318 pp. The text of Beowulf is preceded by a full introduction (9-84) and a bibliography (85-91), and is followed by an edition of The Finnesburg Fragment (180-81), commentary (182-229), and glossaries of words and proper names for both texts (230-318). From the Preface (pp. 5-6): "The purpose of this edition is mainly twofold—to present Beowulf in its proper setting as a great poem to university students, and to make available in a readable and manageable form the more significant results of recent scholarship" (5). The "second edition, revised and enlarged," was published in 1958, and a "fully revised" edition, revised by Whitney F. Bolton, in 1973.

The text of Beowulf begins:

Hwæt wē Gār-Dena     in geār-dagum
þēod-cyninga     þrym gefrūnon,
hū ðā æþelingas     ellen fremedon.

Oft Scyld Scēfing     sceaþena þrēatum,
monegum mǣgþum     meodo-setla oftēah;
egsode Eorl[e],     syððan ǣrest wearð
fēasceaft funden;     hē þæs frōfre gebād;
wēox under wolcnum,     weorð-myndum þāh,
oðþæt him ǣghwylc     þāra ymb-sittendra
ofer hron-rāde     hȳran scolde,
gomban gyldan:     þæt wæs gōd cyning! (95)

And ends:

Þā ymbe hlǣw riodan     hilde-dēore,
æþelinga bearn,     ealra twelfe,
woldon ceare cwīðan,     kyning mǣnan,
word-gyd wrecan     ond ymb wer sprecan:
eahtodan eorlscipe     ond his ellen-weorc;
duguðum dēmdon,     swā hit gedēfe bið
þæt mon his wine-dryhten     wordum herge,
ferhðum frēoge,     þonne hē forþ scile
of līc-haman     lǣded weorðan.
Swā begnornodon     Gēata lēode
hlāfordes hryre,     heorð-genēatas;
cwǣdon þæt hē wǣre     wyruld-cyninga,
manna mildust     ond mon-þwǣrust,
lēodum līðost     ond lof-geornost. (179; þ in "forþ" and "mon-þwǣrust" sic [most editions have ð in both places])

BAM.