Originally published in four volumes between 1953 and 1961, this edition of Thomas Dekker's plays was the first to appear in print since the late nineteenth century. It was edited by Professor
Fredson Bowers, who presented a critical old-spelling text of the ordinarily accepted canon, together with a few works not collected previously but which seemed to merit inclusion in a
collection of Dekker's plays. In 1980 and 1981, Professor Cyrus Hoy augmented Professor Bowers' existing four-volume edition with a complementary four-volume set of introductions, notes, and
line-by-line commentaries to each of the twenty-five plays. All eight volumes have been collected here in a single set, offering Professor Bowers' original edition of Dekker's works in tandem
with the full complement of critical material by Professor Hoy.
