The Works of Thomas Otway. In Three Volumes. With Notes, Critical and Explanatory, and a Life of the Author, by Thomas Thornton.

London: Printed for T. Turner...By B. McMillan..., 1813. FIRST EDITION. 3 volumes. 8vo, 197 x 118 mms., pp. [iv], lx, 247 [248 blank]; [iv], 396; [iv], 340 [341 - 343 adverts, 344 blank], engraved portrait of Otway and engraved frontispiece in volume 1, engraved frontispiece in volumes 2 and 3, contemporary calf, red and black morocco labels, spines gilt in compartments, neatly rebacked with old spines laid down; off-setting to title-pages from frontispieces, but a very good set with the armorial bookplate of G. Moncrieff on the front paste-down end-paper of each volume The first collected of Otway's works was published in 1712, eliciting a very long review inhe European Magazine, and London Review, which commenced promisingly: "The admirers of original talent will be happy to renew their acquaintance with some of the brightest ornaments of the English drama, which are here presented to their notice, under the advantage of elegant typography and appropriate illustration." However, the review goes on to suggest that Otway borrowed heavily from Greek sources and concludes that his letters to Elizabeth Berry are the most interesting items in this edition. Thornton's was the first attempt at a critical edition. It has its merits, but J. C. Ghosh, in his edition of Otway's works (1932), recorded that Thornton's edition "entirely divested the text of its original character in respect of punctuation, spelling, and typography. What was more serious, besides perpetuating the mistakes of the 1712 and later editions..., Thornton introduced some of his own; e. g. `cockatoo' for `Cuckoo too' in Venice Preserv'd, I, 89."