The text of the story in this edition has been re-checked from primary sources and is given in two editions: in the main, final edition of 1842 and in the original, 1835, which N.V. Gogol underwent a very significant revision, as a result of which its volume increased from nine to twelve chapters and it "became twice as extensive and infinitely more beautiful" (V.G. Belinsky). There is no collection of options for the story in the publication. For draft versions of the first edition, readers were sent to the academic edition of 1937-1952; versions of the second edition in the academic publication are recognized as printed with a large number of errors and distortions and therefore unsuitable for use. Creating a complete set of options for the story is recognized as the task of the future (p. 249).