<!doctype html public «-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en»> http-equiv=content-type> This study examines the Early New High German prose romance Melusine by Thüring von Ringoltingen to explore the relationship between the practice of printing and language change. Based on a corpus of over 30 print editions of the Melusine (published from 1473/74 to 1692/93), the study analyzes factors favoring variance and consistency in print editions, written language, and changes at the textual level.