John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester (1647-80), was a leading member of the group of `court wits' surrounding Charles II. In this edition, Harold Love, one of the leading scholars of seventeenth-century manuscript circulation, presents a scholarly text based on detailed examination of the manuscripts, with full textual and explanatory notes.

John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester (1647-80), was a leading member of the group of "court wits" surrounding Charles II and one of the wittiest and most sexually explicit poets in English. In this long-awaited edition, Harold Love, a leading scholar of seventeenth-century manuscript circulation, presents a scholarly text based on detailed examination of Wilmot's manuscripts, with full textual and explanatory notes.

Now he has received the accolade of a full-dress edition from Oxford University Press ... excellent explanatory notes - straight-faced - but not strait-laced ... this is an important book