Abstract

The essay shows the results of the important research of Harris-Sartorelli «La Ventisettana dei Promessi sposi: la collazione e i cancellantia», just published in Annali manzoniani, pointing up the methodological originality of the study published by the two Authors and the great relevance of their research for the edition of Promessi sposi that is forthcoming. Two cancellanda have been found in Ventisettana, while other cancellanda have been identified in the reprint of the novel done in Paris by Baudry in 1827. The Authors examine the printing techniques still used in nineteenth-century editions; Manzoni is heavily influenced in replacing the four-page folder, because he can replace a text with another one only if provided that it doesn’t modify the structure of the copy going to press. So we could define these variants as ‘forced’. The editor of the Ventisettana had therefore to address a hard issue in setting up the critical text.