Many scholars have been calling for a new edition of Sir John Harington's Epigrams. Gerard Kilroy, using the three manuscripts arranged and revised by the author, offers the first complete text in print of Harington's four hundred Epigrams, uncovers Harington's elaborate design of forty theological decades, and restores the emblems and political elegies that Harington uses to frame his complete collection and define its serious purpose.

Gerard Kilroy was educated by the Benedictines, read Greek, Latin and English literature at Magdalen College, Oxford, and was awarded his doctorate by Lancaster University. The author of Edmund Campion: Memory and Transcription (Ashgate, 2005), he is currently researching Sir John Harington's innovative use of the printed book, his surprising move from print to manuscript, and his lifelong commitment to transcribing the poetry of Edmund Campion.

Contents: Preface; Part I The Pleasant Learned Poet: The Courtier in the Margins; Models and Sources; Patterns and Sequences; The Texts and Early Modern Readers. Part II The Epigrams: Critical Apparatus; First-line Index and Table of Contents; Appendix; Tables; Bibliography; Index.