George Orwell: A Literary Life
The clearest single-volume introduction to Davison's mature scholarship and his long engagement with Orwell.
Author guide
Peter Hobley Davison Books in Order
Peter Hobley Davison (1926–2022) was a British literary scholar, bibliographer, editor, and biographer. He taught at the University of Sydney, the University of Birmingham, St David's University College, the University of Kent, and De Montfort University. His work included studies of English drama and bibliography, editions of Shakespeare and Renaissance drama, a biography of George Orwell, and the authoritative twenty-volume Complete Works of George Orwell. He was editor of The Library, president of the Bibliographical Society, an OBE, and a recipient of the Society's Gold Medal.
Literary scholarshipBibliographyShakespeare studiesDramaGeorge Orwell studiesBiographyMemoir
Catalog record updated .
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Start with one of these
Half Remembered: A Personal History
Davison's memoir offers a direct account of his early life and the path that led to literary scholarship.
Read in order
Books by series
edited series · complete
Literary Taste, Culture and Mass Communication
A fourteen-volume edited series of historical and sociological writings on literature, culture, mass media, authorship, publishing, and popular taste, edited by Peter Davison, Rolf Meyersohn, and Edward Shils.
- 1 Culture and Mass Culture
Book 1 · edited_collection · 1978
- 2 Mass Media and Mass Communication
Book 2 · edited_collection · 1978
- 4 Art and Changing Civilization
Book 4 · edited_collection · 1978
- 5 Literature and Society
Book 5 · edited_collection · 1978
- 6 The Sociology of Literature
Book 6 · edited_collection · 1978
- 7 Content and Taste: Religion and Myth
Book 7 · edited_collection · 1978
- 8 Theatre and Song
Book 8 · edited_collection · 1978
- 9 Uses of Literacy: Media
Book 9 · edited_collection · 1978
- 11 The Writer and Politics
Book 11 · edited_collection · 1978
- 12 Bookselling, Reviewing, and Reading
Book 12 · edited_collection · 1978
- 13 The Cultural Debate, Part I
Book 13 · edited_collection · 1978
- 14 The Cultural Debate, Part II
Book 14 · edited_collection · 1980
edited series · complete
The Complete Works of George Orwell
Peter Davison's twenty-volume scholarly edition of George Orwell's novels, nonfiction, journalism, essays, letters, diaries, and other writings, prepared with Ian Angus and Sheila Davison.
- 1 Down and Out in Paris and London
Book 1 · edited_volume · 1986
- 2 Burmese Days
Book 2 · edited_volume · 1986
- 3 A Clergyman's Daughter
Book 3 · edited_volume · 1986
- 4 Keep the Aspidistra Flying
Book 4 · edited_volume · 1986
- 5 The Road to Wigan Pier
Book 5 · edited_volume · 1986
- 6 Homage to Catalonia
Book 6 · edited_volume · 1986
- 7 Coming Up for Air
Book 7 · edited_volume · 1986
- 8 Animal Farm: A Fairy Story
Book 8 · edited_volume · 1986
- 9 Nineteen Eighty-Four
Book 9 · edited_volume · 1986
- 10 A Kind of Compulsion: 1903–1936
Book 10 · edited_volume · 1998
- 11 Facing Unpleasant Facts: 1937–1939
Book 11 · edited_volume · 1998
- 12 A Patriot After All: 1940–1941
Book 12 · edited_volume · 1998
- 13 All Propaganda Is Lies: 1941–1942
Book 13 · edited_volume · 1998
- 14 Keeping Our Little Corner Clean: 1942–1943
Book 14 · edited_volume · 1998
- 15 Two Wasted Years: 1943
Book 15 · edited_volume · 1998
- 16 I Have Tried to Tell the Truth: 1943–1944
Book 16 · edited_volume · 1998
- 17 I Belong to the Left: 1945
Book 17 · edited_volume · 1998
- 18 Smothered Under Journalism: 1946
Book 18 · edited_volume · 1998
- 19 It Is What I Think: 1947–1948
Book 19 · edited_volume · 1998
- 20 Our Job Is to Make Life Worth Living: 1949–1950
Book 20 · edited_volume · 1998
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (3)
- Futures Valuing of Greasy Wool Clips
nonfiction · 1961
- The Bibliographical Society, 1892–1992
nonfiction · 1992
Nonfiction (4)
- Half Remembered: A Personal History
memoir · 1973
- Henry V by William Shakespeare
study_guide · 1987
- George Orwell: A Literary Life
biography · 1996
- George Orwell's Letters and Documents in U.K. Libraries and Archives
microfilm_reference · 2004
Essays and speeches (1)
Edited works (12)
- Songs of the British Music Hall: A Critical Study
edited_collection · 1971
- The Complete Works of George Orwell
edited_set · 1986
- The Book Encompassed: Studies in Twentieth-Century Bibliography
edited_collection · 1992
- The Lost Orwell: Being a Supplement to The Complete Works of George Orwell
edited_collection · 2006
A collection of George Orwell's previously unpublished letters, documents and photographs.
- Diaries
edited_collection · 2009
Collects the diaries of George Orwell, chronicling the major events of his life, including the rise of totalitarianism and the death of his first wife, that influenced his writing.
- A Life in Letters
edited_collection · 2010
- Seeing Things as They Are: Selected Journalism and Other Writings
edited_collection · 2014
Other (13)
- The Fair Maid of the Exchange
scholarly_edition · 1963
- Richard II
scholarly_edition · 1964
- The Merchant of Venice
scholarly_edition · 1967
- The Dutch Courtesan
scholarly_edition · 1968
- The First Part of King Henry the Fourth
scholarly_edition · 1968
- The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth
scholarly_edition · 1977
- Henry V in the Context of the Popular Dramatic Tradition
scholarly_monograph · 1981
- Contemporary Drama and the Popular Dramatic Tradition in England
scholarly_monograph · 1982
- Popular Appeal in English Drama to 1850
scholarly_monograph · 1982
- Hamlet: Text and Performance
scholarly_monograph · 1983
- Nineteen Eighty-Four: The Facsimile of the Extant Manuscript
scholarly_edition · 1984
- The First Quarto of King Richard III
scholarly_edition · 1996
Frequently asked questions about Peter Hobley Davison
Who was Peter Hobley Davison?
Peter Hobley Davison was a British literary scholar, bibliographer, editor, and professor of English, known especially for Shakespearean textual studies and scholarship on George Orwell.
Sources: academic.oup.com (opens in a new tab)theguardian.com (opens in a new tab)
When and where was Peter Hobley Davison born, and when did he die?
He was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 10 September 1926 and died on 16 August 2022, aged 95.
What did Peter Hobley Davison do before becoming an academic?
He worked in the wartime Crown Film Unit, served in the Royal Navy, and later studied through correspondence before earning qualifications in bibliography and palaeography. He subsequently began lecturing at the University of Sydney.
Sources: academic.oup.com (opens in a new tab)theguardian.com (opens in a new tab)
How did Peter Davison become known for his work on George Orwell?
In 1981, publisher Tom Rosenthal asked Davison to check Orwell’s published books against surviving editions and manuscripts. The assignment expanded into the 20-volume Complete Works of George Orwell, published in 1998 with assistance from Sheila Davison and Ian Angus.
Sources: orwellsociety.com (opens in a new tab)orwellsociety.com (opens in a new tab)
What awards did Peter Davison receive, and what is his legacy?
He was appointed OBE for services to literature in 1999 and received the Bibliographical Society’s Gold Medal in 2003. His influence is also commemorated by the Orwell Society’s Peter Davison Award for outstanding contributions to Orwell studies.
Sources: theguardian.com (opens in a new tab)bibsoc.org.uk (opens in a new tab)orwellsociety.com (opens in a new tab)