The Complete Prose Works of John Milton

Extract

The second volume of the Complete Prose Works may be taken as a consolidation of the aims and methods of this eight-volume edition being produced by Professor Don M. Wolfe and his associates. The editors seek to provide: (1) texts with fuller bibliographical and textual apparatus than the Columbia edition has and in some cases (e.g., The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce) to distinguish the text of a first edition from the extensive enlargements of a second; (2) elaborate introductions which deal amply and minutely with Milton's diverse subjects and his ideas, evolution, historical background, etc.; (3) full annotation on all topics, allusions, etc., so that, as far as it is possible, readers of varying degrees of sophistication have immediately available the material needed for either intelligent comprehension or for scholarly study.