New Chaucer Studies: Pedagogy and Profession, newsletter

7 August 2026

by Candace Barrington

We are pleased to share news of the publication of William Langland’s Piers Plowman: A New Annotated Edition of the A-text, ed. Eric Weiskott, published this week by University of Exeter Press. This edition has been over 3 years in the making.

Here’s what Eric shares about the edition:

“I have tried to produce the edition I have wanted to use in my own classroom. My model was Derek Pearsall’s Exeter edition of Langland’s C-text. My edition has a substantial introduction; side-glosses for all hard words; on-page explanatory notes; and an appendix containing two important additions to the poem made by Langland during the B revision, so that this edition can best substitute for a reading of the B-text visio.

“Why read the A-text? This version of the poem is compact (under 2,500 lines) yet complex. It is more teachable in a single term/semester than B or C. The A-text has some unique passages of high literary value, which don’t always get their due. Finally, it brings students directly to central issues in interpretation of Langland’s poem: authorship, revision, manuscript culture, social history, politics, theology, and literary genres and sources.

“The text is comprehensively reconsidered. At many points, my edition follows George Kane’s Athlone edition (1960; rev. 1988); at many other points, it adopts readings from the A-text portion of A. V. C. Schmidt’s parallel-text edition (1995–2008; rev. 2011); and at others still, I make an independent choice. An appendix lists all divergences from Kane, for ease of reference.

Please encourage your university library to purchase a copy and/or consider assigning the text in future classes. For now, the hardcover is the sole version available; soon there will be an e-book suitable for undergraduate budgets. A paperback edition is promised in 2026.”