It was the opinion of both Whalley and Gifford that the publication of _The Devil is an Ass_ in 1631 was made without the personal supervision of the author. Gifford did not believe that Jonson ‘concerned himself with the revision of the folio, ... or, indeed, ever saw it’. The letter to the Earl of Newcastle (_Harl. MS._ 4955), quoted in Gifford’s memoir, sufficiently disproves this supposition, at least so far as _Bartholomew Fair_ and _The Devil is an Ass_ are concerned. In this letter, written according to Gifford about 1632, Jonson says: ‘It is the lewd printer’s fault that I can send your lordship no more of my book. I sent you one piece before, The Fair, ... and now I send you this other morsel, The fine gentleman that walks the town, The Fiend; but before he will perfect the rest I fear he will come himself to be a part under the title of The Absolute Knave, which he hath played with me’. In 1870 Brinsley Nicholson quoted this letter in _Notes and Queries_ (4th S. 5. 574), and pointed out that the jocular allusions are evidently to _Bartholomew Fair_ and _The Devil is an Ass_. Although Gifford is to some extent justified in his contempt for the edition, it is on the whole fairly correct. The misprints are not numerous. The play is overpunctuated. Thus the words ‘now’ and ‘again’ are usually marked off by commas. Occasionally the punctuation is misleading. The mark of interrogation is generally, but not invariably, used for that of exclamation. The apostrophe is often a metrical device, and indicates the blending of two words without actual elision of either. The most serious defect is perhaps the wrong assignment of speeches, though later emendations are to be accepted only with caution. The present text aims to be an exact reproduction of that of the 1631 edition. 1641. The pamphlet quarto of 1641 is merely a poor reprint of the 1631 edition. It abounds in printer’s errors. Few if any intentional changes, even of spelling and punctuation, are introduced. Little intelligence is shown by the printer, as in the change 5. I. 34 SN. (references are to act, scene, and line) He flags] He stags. It is however of some slight importance, inasmuch as it seems to have been followed in some instances by succeeding editions (cf. the omission of the side notes 2. I. 20, 22, 33, followed by 1692, 1716, and W; also 2. I. 46 his] a 1641, f.). The title-page of this edition is copied, as far as the quotation from Horace, from the title-page of the 1631 edition. For the wood-cut of that edition, however, is substituted the device of a swan, with the legend ‘God is my helper’. Then follow the words: ‘Imprinted at London, 1641.’ Folio by measurement; signatures in fours.