All four plays have been edited from the earliest quartos, in consultation with modern editions. Spelling and punctuation have been modernized throughout, with any significant changes (for example, where the spelling of characters’ names differs from editorial tradition) indicated in the notes. Where the quarto includes massed entries (a notable feature of Webster’s plays) these have been divided up, with the originals available for consultation in the Textual Variants. Act and scene divisions have been imposed as consistent with editorial tradition. All additional stage directions are indicated by square brackets.
The White Devil was prepared from the 1612 Quarto in the Bodleian Library, STC 25178, in consultation with John Webster: Three Plays, ed. D. C. Gunby (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972, repr. 1987); The Works of John Webster, 3 vols, ed. David Gunby, David Carnegie and MacDonald P. Jackson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007–8); Christina Luckyj (ed.), The White Devil (London: A & C Black, 1996, rev. 2008); René Weis (ed.), The Duchess of Malfi and Other Plays (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009); and Martin Wiggins, ‘Notes on Editing Webster’, Notes and Queries 240 (1995), pp. 369–77.
The Duchess of Malfi was edited from the 1623 Quarto, British Library copy, STC 25176, in consultation with John Webster: Three Plays, ed. D. C. Gunby (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972, repr. 1987); Brian Gibbons (ed.), The Duchess of Malfi (London: A & C Black, 1964, repr. 2001); The Works of John Webster, 3 vols, ed. David Gunby, David Carnegie and MacDonald P. Jackson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007–8); René Weis (ed.), The Duchess of Malfi and Other Plays (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009); and Martin Wiggins, ‘Notes on Editing Webster’, Notes and Queries 240 (1995), pp. 369–77.
The Broken Heart is based on the 1633 Quarto, STC 11156, British Library copy, and has been checked against the 1652 Comedies, Tragi-Comedies and Tragedies by John Ford, Wing (2nd ed.)/F1466 A, National Library of Scotland. Modern texts consulted are Brian Morris (ed.), The Broken Heart (London: A & C Black, 1994); T. J. B. Spencer (ed.), The Broken Heart (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1980); and Marion Lomax (ed.), ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore and Other Plays (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995).
’Tis Pity She’s a Whore was edited from the 1633 Quarto, STC 11165, Huntingdon Library, and has been checked against the 1652 Comedies, Tragi-Comedies and Tragedies by John Ford, Wing (2nd ed.)/F1466 A, National Library of Scotland. It is also indebted to Brian Gibbons (ed.), ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (London: A & C Black, 1968); Marion Lomax (ed.), ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore and Other Plays (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995); Martin Wiggins (ed.), ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (London: A & C Black, 2003); and Sonia Massai (ed.), ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (London: Methuen, 2011).