Part	1609	1610		1611		1612		1613	1614	1615	1616		1617	1618	1619		1620	1621	1622	1623	1624	1625	1626	1627	1628		1629	1630
General Title Page and Dedication to Elizabeth				1									2
Faerie Queene (first part)	1							2
Faerie Queene (second part)	1					2?		2?
The Shepheardes Calender				1									2
Colin Clouts and shorter poems				1									2
Letter to Raleigh, commendatory and dedicatory poems				1									2
Prosopopia or Mother Hubberds Tale						1?		1?									2?	2?	2?	2?	2?	2?	2?	2?	2?		2?
Edition Type	A			B		C		D					E				F										G

The time line contains one row for each part of the Works, and a column for each year from 1609 to 1630. If a part is printed in a year, then I show a number (1 or 2) to indicate the printing that occurred in that year (the dates are from Steven K. Galbraith's article, "English Literary Folios 1593-1623: Studying Shifts in Format"). If the date of the printing isn't certain, then I note that with a question mark.

I've color-coded each part's row, to provide some visual clue as to when that part's first and second printing was available. And, if I can't tell what was available in a year, I mark that with a red number-question mark combination.

Lastly (and with apologies for possibly belaboring the obvious), I've grouped years into the possible states of "full" or "all parts" witnesses. Hopefully the color-coding makes clear the logic behind the states.

If we assume that witnesses contain all possible parts (a questionable assumption--see below), then Spenser's Works can exist in the following states:

• A -- Really not an edition of the Works. Included here to account for the reuse of the 1609 FQ as a part of the Works.
• B -- The first state of the Works proper. Contains the 1609 FQ plus parts printed specifically for the Works.
• C -- The picture for 1612 is confused, since we aren't clear on when the second printing of the second part of the FQ occurred, or when Mother Hubberds Tale was first printed for the Works.
• D -- From 1613 to 1616, "full" witnesses of the Works should contain the second printing of the second part of FQ and Mother Hubberds Tale.
• E -- From 1617 to 1619, the picture is clear: The second printings of a number of parts are available.
• F -- Because we aren't sure when the second printing of Mother Hubberds Tale occurred, the state of "full" editions from 1620 to 1628 isn't clear. A couple of implications: first, if a witness has the first printing of Mother Hubberds Tale, then at best we can fix the sale or binding of that witness to between 1617 and 1628, unless its SC is from the first printing, in which case we can date sale or binding to between 1613 and 1616; second, if a witness contains the second printing of Mother Hubberds Tale, then we can date it to between 1620 and 1629; nothing helps us date it with any more precision.
• G -- This state is really not all that different from F. I included it only to mark a point of certainty (see the last paragraph of this section).

Given the "Burger King" nature of Works ("Have it your way"), the actual number of possible states is roughly 343 (very roughly), give or take some allowance for my pathetic (English major) command of mathematics (7 parts, of which there are 49 or so possible combinations, times 7 possible "full edition" states, equals 343).

Also, please note that the timeline implies that there was printing activity going on as late as 1629 (that latest possible date for the second printing of Mother Hubberds Tale). In fact, printing activity could have been done as early as 1620, and the edition could have been sold out, or sold to fishmongers, or etc long before 1629.