Published by Printed at the Oxford University Press, London, first editions, 1925-1932, 1925
First Edition
Limited edition of 250 sets issued for subscribers. Cloth and board portfolio, printed spine-title, 36 cm, title-pages, introductions and text leaves - various paginations, 110 plates, unbound as issued. A complete set as issued of this important and well-regarded record of literary autographs containing all the parts and including preliminary matter, text leaves, addenda and corrigenda, supplement and 110 plates. The main series of plates have separate commentary leaves for each plate which provide a biographical note on the subject(s), a description of the item reproduced and the handwriting of the subject and a careful transcription of the illustrated text . The plates comprise Part 1. Dramatists (30 plates); Part 2. Poets (30 plates); Part 3. Prose writers (30 plates) & Appendix (10 plates); Supplement: Scholars & archaeologists (10 plates). Contemporary reviews by Robin Flower of the second and third parts enthused about the "magnificent gift which Dr. Greg has given to the lovers of the great Tudor and Stuart ages. .This last part has the qualities of its predecessors-the careful selection and fine reproduction of documents, the accurate transliteration, the full and interesting comment and the adequate bibliographical information.".the palaeographer can now study conveniently the evolution of the hands of business and familiar correspondence and literary composition . The literary student and the historian possess an invaluable adjunct to their studies. And the textual criticism of English literature benefits by the establishment with ample documentation of a new method of approach to many problems. The enterprise has taken the Horatian nine years for its completion, and now, at its conclusion, we salute it as one of the substantive achievements of English scholarship in our time, a permanent standard of reference and a safe guide in an important domain of research." Slight wear to the portfolio case, contents Near Fine.