Variorum - Original Meaning

Original Meaning

An older meaning of the word refers not to the text itself but to the assortment of illustrative notes printed with it: 'an edition of a text (usually Latin or Greek) which includes annotations by a variety of critics and commentators'. Variorum editions of this kind were a speciality of Dutch publishers of the 17th century, including the house of Elsevier. In these editions the text is usually taken, with little or no attempt at constructive modification, from a single widely-accepted critical edition of the period; the interest lies in the notes, which often fill three-quarters of each page, and which typically embody the complete commentaries of two or three recognised specialists in the work of the author in question, together with selected passages from several other commentators. The notes will usually include textual variants, both documented and conjectural, together with examples of parallel usages and (for non-fiction texts) historical information. Usually some middle-ranking literary man was appointed as general editor; occasionally, however, a first-rate scholar would preside over the edition and include original work of his own within it, Nicolas Heinsius's edition of Claudian (Elsevier, 1661) being a good example.