When reading a book such as _The Faerie Queene_, it is tempting to minimize the looking up of difficult words, which are often glossed, if at all, in the end pages. Although Spenser's use of certain words appears quaint and lumpish, the language is superficially modern enough to enable the reader to "get by". Yet such an approach can lead only to a faulty appreciation of the poem, and deprives one of much enchantment. Queen Elizabeth would have found nothing lumpish about the language: her only impatience might have been with Spenser's weakness for archaisms. To her, the _FQ_ will have revealed Spenser's exact and liberal style in all its glory: his words almost always make perfect sense. The purpose of this edition is to make the language of the poem readily accessible. Interruptions to consult separate dictionaries and so on are eliminated, preserving as far as possible the flow of reading and accelerating one's apprehension of the poem. The sustained power and scope of Spenser's master-work, of his "sacred fury", comprise a feat unsurpassed in English literature. But, by its very nature, language changes with time, and access to Spenser's magic kingdom is becoming ever more difficult. I hope this edition provides a key. THE TEXT OF THE POEM No manuscript of _The Faerie Queene_ is known; we depend for our text upon printed copies of the work. The first of these appeared in 1590. It is a quarto edition, published by William Ponsonby, and contains Books I-III. The Registers of the Stationers' Company for 1589 include the following entry: _Primo Die Decembris.--Master Ponsonbye. Entered for his Copye a book intituled the fayre Queene, dyposed into xii. bookes &c. Aucthorysed vnder thandes of the Archb. of Canterbury & bothe the Wardens, vjd._ The date of Spenser's letter to Raleigh is 23 January 1589 (1590 New Style); the book itself appeared some time after 25 March. The text was indifferently proof-read, and a list of corrigenda (Faults Escaped in the Print) accompanies it. Moreover, there is variation between individual copies of the edition. Early copies contain only ten dedicatory sonnets, while later ones contain the full set of seventeen: for Spenser had made the signal blunder of omitting Lord Burleigh from the illustrious company of dedicatees. To confuse matters further, a few copies contain a mixture of pages from the original and revised versions.