Published June 2005
Odilon Redon: Écrits
Edited by Claire Moran
Critical Texts 1
- ‘The most interesting recent insight into Redon and his work emerges from this slender edition of his own early writings, carefully edited and presented by Claire Moran.’ — Natalie Adamson, Modern Language Review 101.4, 2006, 1131 (full text online)
- ‘Ce recueil ne manquera pas de susciter l'approfondissement d'études antérieures ou de nouvelles analyses sur l'expression écrite et picturale de Redon. En tant que chercheur, nous ne pouvons qu'encourager ce genre de collection qui facilite notre travail et nous offre par conséquent de nouveaux horizons de recherche.’ — Béatrice Vernier-Larochette, Dalhousie French Studies 76, 2006, 168-69
- ‘Claire Moran's exemplary introduction shows ... that Redon stood 'au cœur du chassé-croisé entre art et littérature' at the start of the twentieth century ... This publication will be heartily welcomed by all devotees of Redon's strange œuvre.’ — Peter Low, New Zealand Journal of French Studies 27.2, 2006, 52-53
Les Paraboles Maistre Alain en Françoys
Edited by Tony Hunt
Critical Texts 2
- ‘The reader now has a reliable text of the Paraboles ... Alan of Lille’s collection, whether in Latin or in French, was an important work, both for the later Middle Ages and for the humanistic learning of the Renaissance, and it can now be studied both as a work in its own right and as part of the cultural life of its time.’ — Glyn S. Burgess, Modern Language Review 101.4, 2006, 1107 (full text online)
- ‘An interesting addition for our knowledge of paroemiological literature ... As one would expect from such a prolific and experienced scholar as Tony Hunt, the Introduction covers in an efficient and scholarly manner all the essential questions relating to the text he prints.’ — Max Walkley, New Zealand Journal of French Studies 27.2, 2006, 47-48
- ‘L'analyse perspicace de Tony Hunt montre comment les choix différents opérés par les deux imprimeurs pour ce qui concerne la mise en page orientent la lecture du recueil ... Il s'agit dans l'ensemble d'une excellente édition...’ — Maria Colombo Timelli, Medium Aevum 75, 2006, 175
Published October 2006
La Disme de Penitanche by Jehan de Journi
Edited by Glynn Hesketh
Critical Texts 7
- ‘Au total, on se trouve devant une production éminemment estimable, dont il faut féliciter l'auteur ... On voudrait qu'il en fût plus souvent ainsi.’ — Claude Thiry, Les Lettres Romanes 61.1/2, 2007, 154
- ‘Students of vernacular penitential texts will welcome this edition, particularly as the editor provides extensive explanatory notes, interspersed with comments of linguistic interest.’ — Leslie C. Brook, Modern Language Review 103.2, 2008, 531 (full text online)
- ‘[Hesketh's] edition of La Disme de Penitanche cannot but become a joy to read, a philologist's delight!’ — Max Walkley, New Zealand Journal of French Studies 29.1, 2008, 55
A Critical Edition of La tribu indienne; ou, Édouard et Stellina by Lucien Bonaparte
Edited by Cecilia Feilla
Critical Texts 5
- ‘This re-edition of a novel by Lucien Bonaparte, one of Napoleon’s younger brothers, is the latest in the MHRA’s admirable series of critical texts ... [It] is to be welcomed as providing a new addition to the corpus of Revolutionary literature available for study ... Cecilia Feilla’s introduction is clear and concise, dealing briefly with the author’s life and situating the novel within the tradition of sentimental exoticism.’ — Jennifer Yee, Modern Language Review 103.1, 2008, 234-35 (full text online)
- ‘This is a fascinating reprint of the original edition including illustrations of the only novel ever written by Lucien Bonaparte ... [It] is of particular interest to anybody studying early nineteenth-century French politics.’ — Kirsty Carpenter, New Zealand Journal of French Studies 29.2, 2008, 52-53
- ‘The text of Feilla’s edition—with five lush plates illustrated by Prud’hon—is one of only three extant copies of La Tribu indienne. Revolutionary literary studies are currently a 'hot' topic, but excavating, analyzing, and eventually constructing a viable canon out of this material will occupy scholars for years to come. We are thus grateful to Feilla for this edition of Lucien Bonaparte’s La Tribu indienne.’ — Julia V. Douthwaite, Eighteenth-Century Fiction 23.1, 2010, 253-55
La Peyrouse dans l’Isle de Tahiti, ou le Danger des Présomptions: Drame politique
Edited by John Dunmore
Critical Texts 10
Published November 2006
François II, roi de France
Edited by Thomas Wynn
Critical Texts 8
- ‘This is a welcome edition and a particularly timely one in the context of the current reappraisal of the minores and consequent refinement of our picture of the French Enlightenment, and of the problematization of dramatic reception.’ — John Dunkley, Modern Language Review 104.4, 2009, 1145 (full text online)
Published November 2007
La Devineresse ou les faux enchantemens
Édition présentée, établie, et annotée par Julia Prest
Critical Texts 12
Published February 2008
Ovide du remede d'amours
Edited by Tony Hunt
Critical Texts 15
- ‘This is a most carefully presented and legible edition ... The Notes themselves are rich in linguistic, literary and mythological information and useful commentary on salient translation techniques. A Glossary and Table of Proper Names complete this elegant edition.’ — J. Keith Atkinson, New Zealand Journal of French Studies 30.1, 2009, 45-46
Published June 2009
Evariste-Désiré de Parny, Le Paradis perdu
Edited by Ritchie Robertson and Catriona Seth
Critical Texts 20
- ‘Robertson’s authorship of a volume on mock epic, including Parny’s, and Seth’s extensive work on the poet make them an ideal editorial team for this volume.’ — Derek Connon, Modern Language Review 105.4, 2010, 1159-60 (full text online)
- ‘it is particularly interesting to have this careful, commentated and annotated edition of Parny's ironical, erotic and witty version of the Fall.’ — Angus Martin, New Zealand Journal of French Studies 31.1, 2010, 46-47
Published July 2009
Istoire de la Chastelaine du Vergier
Edited by Jean-François Kosta-Théfaine
Critical Texts 9
Published June 2010
Louis-Charles Fougeret de Monbron, Le Cosmopolite, ou le citoyen du monde (1750)
Edited by Édouard Langille
Critical Texts 22
Published October 2010
Le Gouvernement présent, ou éloge de son Eminence, satyre ou la Miliade
Edited by Paul Scott
Critical Texts 14
- ‘Paul Scott’s edition is both meticulous and erudite ... [the] astute analysis of the political and literary significance of the poem will be of broad interest to scholars who work on the political and cultural history of early modern France.’ — Peter Shoemaker, Modern Language Review 107.2, 2012, 618-20 (full text online)
- ‘The editor convincingly argues that the Miliade deserves our attention today as not only the first significant satire since the years of the Catholic League in the 1580s, but also the pamphlet that, in an increasingly centralized and controlled public sphere, made an audacious claim for the possibility of resistance ... This erudite edition will interest students of seventeenth-century history, literature, and all those interested in the history of political dissent.’ — Antonia Szabari, Renaissance Quarterly 67, 2014, 565-66
- ‘Après 90 pages de riche présentation, l’édition elle-même occupe 30 pages complétées de d’autant de notes (32 pages) qui en permettent la plus exacte compréhension ... [une] excellente édition.’ — Françoise Hildesheimer, Dix-septième siècle 258, 2013, 171-72
- ‘In this impeccably researched new edition, editor Paul Scott shows exactly why this pamphlet should be taken seriously ... I have no doubt that this edition will be essential reading for all scholars of the period.’ — Nicholas Hammond, Seventeenth Century XXVII, 2012, 246-47
Stéphanie de Genlis, ‘Histoire de la duchesse de C***’
Edited by Mary S. Trouille
Critical Texts 21
- ‘This fine edition would be a welcome addition to undergraduate and graduate courses on the Gothic novel, alongside now more familiar English authors ... Trouille has done those of us who focus on women’s writing in the pre-Revolutionary period a great service.’ — Gillian Dow, Modern Language Review 107.3, 2012, 944-45 (full text online)
Narcisse Berchère, Le Désert de Suez: cinq mois dans l'Isthme
Edited by Barbara Wright
Critical Texts 24
- ‘Scholars in a variety of fields might profitably engage with Narcisse Berchère’s rich discursive and pictorial account of the Suez Canal’s construction, one which Wright’s impeccable scholarship has now made available to us.’ — Wendelin Guentner, Nineteenth-Century French Studies 41, 2013, 152-55
- ‘This re-edition and informative introduction by Barbara Wright thus puts back into circulation a text that self-consciously promotes the notion that ‘canaliser’ is a synonym of ‘coloniser’. ... This re-edition is invaluable, since the twenty illustrations from Le Tour du monde of 1863, presented in the appendix, are the sole survivors of the commission, a welcome glimpse of Berchère’s oeuvre, lost in Versailles during the Commune."’ — Peter Dunwoodie, Modern Language Review 107, 2012, 625-26 (full text online)
Published March 2011
Aza ou le Nègre
Edited by Loïc Thommeret
Critical Texts 27
- ‘Aza ou le Nègre, an unknown French literary fiction unearthed and introduced to us by Loïc Thommeret, certainly highlights what can be considered to be a revolution in the genre of eighteenth-century French colonial fiction advocating the abolition of slavery.’ — Christian Kittery, Modern Language Notes 127, 2012, 947-48
- ‘On ne peut que remercier Loïc Thommeret d’avoir retrouvé ce roman et de l’avoir publié ... Ce petit livre est appelé à devenir un grand classique.’ — Marie-Hélène Huet, Eighteenth-Century Fiction 25.2, 2013, 480
- ‘This is a most welcome addition to the growing number of previously little-known and largely inaccessible texts representing Blacks republished in recent years. ... Aza ou le Nègre would make an excellent text for undergraduate study.’ — Roger Little, Modern Language Review 107, 2012, 624-25 (full text online)
Published July 2012
Joséphine de Monbart, Lettres tahitiennes
Edited by Laure Marcellesi
Critical Texts 36
- ‘This outstanding volume ... excellent scholarly apparatus ... ideal for classroom use.’ — Heidi Bostic, New Zealand Journal of French Studies 34, 2013, 82-84
Published January 2013
C. E. Boniface, Relation du naufrage de L’Eole sur la côte de la Caffrerie, en avril 1829
Edited by D. J. Culpin
Critical Texts 37
Published June 2013
Les Costeaux, ou les marquis frians, by Jean Donneau de Visé
Edited by Peter William Shoemaker
Critical Texts 31
- ‘Complemented with a plethora of detailed endnotes providing much detail about areas such as culinary practice (from wild-duck recipes to the oenophilic topography of France), this edition has much to offer scholars of, and all those interested in, the early modern period.’ — Paul Scott, French Studies 69, 2015, 527
Published February 2014
Albert Aubert, Du Spiritualisme et de quelques-unes de ses conséquences
Edited by Barbara Wright
Critical Texts 44
Published May 2014
Nicolas Edme Rétif de la Bretonne's Ingénue Saxancour
Edited by Mary S. Trouille
Critical Texts 33
- ‘Mary S. Trouille’s critical edition ... represents an invaluable tool to discover and understand Rétif de la Bretonne. It is the first edition of this novel since Pierre Testud’s and Daniel Baruch’s own editions of the text (now out of print). This new MHRA volume therefore fills in a lacuna, and it does so authoritatively. This beautiful edition of Ingénue Saxancour is adorned by 27 figures: portraits of Rétif and his relatives or friends, illustrations from his works, and engravings of eighteenth-century Paris. The volume is indeed not only an introduction to a novel but also an invitation to Rétif's universe."’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 51, 2015, 87
- ‘Trouille presents a novel that remains as unsettling for the modern reader as it was when it was first published. It offers a valuable entry point for scholars and students alike into the dark Restivian world.’ — Gemma Tidman, Modern Language Review 112.1, January 2017, 252-53 (full text online)
Published June 2014
Eugénie et Mathilde by Madame de Souza
Edited by Kirsty Carpenter
Critical Texts 26
- ‘I will be including Souza’s novel in my courses and am grateful to scholars such as Kirsty Carpenter for making these obscure but important texts available.’ — Antoinette Sol, Modern Language Review 111, 2016, 553 (full text online)
- ‘Kirsty Carpenter’s edition of Madame de Souza’s 1811 novel ... contributes to the rediscovery, understanding and appreciation not just of a writer too often considered as a minor author, but also of an overlooked period in the history of French literature, between the Revolution of 1789 and the first Napoleonic campaigns (1798–1800s).’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 51, 2015, 87-88
- ‘Réjouissons-nous donc que Mme Carpenter nous ait restitué ce roman parfaitement oublié, qui se trouve être, à la relecture, un des textes les plus lucides de son époque.’ — Paul Pelckmans, Dix-huitième siècle 47, 2015, 645-46
- ‘"a valuable resource for students, professors, and researchers interested in the history of the French Revolution, eighteenth-century society, women's studies, or the development of literary genres in France."’ — Theresa Kennedy, New Zealand Journal of French Studies 36, 2015, 161-62
Published June 2015
Edward Kimber, The Happy Orphans
Edited by Jan Herman and Beatrijs Vanacker
Critical Texts 29
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Voyage en Normandie
Edited by Malcolm Cook
Critical Texts 49
- ‘1775 was a crucial year for Bernardin, and his trip represents a return to his homeland after an absence of ten years; the account gives a vivid description of the landscape and settlements visited, food eaten, plants and topographical features, and his own experiences, including his dreams and quality of sleep, feelings, sociological observations of those he meets, among other issues.’ — Mark Darlow, Modern Language Review 111.3, 2016, 870-71 (full text online)
- ‘There is value in resurrecting little-known texts, and we can be grateful that this manuscript has been newly edited. Voyage will be of primary interest to Bernardin scholars, and it will appeal more broadly to scholars of French history, and to scholars of green studies.’ — Annie K. Smart, French Studies 70.4, October 2016, 600-01
Published March 2016
Alexis Piron, Gustave-Wasa
Edited by Derek Connon
Critical Texts 57
- ‘Connon’s rich critical edition boasts extensive contextualization and intriguing paratexts. His wide-ranging Introduction analyses the tragedic elements of pity, terror, and character self-revelation, alongside Piron’s spirited self-defence against Prévost’s accusations of plagiarism.’ — Síofra Pierse, Modern Language Review 113.1, January 2018, 244-45 (full text online)
Published May 2016
La Voie de Povreté et de Richesse
Edited by Glynnis M. Cropp
Critical Texts 51
- ‘As Glynnis Cropp notes in her foreword, while historians have made reference to La Voie de Povreté et de Richesse, a vernacular fourteenth-century dream-vision poem, the text itself has never received a critical edition. That omission has now been impressively rectified... this is an impressive and accessible edition, justifying why La Voie de Povreté et de Richesse deserves recognition in its own right.’ — Bridget Riley, Modern Language Review 116.2, April 2017, 506 (full text online)
- ‘L’edizione di Cropp... ha il merito incontestabile di far progredire in maniera sostanziale la nostra conoscenza di un testo e di una tradizione no ad oggi completamente trascurati. Il testo critico è stabilito con criteri chiari e le scelte operate sono controllabili. Si tratta di un lavoro di grande peso e impegno, che offre delle basi di partenza solide a chi vorrà approfondirne la complessa situazione testuale della Voie de la Pouvreté et de la Richesse.’ — Maria Teresa Rachetta, Revue de Linguistique Romane 82.325-26, January-June 2018, 278-81
- ‘This slim but attractively produced volume is part of the enormously useful MHRA Critical Texts series... The volume contains a useful introduction followed by the edited text based on MS Paris, BnF, fr. 1563, fols 203r–221r. An index of proper names, a glossary, and a thorough bibliography are compiled with that meticulous attention to detail we are accustomed to nd in Cropp’s work... An invaluable edition.’ — Anne M. Scott, Parergon 36.1, 2019, 238-39
Published November 2016
Gabriel-Marie Legouvé, La Mort d'Abel
Edited by Paola Perazzolo
Critical Texts 61
Published April 2017
Les Veuves créoles
Edited by Julia Prest
Critical Texts 34
- ‘In compiling this edition, Prest aims to reveal how the play could be ‘of considerable interest today in the context of renewed and ongoing research into the story of French colonialism and, increasingly, in colonial and créole drama’ (p. 5). This edition of Les Veuves créoles is a concise and riveting introduction to these research areas, and would in addition provide an ideal teaching tool.’ — Vanessa Lee, Bulletin of Francophone Postcolonial Studies 8.2, Autumn 2017, 26-27
Published August 2017
Commemorating Mirabeau: Mirabeau aux Champs-Elysées and other texts
Edited by Jessica Goodman
Critical Texts 58
- ‘In this fine book, Jessica Goodman provides the full corrected and modernized texts of five plays from the era of the French Revolution, three of them published in 1791 and two available only in manuscript... Goodman has done wonderful detective work, providing us with the performance history of the plays, the number of people likely to have seen them, and the amount the authors made on the productions... I hope that Goodman will continue to haunt the archives and bring more gems like these plays back into circulation, and I am confident that readers of her introduction and notes will find them useful and instructive.’ — Robert H. Blackman, H-France February 2018, 18.30
- ‘In this intriguing volume, Jessica Goodman unites five texts dating from the weeks following the death of Mirabeau on 2 April 1791... Particularly interesting is her analysis of Mirabeau aux Champs-Élysées and Gouges’s authorial strategies. This volume is an important contribution to scholarship on the Revolutionary period and, more generally, to our understanding of the commemorative practices of the late eighteenth century.’ — John R. Iverson, French Studies 72.4, October 2018, 601-02
‘Noa Noa’ by Paul Gauguin and Charles Morice: With ‘Manuscrit tiré du “Livre des métiers” de Vehbi-Zumbul Zadi’ by Paul Gauguin
Edited by Claire Moran
Critical Texts 50
- ‘Moran has given us not only a fine new edition of Noa Noa, but also a forceful reminder of the generic complexities that underpin artists' writings.’ — Richard Hobbs, French Studies 72.3, July 2018, 450-51 (full text online)
- ‘Moran’s introductory essay is itself a noteworthy piece of contemporary scholarship on Gauguin... her very thorough and carefully edited new version of Noa Noa add to our understanding of Gauguin as a writer, in particular, the way he used writing as a mode of self-representation, not merely as a backdrop for his visual art... This affordable text will be useful for scholars of fin de siècle French art and literature as well as students of French language, art history, and aesthetic theory, and will likely lead to new scholarship on Gauguin... I would invite others going forward to consult Moran’s edition of Noa Noa as the definitive text for any study of Gauguin.’ — Heather Waldroup, H-France 18.213, October 2018
Published September 2017
Michel-Jean Sedaine: Théâtre de la Révolution
Edited by Mark Darlow
Critical Texts 63
- ‘Théâtre de la Révolution is an impeccably researched edition of Michel-Jean Sedaine’s last operatic works... Sedaine’s Théâtre de la Révolution will be required reading for scholars of eighteenth-century theatre and music. Thanks to Darlow’s introduction, the work is also an essential contribution to scholarship on cultural production and policy during the Revolution... Overall, eighteenth-century French musical theatre, ignored by dix-huitièmistes for generations, has a champion in Mark Darlow and a welcome new title in his edition of Sedaine’s last librettos.’ — Logan Connors, H-France 18.95, April 2018
- ‘This is another admirable critical edition from Darlow which sheds new light on a playwright’s transition from Ancien Régime to Revolution.’ — Clare Siviter, Modern Language Review 114.1, January 2019, 144-45 (full text online)
Published September 2018
La Belle Dame qui eust mercy and Le Dialogue d'amoureux et de sa dame: A Critical Edition and English Translation of Two Anonymous Late-Medieval French Amorous Debate Poems
Edited by Joan Grenier-Winther
Critical Texts 60
- ‘The poems themselves are presented with facing-page translations, in clear and idiomatic English, making this edition eminently useful for scholars and students alike.’ — unsigned notice, Medium Aevum 88, 2019, 184
- ‘This volume is a welcome addition to studies of fifteenth-century French poetry, especially within the context of the Quarrel of the Belle dame sans mercy.’ — Joan E. McRae, Modern Language Review 115.1, 2020, 178-79 (full text online)
- ‘Joan Grenier-Winther has provided a welcome new bilingual scholarly edition of two important poems (each about four hundred lines) out of around twenty love poems long recognized as ‘the cycle of the Belle Dame sans mercy’... Scholarship is served by the excellent Introduction, comprehensive list of variant readings, description of all manuscripts and early books up to 1617, and an extensive bibliography with separate categories for other editions, critical studies, and manuscript studies.’ — Linda Burke, French Studies 74.1, January 2020, 107-08 (full text online)
Published May 2019
Marmontel and Demoustier, Le Misanthrope corrigé: Two Eighteenth-Century Sequels to Molière’s ‘Le Misanthrope’
Edited by Joseph Harris
Critical Texts 65
- ‘This volume is an important addition to the corpus of Molière reception in the Enlightenment. The arc of Le Misanthrope’s reception can be traced back to the play’s first appearance with critical responses such as Donneau de Visé’s Lettre écrite sur la comédie du Misanthrope; but this new comparative and elucidating edition of two eighteenth-century sequels will encourage scholars and students to encompass a wider range of texts in their reflections on Molière’s audiences and adaptors.’ — Suzanne Jones, H-France 20.54, April 2020
- ‘Harris’s Introduction is essential reading. It provides a nuanced and fine-grained analysis of the two treatments, placing them into the context of the respective authors’ careers and the wider context of eighteenth-century ideas... the volume is a very welcome publication and is sure to be of great interest to a wide audience interested in Molière and his literary posterity.’ — Mark Darlow, Modern Language Review 115.4, October 2020, 917-18 (full text online)
Published August 2020
Louis Sébastien Mercier, Comment fonder la morale du peuple: Traité d’éducation pour l’avènement d’une société nouvelle
Edited and translated by Geneviève Boucher and Michael J. Mulryan
Critical Texts 69
- ‘The editors are to be thanked for making this text available in this completely bilingual MHRA edition, with not only the main text in facing-page translation, but also the editors’ Introduction and notes.’ — Jessica Stacey, Modern Language Review 117.4, October 2022, 719-20 (full text online)
Published April 2021
Life and Death on the Plantations: Selected Jesuit Letters from the Caribbean
Edited and translated by Michael Harrigan
Critical Texts 68
- ‘This book should be in the library of every university and college in which the history of slavery is taught.’ — Bertie Mandelblatt, Modern Language Review 117.4, October 2022, 718-19 (full text online)
Published November 2021
The Pen and the Needle: Rousseau & the Enlightenment Debate on Women’s Education
Edited by Joanna M. Barker
Critical Texts 80
Published September 2022
La Découverte de l’île Frivole by Gabriel-François Coyer
A Bilingual Edition by Jean-Alexandre Perras
Critical Texts 76
Published December 2022
Alexis Piron, Le Claperman and L’Âne d’or
Edited by Derek Connon
Critical Texts 84
Published March 2023
Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Le Vieillard et ses trois filles and Timon d’Athènes: Two Shakespeare Adaptations
Edited by Joseph Harris
Critical Texts 82
- ‘Mercier was a highly experienced playwright, and his adaptations offer readers a chance both to see Shakespeare through Mercier’s eyes and to appreciate Mercier’s own understanding of national culture, dramatic heroes, stagecraft, and the French Revolution. It is all the easier for readers to do this in Harris’s edition, which includes a wealth of helpful footnotes and a well-judged introduction that touches upon many important points without overwhelming the reader.’ — James Harriman-Smith, Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 46.3, 2023, 311-97 (full text online)
- ‘In the Introduction, Harris locates the two plays within the author’s career, and associates them with the cultural, literary, and political issues of late eighteenth-century France. The Notes register in detail the numerous parallels as well as the differences between Shakespeare’s and Mercier’s plays, thus inviting and generously anticipating the comparative study of both... It is to be hoped that with this new edition of a moving and politically interesting play, Mercier’s Timon d’Athènes, hitherto largely ignored, will re-enter the collective memory of French and English readers.’ — Ina Schabert, Translation and Literature 32, 2023, 379-83 (full text online)
Published April 2024
Alexis Piron, Fernand-Cortés
Translated by Derek Connon 
Critical Texts 28