Early Augustan Virgil prints for the first time in its entirety the substantial version of Virgil comprising most of Aeneid II-VI by the young royalist poet Sir John Denham in the 1630s. Denham's later published versions, The Destruction of Troy of 1656 and The Passion of Dido for Aeneas printed in his Poems and Translations of 1668, are also included for comparative purposes, alongside the couplet version of Aeneid IV by Sidney Godolphin and Edmund Waller published in 1659 with the title later used by Denham, The Passion of Dido for Aeneas. Critical introductions establish the interrelation of these versions and the pioneering status of the poets as practitioners of the Augustan style later perfected by Dryden and Pope.

Edited by Robin Edward Sowerby