How do I cite a numbered footnote?

Note: This post relates to content in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook.

Cite a numbered footnote or endnote in a parenthetical citation thus:

Edward Wallis, the editor, notes that the poet used this technique for the first time in “New Poem” (77n5).

When citing multiple notes from a single page, this format is suggested:

The editors of the facsimile edition call the reader’s attention to three instances of this rhetorical device (56 [nn 1, 4, 5]).

It would be unusual to cite a note in the list of works cited, and writers are encouraged to build references into the main body of their work whenever possible.