Originally published between 1982 and 1987, this series brings together the works of a wide and varied sampling of British and American dramatists from the mid-eighteenth to the early twentieth century and makes available a number of plays which were effective in their own time, and which are good enough to be effective still. Each volume in the series assembles a number of works, scrupulously edited but sparingly annotated. Textual variations are recorded where individual editors have found them either essential or interesting. Introductions give an account of the theatrical context, and locate playwrights and plays within it. Biographical and chronological tables, brief bibliographies, and the complete listing of known plays provide information useful in itself, and which also offers guidance and incentive to further exploration.