The History of King Richard the Third

Cover

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Title Page, Copyright Page, Dedication Page

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pp. iii-v

Table of Contents

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pp. 8-9

Preface

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pp. ix-xi

My aim has been to provide an edition of the English version of More’s History (he also wrote a Latin version) that is at once scholarly and readable. The project is thus parallel to that of the “Cambridge Utopia,” which I edited with Robert M. Adams and Clarence H. Miller (Cambridge University Press, 1995). In particular, the two editions stand in roughly analogous relations to the corresponding volumes of the Yale Complete Works of St. Thomas More. At least for those of More’s works that have a general readership, the magisterial Yale editions...

Textual Practices

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pp. xiii-

Introduction

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pp. vii-li

Thomas More wrote his unfinished History of King Richard the Third in two versions, English and Latin. Both open with the death of Richard’s brother Edward IV on April 9, 1483, and recount in some detail the events of the following three tumultuous months, which culminated in Richard’s coronation as king on July 6. At this point, the Latin version stops. The English one goes on to narrate the supposed murder, at Richard’s behest, of Edward’s sons (the rightful heirs to the throne...

Further Reading

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pp. liii-lviii

William Rastell’s edition of The workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, sometyme Lorde Chauncellour of England, wrytten by him in the Englysh tonge (1557), which provides the basis of the text in the present edition, is available in photographic facsimile: introduction by K. J. Wilson, 2 vols...

Chronology

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pp. lix-lxi

The History of King Richard the Third

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pp. 1-109

The history of King Richard the Third (unfinished), written by Master Thomas More, then one of the undersheriffs of London, about the year of our Lord 1513. ¹ Which work hath been before this time printed in Hardyng's Chronicle and in Hall's Chronicle,² but very much corrupt in many places, sometimes having less and sometimes having more, and altered in words and whole sentences, much varying from the copy of his own hand, by³ which this is printed. ...

Selective Glossary

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pp. 111-113

This glossary contains words in two categories: (1) those that are glossed in footnotes at one or more points in the text but are not glossed in at least one other occurrence where the word has the same or a related sense; (2) some...

Editorial Practices

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pp. 115-118

Text: My text is based on that in The workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, sometyme Lorde Chancellour of England, wrytten by him in the Englysh tonge, edited by More’s nephew William Rastell and printed in 1557. The only other possible copy-text would be one of the printings that preceded Rastell’s edition: the Hardyng-Hall versions of 1543–50...

Textual Notes

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pp. 119-124

Appendix: Literary Relations

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pp. 125-134

Index

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pp. 135-141

Untitled

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pp. 143-

A native of Kentucky, George M. Logan holds degrees in mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University and in English literature from Harvard University. He is currently James Cappon Professor of English at Queen's University, Canada, where he previously served for nine years as Head of the Department of English. ...