The index of Middle English verse

818 Pages·1943·57.6 MB·English

by  Carleton Brown, Rossell Hope Robbins

;
f^«^
«fe»«fe»«fe»
PLEASE HANDLE
WITH CARE
University of
Connecticut Libraries
*^
«fe»*fe»#fe»*fe»
3 =1153 D1EE313T 7
GAYLORD RG
\
I
—
LIBRARY
9 >-OF< m
Kenneth Walter Cameron

THE INDEX OF
MIDDLE ENGLISH VERSE

THE INDEX OF
Middle English Verse
CARLETON BROWN
AND
ROSSELL HOPE ROBBINS
PRINTED FOR
THE INDEX SOCIETY
BY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
1943

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The hopes and plans of several years find their first fruition in the
publication of this volume. For some time prior to 1939 a small group
of interested scholars had discussed intermittently the problems in-
volved in making available to students certain types of labor-saving
books—indexes, bibliographies, chronologies, concordances—which so
markedly facilitate the work of research. From these discussions had
emerged, by the summer of 1939, the conviction that a new publishing
society dedicated to the production of such books could perform a
definite and valuable service to the world of scholarship.
The foundation of such a society, conceived under the shadow of a
domestic financial depression, was destined to be achieved under the
still deeper shadow of international war. Final decision to proceed
with the organization of The Index Society and to call a meeting for
On
its formal foundation was reached in mid-July. the last day of
August, when the Editorial Committee met in New York, the Germans
were marching into Poland, the Bremen and Aquitania were fleeing
New York harbor for home, and the world seemed falling apart. In
January the Committee faced the new problems presented by the war
and debated the wisdom of continuing with our plans. After consider-
ing all the factors involved, the Committee voted unanimously to pro-
ceed with our program.
In making this decision we were strengthened by heartening expres-
We
sions of interest and enthusiasm from numerous colleagues. were
also impressed by the enduring value to the whole scholarly world of
certain manuscripts, notably that of A Short-Title Catalogue of Books,
1641-ijoo, which had already been made available for publication
under the auspices of the Society. Continuation of our efforts seemed
then, and seems still, an affirmation of our faith that there are certain
unchanging values in a chaotic world.
Needless to say, the chaotic nature of the times has rendered more
than normally complex the task of inaugurating an ambitious and
[v]
expensive publishing program supported by an unborn Society with-
out members and without endowment. Our financial problems, which
at first seemed insuperable, were finally solved when they met with the
enlightened and sympathetic consideration of Frederick Coykendall,
Director of Columbia University Press. Acting upon his enthusiastic
faith in the worth of our program, the officials of the Press worked out
with our Editorial Committee a financial arrangement which has made
it possible for us to proceed immediately to publication. Without their
generous expression of confidence in the value and soundness of our
project, we should certainly have been unable to publish this volume
at this time. To them all scholars who use it must remain in debt.
The Society is also deeply grateful to those many friends, too numer-
ous to mention, who have proffered valuable advice and counsel in the
solving of one or more of our many problems. One of them must be
mentioned byname—Melvin Loos, Supervisor ofPrinting to Columbia
University Press, whose expenditure of his high professional talents in
the service of the Society has far exceeded anything nominated in the
bond. Lacking his unselfish devotion of rare abilities to its production,
this volume would have suffered in both beauty and utility.
The Society feels a pardonable pride in publishing a work of such
unquestioned importance as The Index to Middle English Verse. When
we were informed, in January of 1941, that the manuscript was ready
for publication, we lost no time in assuring Dr. Brown of our interest
in it. Before his death in June of that year arrangements had been con-
cluded, with his cordial approval, for its publication by the Society.
We
are happy that this was the case, and sorrowful that he did not live
to see his work in print; we can only hope that we have produced a
volume of which he would have approved. To his collaborator, Dr.
Robbins, we express our satisfaction in the cordial relationships which
have been formed as he worked with us in seeing the manuscript
through the press.
Benjamin Nangle
Pierson College Chairman of the Editorial Committee
Yale University
November
9 1942
[vi]