ABSTRACT
In his Preface to the Grolier Club edition of Donne's poems C. E. Norton spoke of Lowell's part in this Boston publication. He said that 'Donne's Poems were, from an early period of his life, among Mr Lowell's favorite books. In 1855 an edition of them was included, I believe at his instance, in the series of "British Poets" then in course of publication by Little, Brown and Company in Boston. It was, apparently, a reprint, without material change, from one of the later English editions, and, like all previous editions, it stood greatly in need of editorial revision ... .' Norton went on to say that Lowell had scored his copy of the 1855 edition with textual emendations. (The Poems oj John Donne, From The Text oJ The Edition OJ 1633. Revised by James Russell Lowell . . ., With A Preface, An Introduction, And Notes By Charles Eliot Norton, New York, 1895, i, pp. vii-viii.) Sir Geoffrey Keynes ascribes to Lowell himself the editing of the Boston edition of 1855 (A Bibliography oj Dr John Donne, Oxford
