This Norton Critical Edition includes:

• The 1874 corrected edition of the text, with small textual variations from Eliot's manuscript.
• Introductory materials and explanatory footnotes by Ronjaunee Chatterjee.
• Twenty-three background selections from Eliot's correspondence, journals, and other writings.
• Seventeen critical responses, including five contemporary reactions and twelve critical analyses of the novel's most important themes.
• A chronology of Eliot's life and a selected bibliography.