The Critical Edition of MANON LESCAUT is the first volume of the series THE OPERAS OF GIACOMO PUCCINI - CRITICAL EDITION - in collaboration with Archivio storico Ricordi and Fondazione Simonetta Puccini. It makes available the three main versions of the opera that have survived in various sources: an 1893 version, with the original Act I finale, the first version of Manons Act IV aria, and the uncut version of the final duet in Act IV; a "midcareer" version imagined by Puccini in the first decade of the new century, when he sanctioned the almost complete omission of Manons Act IV aria; and finally the last version that Puccini lived to approve, with Manons aria restored, albeit with a revised literary text.

The edition consists of two volumes of full score. The first volume is introduced by a preface to the Puccini Critical Edition and an historical introduction; the second volume ends with a detailed description of the operas many sources and a lengthy critical commentary which discusses numerous problematic details in the musical text.