- Walter Wilson Greg
Sir Walter Wilson Greg (
9 July 1875 –4 March 1959 ) was one of the leading bibliographers and Shakespeare scholars of the 20th century.Greg was born at Wimbledon Common in 1875. His father,
William Rathbone Greg , was an essayist; his mother was the daughter of James Wilson. As a child, Greg was expected one day to assume editorship of "The Economist ", which his grandfather had founded in 1843; Greg was educated at Harrow and at Trinity College of Cambridge University. At Cambridge he met Ronald McKerrow, whose friendship helped shape Greg's decision to pursue a career in literature. While still in school he compiled a list of Renaissance plays printed before 1700, and he joined the Bibliographical Society the same year.After school, Greg settled into a life of steady productivity, while living on the proceeds of his shares of "The Economist". Working in close association with
A. H. Bullen , he produced "Pastoral Poetry and Pastoral Drama" (1906), the first edited version of the account books ofPhilip Henslowe (1906-8) and the papers ofEdward Alleyn . The latter two works provided him with a knowledge of Renaissance theatrical conditions perhaps rivaled only byE. K. Chambers , and this knowledge he applied to the publications of the Malone Society, which he served as general editor between 1906 and 1939. He served as Librarian of Trinity College, 1907-13, resigning after his marriage to his cousin Elizabeth Gaskell. As an independent scholar, Greg produced editions of "The Merry Wives of Windsor " (1910), Robert Greene's "Orlando Furioso" andGeorge Peele 's "The Battle of Alcazar " (published together, 1923), and "Sir Thomas More" (1911). He returned to specific editing with work on "Doctor Faustus " (1950). Greg also wrote on the material conditions ofRenaissance theater and publishing; his work in this regard includes "Dramatic Documents from the Elizabethan Playhouses" (1931) and "English Literary Autographs, 1550-1650" (1932). "The Variants in the First Quarto of King Lear" (1940) offered a careful examination of this printing. He also wrote hundreds of reviews, including a notably caustic rejection ofJ. Churton Collins 's 1906 edition of Robert Greene.At the beginning of
World War II , Greg moved toSussex , where he spent the war working on his edition of "Faustus." In addition, he began to prepare his great works of the 1950s: "The Editorial Problem in Shakespeare" (1951), "The Shakespeare First Folio: Its Bibliographical and Textual History" (1955), "Some Aspects and Problems of London Publishing, 1550-1650" (1954), and the essay "The rationale of copy-text" (1950), which had a significant influence ontextual criticism . He was Reader in Bibliography at Oxford University, 1954-5. Greg was knighted in 1950.Greg was strongly associated with
Alfred W. Pollard in developing a modern understanding of the transmission of Shakespeare's texts. His greatest achievement is "A Bibliography of the English Printed Drama to the Restoration," published in 4 volumes between 1939 and 1959.ee also
*
Joseph Quincy Adams
* G. E. Bentley
* E. K. Chambers
* R. W. Chambers
*Andrew Gurr
*Alfred Harbage
* Kenneth Muir
* T. M. Parrott
*Samuel Schoenbaum
*E. M. Thompson
*Charles William Wallace
*John Dover Wilson References
*Wilson, F. P. "Sir Walter Wilson Greg, 1875-1959." London, British Academy, 1960.
*Greg, W.W. "The Rationale of Copy-Text". "Studies in Bibliography" 3 (1950-1951): 19-37. [http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-sb?id=sibv003&
]External links
*worldcat id|id=lccn-n50-31464
*gutenberg author|id=Walter_W._Greg|name=Walter Wilson Greg
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