Volume 1 of the Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke presents Burke's early literary writings up to 1765, and before he became a key political figure. It is the first fully annotated and critical edition, with comprehensive notes and an authoritative introduction. The writings published here introduce readers to Burke's early attempts at a public voice. They demonstrate in a variety of ways how determined he was to become involved in the social and intellectual life of his times. The one work of Burke's early life which has long been recognized as having prime critical significance, the Sublime and the Beautiful, is naturally found here. In addition the volume includes the first fully edited version of other works which have been neglected, notably the Vindication of Natural Society, a substantial satire on current philosophical and religious thought, the Abridgement of English History and the Hints for an Essay on the Drama. The volume also prints reliable texts of his early poems and prose `characters' as well as the first complete text of The Reformer since it was first published in 1748. This was a weekly paper devoted principally to the Dublin cultural scene and was edited by Burke shortly after he graduated from Trinity College, Dublin.

Thomas James Wise (1859-1937), though destined to receive in his own lifetime practically every honor the world of letters could bestow, is remembered today as perhaps the greatest malefactor in all of literary history. From 1934 to 1957 various enquiries have implicated him first in the manufacture of more than fifty predated "original" editions of eminent Victorian authors, then in seven additional forgeries, later in countless piracies of other nineteenth-century work, and finally in repeated acts of vandalism upon forty-one seventeenth-century plays. It is fitting that Wise himself appears as a contributor to this volume. Included are his original introduction to the Browning Library, his letters to bookseller J. E. Cornish, his extraordinary letter to Sir Edmund Gosse, and a note to H. Buxton Forman.

These Centenary Studies review the course of research over twenty-five years, designate topics requiring further investigation, and assess new evidence of Wise's villainies. One more forgery is identified, the provenance of others reexamined, the forger's method of purveying his wares closely appraised, his association with H. Buxton Forman and Sir Edmund Gosse more precisely defined, and the range of his activities summarized in an annotated handlist. The record includes at least 400 printings directly attributed to Wise, as well as 23 suppressed or abortive issues, and 29 others in which he seems to be somewhat involved. Through these perspectives the culprit appears even more contemptible and, possibly for this very reason, ever more intriguing as a cause celebre in literary scholarship.

The illustration on the cover of this book reproduces, through a magnifying glass, the peculiar question mark appearing in certain forgeries printed for Wise by the firm of Richard Clay & Sons. The mark may also implicate Wise in other irregular printings, including The Death of Balder.