Reed (1 January 1742 – 5 January 1807) was an English Shakespearean editor. Biography The son of a baker, he was born in London. He was articled to a solicitor, and eventually set up as a conveyancer at Staple Inn, where he had a large ...

in 1803. Variorum editions help editors and scholars understand the historical evolution of the Shakespeare texts, whether to decode dubious lines and elucidate claims of

authorial intent In literary theory and aesthetics, authorial intent refers to an author's intent as it is encoded in their work. Authorial intentionalism is the view that an author's intentions should constrain the ways in which a text is properly interpreted. Opp ...

or using a more contextualist

hermeneutics Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles or methods used when immediate ...

to uncover other explanations for the textual variations.

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...

's '' Critique of Pure Reason'' is typically presented in variorum format, with both the 1781 and 1787 editions printed side-by-side in nearly all modern editions.

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

's ''

The Origin of Species ''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...

'' went through six editions with extensive changes. The text became a third larger, with numerous parts rewritten five times. A variorum was published in 1959. There is also a variorum of ''

Leaves of Grass ''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. Though it was first published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting ''Leaves of Grass'', revising it multiple times until his death. T ...

''.

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...

produced either six or nine editions during his lifetime. The

New York University Press New York University Press (or NYU Press) is a university press that is part of New York University. History NYU Press was founded in 1916 by the then chancellor of NYU, Elmer Ellsworth Brown. Directors * Arthur Huntington Nason, 1916–1 ...

produced a variorum in 1980 of these various editions.Bradley, Sculley, Harold W. Blodgett and William White, eds. (1980), ''Leaves of Grass: A Textual Variorum of the Printed Poems, 1855-1891''; 3 vol., (Series: ''The Collected Writings of Walt Whitman''); New York: New York University Press. The

James Strachey James Beaumont Strachey (; 26 September 1887, London25 April 1967, High Wycombe) was a British psychoanalyst, and, with his wife Alix, a translator of Sigmund Freud into English. He is perhaps best known as the general editor of '' The Standa ...

translation of

Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...

's ''

The Interpretation of Dreams ''The Interpretation of Dreams'' (german: Die Traumdeutung) is an 1899 book by Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, in which the author introduces his theory of the unconscious with respect to dream interpretation, and discusses wha ...

'' in volumes four and five of ''

The Standard Edition of The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud ''The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud'' is a complete edition of the works of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. It was translated from the German under the general editorship of James Strachey, in ...

'' collates eight editions.

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

's works have been collated to produce a voluminous digital variorum. It can be viewed on th
Bichitra
website.

References

Bibliography Textual criticism Textual scholarship