First edition. "Although the thesis and examples in this volume were first tested in May 1989 by the reactions of the bibliographical specialists from Oxford and London who regularly attend the James P.R. Lyell Lectures in Bibliography, they are as much concerned with English poetry, the theory and practice of editing literary texts, and the theory of literary criticism as they are with the history of production, classification, and bibliographical description of modern manuscripts as artifacts." The nature and function of three classes of manuscript--the "private" or personal, the "confidential" or corporate, and the "public" are discussed in detail. Includes a discussion on Paul de Man's reading of Shelley's "The Triumph of Life," and much more.