A. W. Pollard, in his brief bibliographical introduction to the Macmillan two-volume edition of Sterne (1924), has written: “Tristram Shandy is full of surprises, and not the least remarkable of them is the fact that its publication was spread over eight years, thus further accentuating the very leisurely rate of progress of the story itself.” I can attest to many surprises that await the man who looks into the history of the publication of this novel; and these notes—although they solve none of the vexing bibliographical problems—are designed to give a loosening tug to some of these knots. A brief history of the publication of Tristram Shandy runs: