Note 12 — POEMS
Reading edition
This edition opens with the Epistle Dedicatory as in 1650-69, which is followed by an abridgement of Walton's Life of Donne. An examination of the text of the poems shows clearly that this edition was printed from that of 1669, but is by no means a slavish reproduction. The editor has consulted earlier editions and corrected mistakes, but I have found no evidence either that he knew the editions of 1633 and 1635, or had access to manuscript collections. He very wisely dropped the Satire 'Sleep next Society', inserted for the first time by the editor of 1669, and certainly not by Donne. It was reinserted by Chalmers in 1810.12