Sir Walter Wilson Greg (9 July 1875 – 4 March 1959), known professionally as W. W. Greg, was one of the leading bibliographers and

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

scholars of the 20th century.

Family and education

Greg was born at

Wimbledon Common Wimbledon Common is a large open space in Wimbledon, southwest London. There are three named areas: Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common, which together are managed under the name Wimbledon and Putney Commons totalling 460 ...

in 1875. His father,

William Rathbone Greg William Rathbone Greg (1809 – 15 November 1881) was an English essayist. Life Born in Manchester, the son of Samuel Greg, the creator of Quarry Bank Mill, and Hannah Greg, he was brother to Robert Hyde Greg and the junior Samuel Greg. ...

, was an essayist; his mother was the daughter of

James Wilson James Wilson may refer to: Politicians and government officials Canada *James Wilson (Upper Canada politician) (1770–1847), English-born farmer and political figure in Upper Canada * James Crocket Wilson (1841–1899), Canadian MP from Quebe ...

. As a child, Greg was expected one day to assume editorship of ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...

'', which his grandfather had founded in 1843; Greg was educated at Wixenford, Harrow and at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. 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 and received its Gold Medal in 1935.Gold Medalists of The Bibliographical Society

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

A. H. Bullen Arthur Henry Bullen, often known as A. H. Bullen, (9 February 1857, London – 29 February 1920, Stratford-on-Avon) was an English editor in chief, editor and publisher, a specialist in 16th and 17th century literature, and founder of the Shakespe ...

, he produced ''Pastoral Poetry and Pastoral Drama'' (1906), the first edited version of the account books of Philip Henslowe (1906–8) and the papers of Edward Alleyn. The latter two works provided him with a knowledge of Renaissance theatrical conditions perhaps rivalled only by

E. K. Chambers Sir Edmund Kerchever Chambers, (16 March 1866 – 21 January 1954), usually known as E. K. Chambers, was an English literary critic and Shakespearean scholar. His four-volume work on ''The Elizabethan Stage'', published in 1923, remains a s ...

, and this knowledge he applied to the publications of the

Malone Society The Malone Society is a British-based text publication and general scholarly society devoted to the study of 16th- and early 17th-century drama. It publishes editions of plays from manuscript, facsimile editions of printed and manuscript plays of ...

, 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 ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a ref ...

'' (1910), Robert Greene's ''Orlando Furioso'' and George Peele's ''

The Battle of Alcazar ''The Battle of Alcazar'' is a play attributed to George Peele, perhaps written no later than late 1591 if the play "Muly Molucco" mentioned in Henslowe's diary is this play (see below), and published anonymously in 1594, that tells the story o ...

'' (published together, 1923), and ''

Sir Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...

'' (1911). He returned to specific editing with work on '' Doctor Faustus'' (1950). Greg also wrote on the material conditions of

English Renaissance theatre English Renaissance theatre, also known as Renaissance English theatre and Elizabethan theatre, refers to the theatre of England between 1558 and 1642. This is the style of the plays of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson ...

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 of J. Churton Collins's 1905 Oxford edition of Robert Greene. At the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Greg moved to

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, 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 Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in ...

. 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 Alfred William Pollard, FBA (14 August 1859 – 8 March 1944) was an English bibliographer, widely credited for bringing a higher level of scholarly rigor to the study of Shakespearean texts. Biography Pollard was born at 1 Brompton Sq ...

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 four volumes between 1939 and 1959.

References

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): 19–3

Works

External links

* * * hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.greg, Walter Wilson Greg Papers. James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Greg, Walter Wilson 1875 births 1959 deaths 20th-century English writers 20th-century English male writers People from Wimbledon, London English bibliographers English literary critics Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge People educated at Wixenford School Shakespearean scholars Textual scholarship Knights Bachelor