'The Operation of Individual Judgement': In Praise of Critical Editing

This study theorises a new approach to textual editing within the field of Shakespeare and Textual Studies, following the rise and decline of 'single-text editing' as the dominant approach to the re-presentation of the Shakespearean text in critical editions in the first and second decade of the twenty-first century. 'Critical Editing' (or 'Intertextual Editing') is proposed as an approach better suited to re-present textual artefacts produced by the early modern London theatre and print industries, within which Shakespeare was first transmitted from stage to page.