COMPLETE TITLE: Roscius Anglicanus, or, An historical Review of the Stage: After it had been Suppres'd by means of the late Unhappy Civil War, begun in 1641, till the Time of King Charles the IIs. Restoration in May 1660. Giving an Account of its Rise again; of the Time and Places the Governours of both the Companies first Erected their Theatres. The Names of the Principal Actors and Actresses, who Perform'd in the Chiefest Plays in each House. With the Names of the most taking Plays, and Modern Poets. For the space of 46 Years, and during the Reign of Three Kings, and part of our present Sovereign Lady Queen Anne, from 1660, to 1706.

The text, based on the personal experience and knowledge of the author, a prompter and actor in various theater companies between 1661 and 1706, is an account of the repertoire, the actors, and the plays of Restoration theater, with notes on the fortune of the various plays and occasional comments on the interpretation by various actors. Though Downes's accuracy is sometimes doubtful and his style at times obscure, his text is the main source on Restoration theater and provides essential information, especially on theatrical practice.

LATER EDITIONS:
Roscius Anglicanus, or, An historical Review of the Stage: After it had been Suppres'd by means of the late Unhappy Civil War, begun in 1641, till the Time of King Charles the IIs. Restoration in May 1660. Giving an Account of its Rise again; of the Time and Places the Governours of both the Companies first Erected their Theatres. The Names of the Principal Actors and Actresses, who Perform'd in the Chiefest Plays in each House. With the Names of the most taking Plays, and Modern Poets. For the space of 46 Years, and during the Reign of Three Kings, and part of our present Sovereign Lady Queen Anne, from 1660, to 1706. With Additions, by the Late Mr. Thomas Davies, Author of The Life of Garrick, and Dramatic Miscellanies, London, Printed for the Editor, and sold at no. 62, Great Wild-Street, near Lincoln's-Inn-Fields; by Mess. Egerton, Whitehall; Mess. Cox and Phillipson, James-Street Covent-Garden; R. Ryan, No. 351, Oxford-Street; H.D. Symonds, No. 20. Pater-Noster-Row; and W. Richardson, under the Royal-Exchange, 1789. Text of the first edition with additions by Thomas Davies, published by F.G. Waldron.

Roscius Anglicanus, or, An historical Review of the Stage from 1660 to 1706. By John Downes, London, J.W. Jarvis & Son, 1886. Anastatic reprint of the edition of 1708 with a preface by Joseph Knight. Contains also A Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, for the appeasing and quietting of all unlawfull Tumults and Insurrections in the severall Counties of England, and Dominion of Wales ... Also an Ordinance of both Houses, for the suppressing of Stage-Playes (1642).
Online text: INTERNET ARCHIVE

RECENT EDITIONS:
Reprints of the first edition:
- Roscius Anglicanus by John Downes. Edited by The Rev. Montague Summers, London, The Fortune Press, [1928-1929]. Edition limited to 650 copies; the notes extend the text to 286 pages. Reprint: New York, B. Blom, 1968. Both editions include A Satyr on the Players, a short poem printed for the first time from the manuscript. 
Online text: INTERNET ARCHIVE
- Roscius Anglicanus (1708). Introduction by John Loftis, Augustan Reprint Society, Publication no. 134, Los Angeles, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, 1969.
- Historia Histrionica: an Historical Account of the English-Stage, by James Wright. Roscius Anglicanus; or, An historical review of the Stage, by John Downes. With a pref. for the Garland ed. by Arthur Freeman, New York, Garland Pub., 1974. Besides the first edition of Roscius Anglicanus it includes the reprint of the first edition of 1699 of Historia Histrionica by James Wright (see).
- Roscius Anglicanus. Edited by Judith Milhous and Robert D. Hume, London, Society for Theatre Research, 1987.