There are no fewer than seventeen manuscripts of The Prelude in the Wordsworth library at
Grasmere. Working with these materials the editors have prepared an accurate reading version
of 1799 and have newly edited from manuscripts the texts of 1805 and 1850-thus freeing the
latter poem from the unwarranted alterations made by Wordsworth's literary executors. The
editors also provide a text of MS. JJ (Wordsworth's earliest drafts for parts of The Prelude)
as well as transcriptions of other important passages in manuscript which Wordsworth failed to
include in any fair copy of his poem. The texts are fully annotated and the notes for all
three versions of The Prelude are arranged so that each version may be read independently. The
editors provide a concise history of the texts and describe the principles by which each has
been transcribed from the manuscripts. There are many other aids for a thorough study of The
Prelude and its background. A chronological table enables the reader to contextualize the
biographical and historical allusions in the texts and footnotes. References to The Prelude in
Process presents the relevant allusions to the poem by Wordsworth and by members of his circle
from 1799 to 1850. Another section Early Reception reprints significant comments on the
published version of 1850 by readers and reviewers. Finally there are seven critical essays by
Jonathan Wordsworth M. H. Abrams Geoffrey H. Hartman Richard J. Onorato William Empson
Herbert Lindenberger and W. B. Gallie.
