Overview

The late D. F. McKenzie worked on this comprehensive edition of the works of the playwright, poet, librettist, and novelist William Congreve for more than twenty years, until his sudden death in 1999. This was a task he had taken over from Herbert Davis, to whom this edition is dedicated. During that time McKenzie uncovered new verse and letters, collated Congreve's texts, recorded their complicated textual history, constructed appendices that shed light on the dramatic context in which Congreve worked, and examined how his contemporaries received Congreve's work. More importantly, McKenzie has convincingly re-evaluated Congreve's works and life to transform our image of the man and his reputation. McKenzie here follows the editorial practice suggested in two early editions of the Works published by Congreve's friend, the bookseller Jacob Tonson, in 1710 and 1719. These three volumes follow a plan similar to that in the Tonson edition, with The Old Batchelor, The Double-Dealer, and Love for Love collected in the first, a central volume with The Way of the World, and a final volume with Congreve's novel Incognita, some of his prose works, letters, and later verse.In each case, Congreve's work is left to speak for itself, unencumbered by intrusive notes, textual apparatus, or collations, which are gathered instead near the end of each volume. This edition will be an invaluable resource for scholars for many years to come. It is a monument to McKenzie's own scholarship as well as to the integrity of William Congreve.

Full Product Details

Author:   Donald McKenzie
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 16.10cm , Height: 14.90cm , Length: 22.40cm
Weight:   3.490kg
ISBN:  

9780199202546

ISBN 10:   0199202540
Pages:   2272
Publication Date:   07 April 2011
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Stock Indefinitely
Availability:   Awaiting stock  

Table of Contents

VOLUME I ; Congreve's Preface ; Plays: The Old Batchelor, The Double-Dealer, and Love for Love ; Music: The Old Batchelor, The Double-Dealer, and Love for Love ; Commentary:The Old Batchelor, The Double-Dealer, and Love for Love ; Early Performers ; Acknowledgements ; Textual Introduction ; Note on this Edition ; Early Editions and Variant Readings: The Old Batchelor, The Double-Dealer, and Love for Love ; Abbreviations and Works Frequently Cited ; VOLUME II ; Plays, Masque, Opera: The Mourning Bride, The Way of the World, The Judgment of Paris, Semele ; Poems: Poems upon several Occasions, Songs from Plays, Miscellaneous Poems ; Music: The Mourning Bride, The Way of the World, The Judgment of Paris, Semele, and the Songs ; Commentary: The Mourning Bride, The Way of the World, The Judgment of Paris, Semele, Poems upon several Occasions, Songs from Plays, Miscellaneous Poems ; Early Editions and Variant Readings: The Mourning Bride, The Way of the World, The Judgment of Paris, Semele, Poems upon several Occasions ; Abbreviations and Works Frequently Cited ; VOLUME III ; Prose Writings: Incognita: Or, Love and duty Reconcil'd, Concerning Humour in Comedy, Amendments of Mr. Collier's False and Imperfect Citations, &c., Tatler 292, Dedication of Dryden's Dramatick Works, The Game of Quadrille. An Allegory ; Letters ; Commentary: Prose Writings, Letters ; Early Editions and Variant Readings: Prose Writings, Letters ; Attributions ; Biographical Summary ; Allusions ; Congreve's Library ; An Iconographical Checklist ; Abbreviations and Works Frequently Cited

Reviews

This full-dress scholarly edition offers a far more thorough account of the text of Congreve's plays, poems, fiction, and criticism than has heretofore been available, and the extensive commentary provides valuable material on the historical contexts and the plays in performance. The erudition is stunning. Essential. J.T. Lynch, Choice

Author Information

D. F. McKenzie was the leading bibliographer of his generation, and his Panizzi Lectures on 'Bibliography and the Sociology of Texts' revolutionized Anglo-American approaches to bibliography and the history of the book. He was a most stimulating and influential teacher: at the Victoria University of Wellington, where he was Professor of English Language and Literature 1969-87, and in Oxford, as Lyell Reader in Bibliography and as Professor of Bibliography and Textual Criticism. He was the driving force in the planning of the multi-volume Cambridge History of the Book in Britain. The McKenzie Trust was established after his death to promote excellence in teaching and research and there is an annual McKenzie Lecture in Oxford in June.

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