1The General Situation

The original printed text of 2 The Honest Whore on which any modern edition is based offers few problems. In the case of 1 The Honest Whore, however, there are two significantly different texts, both issued in 1604, viz. the first quarto (Q1), ‘The Honest Whore ... [etc]ʼ and a later, significantly revised quarto (Q2), ‘The Converted Curtezan ... [etc]ʼ. The nature, interrelationship, and authority of these two texts have been much discussed, and I shall deal with these matters in some detail below. We shall consider first (1) the text of 1 The Honest Whore, then (2) that of 2 The Honest Whore, and finally (3) my editorial treatment of these texts.