The justification for the version here presented of James Alexander’s _A Brief Narrative of the Case and Tryal of John Peter Zenger, Printer of the New York Weekly Journal_ is that his text of 1736, however fine an achievement for his own time, is not quite so satisfactory after the lapse of two hundred years. Literary conventions have changed too much for so characteristic a piece of eighteenth-century writing to be allowed to remain as it is when modern standards of readability are in question. Moreover, in places it shows signs of haste, or possibly even of another writer at work. An instance is the opening passage, which falls far below Alexander’s best style, and may be by someone else, perhaps Zenger himself. Lastly, there is too much technical law for the lay reader. On all these counts the _Brief Narrative_ needs overhauling for our purposes. This does not imply any distortion: the bulk of Alexander’s text is here just as it came from Zenger’s press. Most of the pamphlet is still perfectly clear, and it would be pointless to change anything simply for the sake of change. More than that, it is preferable to keep to the original wherever possible in order to catch something of the eighteenth-century atmosphere. Clarity is the touchstone. Nothing has been allowed to stand that might trouble readers who are not familiar with obsolete usages. The simplest revision is in the spelling, where I use “trial” instead of “tryal,” “jail” instead of “gaol,” “public” instead of “publick,” etc. More important is the change in punctuation. Like most publications of its time, the _Brief Narrative_ shows a plethora of commas, colons, and semicolons, a type of punctuation that tends to produce long, complicated, tedious sentences. There are too many capitals and italics, which today not only irritate the eye but also lose their force by doing too much duty. In certain places the grammar calls for the addition or omission of words. A comparison of the following passages, the first two from the original, the second pair from my edition of the text, will show exactly what changes these considerations have led to: As There was but one Printer in the Province of _New-York_, that printed a publick News Paper, I was in Hopes, if I undertook to publish another, I might make it worth my while; and I soon found my Hopes were not groundless: My first Paper was printed, _Nov. 5th_, 1733. and I continued printing and publishing of them, I thought to the Satisfaction of every Body, till the _January_ following: when the Chief Justice was pleased to animadvert upon the Doctrine of Libels, in a long Charge given in that Term to the Grand Jury, and afterwards on the third _Tuesday_ of _October_, 1734. was again pleased to charge the Grand Jury in the following Words. “_Gentlemen_; I shall conclude....”