W. W. Greg
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Sir Walter Wilson Greg (9 July 1875 – 4 March 1959), known professionally as W. W. Greg, was one of the leading bibliographers and Shakespeare scholars of the 20th century.
Family and education
Greg was born at
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. He was President of the Society from 1930 to 1932,[2] and received its Gold Medal in 1935.[3]
Work
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
As an independent scholar, Greg produced editions of
At the beginning of World War II, Greg moved to Sussex, 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 on textual criticism. Greg was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1945.[4] He was Lyell Reader in Bibliography at Oxford University, 1954–5. Greg was knighted in the 1950 King's Birthday Honours List.
Greg was strongly associated with Alfred W. Pollard in developing a modern understanding of the transmission of Shakespeare's texts. His greatest achievement[citation needed] is A Bibliography of the English Printed Drama to the Restoration, published in four volumes between 1939 and 1959.
References
- ^ "Greg, Walter Wilson (GRG894WW)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Past Presidents of The Bibliographical Society
- ^ Gold Medalists of The Bibliographical Society Archived 27 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
Sources
- 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.[1]
Works
- Heath, H. F.; Greg, Walter Wilson (1901). The Modern Language Quarterly, Volume 4. Contributors Modern Language Association (Great Britain), Modern Language Association (Great Britain). David Nutt. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
External links
- Works by W. W. Greg at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about W. W. Greg at Internet Archive
- Walter Wilson Greg Papers. James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.