Following his return to London, he became a director of the publishing houseSidgwick and Jackson (1908).[5] He was awarded a D.Litt. by the University of Cambridge in 1911. In 1912 he became joint Honorary Secretary of theBibliographical Society (withA. W. Pollard). The Society became the focus for much of his intellectual activity.
During the First World War McKerrow taught in the English Department atKing's College, London (until 1919).He founded theReview of English Studies in 1925 and remained its editor until his death.He also edited the Bibliographical Society's journalThe Library from 1934 to 1937.[5]
McKerrow received an honorary doctorate fromLouvain University in 1927. He held theSandars Reader in Bibliography at Cambridge University in 1928 speaking on "The relationship of English printed books to authors’ manuscripts in the 16th and 17th centuries."
In 1929 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Bibliographical Society.
the textual study of early English Drama, especially the works ofThomas Nashe andShakespeare; he was one of the founder members of theMalone Society.
the history of the English book trade in the early-modern period; he made three substantial contributions in this field:Printers' and Publishers' Devices in England and Scotland, 1485–1640 (1913),Title-Page Borders used in England and Scotland, 1485–1640 (withF. S. Ferguson) (1932), and under his general editorship the volume for 1557–1640 in the Bibliographical Society'sDictionaries of the printers and booksellers who were at work in England, Scotland and Ireland, 1557–1775 (1910).[1]
the theory and practice of historical and textual bibliography: firstly, his major edition of the works of Thomas Nash (1904); hisAn Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students (1927) which remains a standard work (supplemented now byPhilip Gaskell'sNew Introduction to Bibliography, 1972); and theProlegomena for the Oxford Shakespeare (1939) which was intended to be the introduction for a full scientific critical edition of Shakespeare which was unfinished at his death.
WithA. W. Pollard andW. W. Greg, R.B. McKerrow was one of the three great figures of English bibliography of the first half of the twentieth century.
In 'An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students', (1927), on theLong s question, McKerrow wrote: "Though it would be amusing to do so, there seems to be no reason to accept the legend thatJohn Bell (publisher) initiated the change, (to the short 'S') in his edition of Shakespeare because of his dismay at the appearance of the long s in Ariel's song in The Tempest: i.e.: "Where the bee sucks, there suck I."
edition ofThomas Nashe,The Works of Thomas Nashe. Edited from the original texts, London: A. H. Bullen, 1904
edition ofThomas Dekker,The gull's horn-book, London : De la More Press, 1904.
edition ofBarnabe Barnes,The Divils Charter: a Tragædie conteining the Life and Death of Pope Alexander the sixt ..., Louvain, 1904.
A Dictionary of printers and booksellers in England, Scotland and Ireland, and of foreign printers of English books 1557–1640., London, 1910 (ed., for the Bibliographical Society); reprinted inDictionaries of the printers and booksellers who were at work in England, Scotland and Ireland, 1557–1775 (1977).
Printers' & Publishers' Devices in England & Scotland 1485–1640. London : Printed for the Bibliographical Society at the Chiswick Press, 1913.on-line digitised version
Title-page Borders used in England & Scotland, 1485–1640, London, 1932 (with F. S. Ferguson).
An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students, Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1927 (reprint, with an introduction byDavid McKitterick, Oak Knoll Press, 1995).
Prolegomena for the Oxford Shakespeare : a study in editorial method, Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1939.
Ronald Brunlees McKerrow : a Selection of his Essays, Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press, 1974. (ed. John Phillip Immroth)
^David McKitterick, 'Introduction', in:An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students (1927, reprint 1994)
^abW. W. Greg, 'McKerrow, Ronald Brunlees (1872–1940)', rev. John V. Richardson Jr.,Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2006accessed 14 Sept 2009
