Scope and Contents
The Walter Wilson Greg Papers document the scholarly career of bibliographer and textual editor Walter Wilson Greg, particularly his work on the multi-volume A Bibliography of the English Printed Drama to the Restoration (4 volumes, 1939-1959). Materials relating to this work include working papers, photostats, prints, and the plate illustrations for Volume I as well as correspondence with other scholars and editors on bibliographical subjects and on the works of Shakespeare. The collection also contains copies of book reviews and scholarly articles by Greg, as well as offprints of articles by his colleagues, often inscribed to Greg, and manuscripts of several articles and lectures, including "The Elements of Textual Criticism in Shakespeare's Plays" and "What Is Bibliography?"
Series IX contains a few personal items, including an unfavorable school report from Harrow School. Series X, Miscellaneous Manuscript Fragments and Documents, contains material Greg collected in the course of his research, perhaps as paleography specimens. Some of the documents date from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Dates
- 1495 - 1959
- Majority of material found within 1905 - 1959
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Walter Wilson Greg Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Please consult the appropriate curator.
Arrangement
Organized into fourteen series: I. Personal Copies of Greg's Own Reviews, 1922-1957. II. Personal Copies of Colleagues' Articles, 1921-1960. III. Contributions to the Modern Language Review, Volumes I-XV, 1905-1920. IV. Greg's Contributions to The Library, Volumes I-IX, 1900-1909. V. Greg's Personal Copy of Gentleman's Magazine, Volume CCC, 1906. VI. Plates I-CXXXVII from Volume I of Bibliography of English Printed Drama (BEPD), 1939-1959. VII. Prints of Title Pages and Portraits, 1800-1959. VIII. Manuscripts of Greg's Articles and Lectures; Lists, 1925-1959. IX. Personal Family Items and Photographs, 1910-1950. X. Miscellaneous Manuscript Fragments and Documents, 1559-1950. XI.Correspondence, 1905-1959. XII. Working Papers, BEPD Volumes I-II, 1939-1954. XIII. Working Papers, projects other than BEPD, 1940-1956. XIV. Photostats, Manuscript and Printed.
Extent
5 Linear Feet (15 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
The papers contain correspondence, printed material, writings and other papers documenting the scholarly career of Walter Wilson Greg, particularly his work on the Bibilography of the English Printed Drama(BEPD), his book reviews and his periodical articles concerning the editing of Shakespeare.
Walter Wilson Greg (1875-1959)
Walter Wilson Greg, bibliographer and literary scholar, was born in Wimbledon Common, England, on July 9, 1875. He was the only child of the idustrialist and author William Rathbone Greg and Julia Wilson Greg, daughter of James Wilson, the founder of The Economist. Greg's family hoped that he would assume the editorship of the newspaper someday, and he was educated at Harrow School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, from which he received a "pass" degree in 1897.
During his time at Trinity, Greg became fascinated by bibliography and textual editing, studying with R. B. McKerrow, and in 1898 he joined the Bibliographical Society and began a lifelong friendship with its secretary, A. W. Pollard. He served as Librarian of Trinity College from 1907 until 1913, when he resigned upon marrying his cousin Elizabeth Gaskell. Greg never held an official academic appointment again, but his family fortune enabled him to pursue his productive scholarly career for several decades.
Greg founded the Malone Society, serving first as its Secretary, and then as its President; the society during his tenure published more than one hundred editions and facsimile editions of English plays and dramatic documents written prior to 1640. He is best known for his A Bibliography of the English Printed Drama to the Restoration (4 volumes, 1939-1959); his other publications include English Literary Autographs, 1550–1650 (1925–32), Dramatic Documents from the Elizabethan Playhouses (1931), the parallel-text edition Marlowe's ‘Doctor Faustus’, 1604–1616 (1950), and the influential The Editorial Problem in Shakespeare (revised 3rd edition, 1954).
Greg received many literary and academic honors, including a D.Litt. from Oxford and foreign membership in the American Philosophical Society. In 1950 he was knighted "for services to the study of English literature." He died at home in River, Sussex, in 1959, survived by his wife and their three children.
Appendix: Listing of Correspondence enclosed in volumes
This is a list of letters located in volumes cataloged separately. Location and subject notes are given for most items.
Adams, Joseph Quincy, 1881-1946
ALS to WW Greg
1929 August 10, Ithaca, NY
location: f. pe 12
Remarks on Tannenbaum's Book on The Revels
Alexander, R.D.
ALS to WW Greg
1929 September 18, Glasgow
location: pe 219
Baldwin, Thomas Witfield, 1890-
LS to WW Greg
1931 October 31, London
location: pe 231
Note on Percy Plays
Bartlett, Henrietta Collins, 1873-1963
ALS to WW Greg
location: pe 234
1946 September 17, Old Lyme, Conn.
Bentley, Gerald Eades, 1901-
ALS to WW Greg
1941 September 1, Chicago
location: pe 324
Offers aid for
BED v. II
Bradley, Henry, 1845-1923
ALS to WW Greg
1910 August 29. Oxford
location: pd 187
Remarks on printing
symbol
1910 November 12, Oxford
location: pd 187
Remarks on printing
symbol
Brooke, Charles Frederick Tucker
ALS to WW Greg
1933 October 27, New Haven
location: pe 268
Note on text of
Mucedorus
Chambers, Sir Edmund Kerchever, 1866-1954
ALS to WW Greg
1938 January 16, Oxford
location: pd 188
Chambers, Raymond WiIson, 1874-1942
ALS to WW Greg
1937 April 13, Southgate
location: pe 226
1940 November 6,
London
location: Box 2 item 4
Crow, John
ALS to WW Greg
1956 May 7, London
location: pe 289
Notes on text of Richard II 1956 May 23, London
location: pe 265
Remarks on Black's R2
Davin, Daniel Marcus, 1913-
LS to WW Greg
1953 January 27, Oxford
location: pe 230
Note on K. Sisam's
book
1958 August 25, Oxford
location: pe 286
1959 January 23, Oxford
location: pe 228
Note on R.B. McKerrow
Davis, Herbert John, 1893-
ALS to WW Greg
1958 November Oxford
location: pe 239
Presentation note
Dawson, Giles Edwin, 1903-
LS to WW Greg
1956 August 27, Washington
location: pe 312
Notes on The Troublesome Reign
Day, Mabel Katherine
ALS to WW Greg
1940 August 20, London
location: pe 224
Duthie, George Ian
LS to WW Greg
1953 September 20, Montreal
location: pe 216
Feuillerat, Albert, 1874-
ALS to WW Greg
1905 September 21, Bayswater
location: pe 328
1905 September
23, Bayswater
location: pe 328
1905 November 15, Rennes, France
location:
pe 328
Francis, Sir Frank Charlton, 1901-
LS to WW Greg
location: pe 216
undated, London
Fry, Mary Isabel
LS to WW Greg
1956 August 28, San Marino
location: pe 312
1957 May 13, San
Marino
location: pe 286
Notes on text of Richard III
Gibson, L.
ALS to WW Greg
1936 June 20, Oxford
location: pe 336
1936 June 23, Oxford
location: pe 336
Enclosure wanting
Hanson, W.W.
ALS to WW Greg
1956 July 19, Oxford
location: pe 309
Note on The First Part of Contention
Hoenifel, F.D.
ALS to WW Greg
1957 May 19, London
location: pe 293
Queries on Pericles text
Hoppe, Harry Reno, 1906-
ALS to WW Greg
1944 March 21, East Lansing, Mich.
location: pe 228
Off-print enclosed
1946 August 24, East Lansing, Mich.
location: pe 265 John of Bordeaux article remarks
1947 January 22,
Brussels
location: pe 265 John of Bordeaux article
remarks
Howard, Arthur
ALS to WW Greg
1956 June 16, Wappingthorn, Steyning
location: pe 234
Textual notes in Henry IV part 2.
Huntington, Henry Edwards, 1850-1927
LS to Deighton, Bell and Co.
location: pe 236
1920 June 9, San Marino
Kellner, Leon, 1859-
ALS to WW Greg
1924 January 24, Vienna
location: pe 258
Remarks on
Massinger corrections
1925 October 2l, Benjamina Station, Palestine
location: pe
258
Response to Greg's review
Macauley, George Campbell, 1852-1915
ALS to WW Greg
undated, Cambridge
location: pd 188
Enclosure wanting
McKerrow, Ronald Brunlees, 1872-1940
ALS to WW Greg
undated
location: pd 187
Textual observations on Morte Arthur MS
Marvin, Allen
ALS to WW Greg
1942 April 31, London
location: pe 226
Maxwell, J.C.
ALS to WW Greg
1952 December 6, Newcastle Upon Tyne
location: pe 272
Textual issues in ?; enclosure wanting
1952 December 15, Newcastle Upon Tyne
location: pe 272
1954 September 3, Newcastle Upon Tyne
location: pe 272
Response to Greg's review of Titus Andronicus (copy
enclosed)
Mead, Herman
LS to WW Greg
location: pe 312
1956 May 31, San Marino
Needham, Francis
ALS to WW Greg
1931 April 29, Worksop, Notts
location: Box 14 Processus Satanae Enclosure wanting
1931 May 1, Worksop,
Notts
Nicholson, [Frank Carr?]
ALS to WW Greg
1934 August 1, Edinburgh
location: pe 301
Textual notes on
Titus Andronicus
Nixon, Howard M.
ALS to WW Greg
1954 February 23, London
location: pe 211
STC listings
1954 April 20, London
location: pe 211
STC-BM correspondence
undated,
London
location: pe 211
Oates, John Claud Trenchard
ALS to WW Greg
1955 October 14, Cambridge
Reviewing J.K. Walton's Folio Text of King Lear location: pe 326
Pafford, J.W.
ALS to WW Greg
1953 November 19, London
location: pe 230
Remarks on word
vamper(s)
Parrod, A.M.
ALS to WW Greg
1937 January 27, Boulder, Colo.
location: pe 235
Parsons, John Denham
ALS to WW Greg
1935 July 20, Chiswick
location: pe 316
Remarks following
Greg's comments on R. Field and the First Shakespeare Poem
1935 Jul 24, Chiswick
location: pe 316
1935 July 31, Chiswick
location: pe
316
Remarks following postcard from Greg
Pollard, Alfred William, IS59-1944
ALS to WW Greg
undated, London
Notes on A Midsummer
Night's Dream location: pe 276
Sunday (undated), Wimbledon
location: pe 265
2 p. remarks on Malone Leir ALS Frag.
to [WW Greg?]
undated
location: pe 265
Simpson, Andrew
ALS to WW Greg
undated, Salisbury
location: pe 268
Note on priest in
"Oldcastle"
Simpson, Percy, 1865-1962
ALS to WW Greg
1921 September 19, Oxford
1937 March 29, Oxford
Response to
review of Proofreading in the Sixteenth Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Centuries location: pe 336
Sisam, Kenneth
LS to WW Greg
1941 August 22, Oxford
location: pe 219
1958 December 20, St.
Mary's Isles of Scilly
location: pe 230
Smith, Robert Metcalf, 1886
ALS to WW Greg
1928 March 7, Bethlehem, PA
location: pe 250
Remarks on
variants in Second Folio
Smith, S.C. Moore
ALS to WW Greg
location: Box 1 Folder 2 item 7
Stamp, Alfred Edward, 1870-
ALS to WW Greg
1929 June 17, London
Results of ink investigation
location:
f pe 12
1930 November 17
Walker, Alice
LS to WW Greg
1953 August 26, Bideford, Devon
location: pe 217
Walton, James Kirkwood
LS to WW Greg
1957 October 13, Dublin
location: pe 326
Remarks on relation
of Shakespeare texts
1958 February 11, Dublin
location: pe 326
"The Quarto
Copy for the Folio Richard III" enclosed
Wilson, Frank Pierce, 1889-1963
November 27, Northampton, Mass.
location: pe 332
1955 January 17, Oxford
location: pe 312
Parallel passages in The Troublesome Reign of
King John
Wilson, John Dover
ALS to WW Greg
1943 October 23, Balerno, Midlothian
location: pe 248
Remarks following comments on Falstaff 1944 June 6,
Balerno, Midlothian
location: pe 248
Reports death of son
1946 July 31
location: f pe 12
1949 January 22, Balerno, Midlothian
Textual issues in
Antony and Cleopatra location: pe 323
1957
December 21, Balerno, Midlothian
location: pe 326
Remarks on Walton's Folio text
paper (copy of letter to Walton enclosed)
Wright, J. Aldis
ALS to WW Greg
1900 March 23, Cambridge
location: pe 328
1906 April 5,
Beccles, Suffolk
location: pe 328
Wright, Lyle Henry, 1903
LS to WW Greg
1956 July 10, San Marino
location: pe 289
Notes on Text of
Richard II
Yule, George Undy, 1871-
ALS to WW Greg
1944 October 23, Cambridge
location: pe 260
Thanks for
Greg's Review of his Study of Literary Vocabulary
Processing Information
This finding aid, created before the advent of computer-generated files, has been converted into a ASCII data file by means of scanning and Optical Character Recognition software. While attempts have been made to retain the complete information from the original document, a number of format changes have been made to present the structure of this archive in accordance with current practice.
The original list of the Walter Wilson Greg Papers was created in the 1980s by a curatorial assistant to the James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection. In 2010, the collection was rehoused and the list corrected, but the existing arrangement of the material was retained. Information included in the Description of Papers note and Collection Contents section is drawn from information supplied with the collection or from the original list.
- Adams, Joseph Quincy, 1881-1946
- Bibliographical Society (Great Britain)
- Chambers, E. K. (Edmund Kerchever), 1866-1954
- Davin, Dan, 1913-1990
- English drama -- Bibliography
- English drama -- Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600
- English drama -- Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600 -- Criticism, Textual
- Fane, Francis, Sir, -1689? -- Autograph
- Ferguson, F. S. (Frederic Sutherland), 1878-1967
- Greg, W. W. (Walter Wilson), 1875-1959
- Malone Society
- McManaway, James Gilmer, 1899-1980
- Nash, Ray, 1905-1982
- Pollard, Alfred W. (Alfred William), 1859-1944
- Scholars -- Great Britain
- Scholderer, Walter
- Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 (Bibliography)
- Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 (Criticism, Textual)
- Simpson, Evelyn Mary Spearing, 1885-1963
- Sisam, Kenneth, 1887-
- Suckling, John, Sir, 1609-1642 -- Autograph
- Walker, Emery, 1851-1933
- Wilson, F. P. (Frank Percy), 1889-1963
- Title
- Guide to the Walter Wilson Greg Papers
- Author
- by Beinecke Staff
- Date
- 1993
- Description rules
- Beinecke Manuscript Unit Archival Processing Manual
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
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