The Text

The central purpose of our project is to produce a new scholarly edition of Poly-Olbion. This will establish an authoritative text, and provide a high level of annotation. But in the meantime, we are delighted now to make available here a full, unmodernised electronic copy of the poem (though not including Selden’s Illustrations).

And there are other ways of experiencing Poly-Olbion.

  • The best existing edition is also one of the hardest to access, having been printed in a notoriously small print-run. It is: Drayton, Michael, Works, ed. J. William Hebel (5 vols., Oxford, 1931-41), vol. 4.
  • For those with access to Early English Books Online (EEBO), Poly-Olbion was published in two parts, in 1612 (STC 7226) and 1622 (STC 7228-30). The first part was reissued, with some additional prefatory material, in 1613 (STC 7227).
  • For those who would prefer a physical book, there is at least one company that reliably reprints, on-demand, paperback copies of an out-of-copyright nineteenth-century edition. It’s sold in three volumes: here, here and here.