Critical Texts

Texts and Translations book series

Cover of Jean-François Ducis, <i>Hamlet</i>

ISSN:
1746-1642

The MHRA Critical Texts series aims to provide affordable critical editions of lesser-known literary texts that are out of copyright and are not currently in print (or are difficult to obtain). The texts are taken from the following languages: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Titles are selected by members of the distinguished Editorial Board and edited by leading academics. The aim is to produce scholarly editions rather than teaching texts, but the potential for crossover to undergraduate reading lists is recognized.

Proposals. Proposals are invited from prospective authors who should submit a completed Book Proposal Form. Books should be in the range of 30,000 to 50,000 words.

Review copies. Journals wishing to review books in this series should please contact mail@mhra.org.uk to request copies.

Distribution. Titles are available for direct ordering worldwide online through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, et al., and through the usual trade channels (including Bertrams, Ingram, Baker & Taylor).

Subvention. Authors in this series are not required to raise any subsidy or subvention, but are responsible in the usual way if any rights fees arise from illustrations or other copyright material included.

Mailing List. To sign up to the Critical Texts mailing list, please email criticaltexts@mhra.org.uk. This mailing list is only used to announce new titles or important changes to the series. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose.

History. Critical Texts began publishing in 2005. While editions had occasionally appeared in the Texts and Dissertations as far back as 1970, Critical Texts marked a resurgence in MHRA's commitment to making texts available. The series was made possible by an innovative venture into digital on-demand printing, and became a prototype for MHRA's other series to follow.

Editorial Committee

  • Chair: Dr Jessica Goodman (University of Oxford)
  • English: Dr Stefano Evangelista (University of Oxford)
  • French: Dr Jessica Goodman (University of Oxford)
  • Germanic: Professor Ritchie Robertson (University of Oxford)
  • Hispanic: Professor Ben Bollig (University of Oxford)
  • Italian: Professor Jane Everson (Royal Holloway, University of London)
  • Portuguese: Professor Cláudia Pazos Alonso (University of Oxford)
  • Slavonic: Professor David Gillespie (University of Bath)

Latest news items from our blog:

85Jean-François Ducis, Hamlet
Edited by Joseph Harris 
Critical Texts 85•4 November 2024
84Alexis Piron, Le Claperman and L’Âne d’or
Edited by Derek Connon
Critical Texts 84•1 December 2022
82Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Le Vieillard et ses trois filles and Timon d’Athènes: Two Shakespeare Adaptations
Edited by Joseph Harris
Critical Texts 82•13 March 2023
80The Pen and the Needle: Rousseau & the Enlightenment Debate on Women’s Education
Edited by Joanna M. Barker
Critical Texts 80•26 November 2021
79Michael Drayton, England’s Heroical Epistles (1597): A Modern-Spelling Critical Edition
Edited by Juan Manuel Camacho Ramos 
Critical Texts 79•31 March 2026
78Decadent Writings of Aubrey Beardsley
Edited by Sasha Dovzhyk and Simon Wilson
Jewelled Tortoise 10 / Critical Texts 78•18 November 2022
77Thomas Lodge, Phillis (1593): A Modern-Spelling Critical Edition
Edited by Cinta Zunino-Garrido 
Critical Texts 77•31 December 2025
76La Découverte de l’île Frivole by Gabriel-François Coyer
A Bilingual Edition by Jean-Alexandre Perras
Critical Texts 76•16 September 2022
75Thomas Lodge, Scilla’s Metamorphosis (1589): A Modern-Spelling Critical Edition
Edited by Sonia Hernández-Santano 
Critical Texts 75•31 March 2025
74George Chapman, The Shadow of Night (1594) and Ovid’s Banquet of Sense (1595): A Modern-Spelling Critical Edition
Edited by Zenón Luis-Martínez 
Critical Texts 74•31 December 2025
73Lionel Johnson: Selected Poetry and Prose
Edited by Sarah Green 
Jewelled Tortoise 9 / Critical Texts 73•31 December 2025
72Michael Field, For That Moment Only and Other Prose Works
Edited by Alex Murray and Sarah Parker
Jewelled Tortoise 8 / Critical Texts 72•4 July 2022
71Hubert Crackanthorpe: Selected Writings
Edited by William Greenslade and Emanuela Ettorre
Jewelled Tortoise 7 / Critical Texts 71•19 October 2020
70Mathilde Blind: Selected Fin-de-Siècle Poetry and Prose
Edited by James Diedrick
Jewelled Tortoise 6 / Critical Texts 70•12 November 2021
69Louis Sébastien Mercier, Comment fonder la morale du peuple: Traité d’éducation pour l’avènement d’une société nouvelle
Edited and translated by Geneviève Boucher and Michael J. Mulryan
Critical Texts 69•21 August 2020
68Life and Death on the Plantations: Selected Jesuit Letters from the Caribbean
Edited and translated by Michael Harrigan
Critical Texts 68•12 April 2021
67Aphra Behn's Emperor of the Moon and its French Source Arlequin, Empereur dans la lune
Edited by Judy A. Hayden and Daniel J. Worden
Critical Texts 67•31 May 2019
66George Moore, Confessions of a Young Man
Edited by Matthew Creasy 
Jewelled Tortoise 5 / Critical Texts 66•31 December 2024
65Marmontel and Demoustier, Le Misanthrope corrigé: Two Eighteenth-Century Sequels to Molière’s ‘Le Misanthrope’
Edited by Joseph Harris
Critical Texts 65•31 May 2019
64Francisco Nieva, Coronada y el toro
Edited by Komla Aggor
Critical Texts 64•15 November 2021
63Michel-Jean Sedaine: Théâtre de la Révolution
Edited by Mark Darlow
Critical Texts 63•29 September 2017
62Carl Van Vechten, The Blind Bow-Boy
Edited by Kirsten MacLeod
Critical Texts 62•31 August 2018
61Gabriel-Marie Legouvé, La Mort d'Abel
Edited by Paola Perazzolo
Critical Texts 61•7 November 2016
60La Belle Dame qui eust mercy and Le Dialogue d'amoureux et de sa dame: A Critical Edition and English Translation of Two Anonymous Late-Medieval French Amorous Debate Poems
Edited by Joan Grenier-Winther
Critical Texts 60•28 September 2018
59Eliza Haywood, The Fortunate Foundlings
Edited by Carol Stewart
Critical Texts 59•31 May 2018