John Norden's The Surveyor's Dialogue (1618): A Critical Edition

Though John Norden's text The Surveyor's Dialogue is remarkable for the unique commentary it provides regarding the social and economic changes affecting agrarian life in early modern England, until now there has been no modern edition of the text available. The text itself-a series of dialogues between a fictional surveyor and several interlocutors, including a Farmer, a Lord (landowner), a Bailiff (manorial officer) and a Purchaser of land-is enriched by Mark Netzloff's extensive introduction and critical apparatus.Netzloff here analyzes the place of The Surveyor's Dialogue within critical explorations of the agrarian roots of English capitalism; he situates the text in relation to two literary genres that registered most directly the effects of agrarian capitalism, 16th-century complaint literature and handbooks for agricultural improvement. He also explains the conditions of manorial communities, an often overlooked social unit in early modern England. Finally, he considers the social position of the surveyor, a figure whose presence testified to the increasing commercialization of agrarian social relations, yet whose expertise was used to offset the destabilizing effects of capitalist agricultural practices. An appendix isincluded that lists Norden's published and manuscript works.This critical edition of The Surveyor's Dialogue constitutes an important contribution to early modern scholarship, and it will be invaluable to historians of science as well as literary scholars.

Contents:Introduction: Biography and works of John Norden (1548-1625); The Surveyor's Dialogue, publication history and summary of text; Contexts of The Surveyor's DialogueEdited and annotated text of The Surveyor's DialogueAppendices: Textual notes (variants between editions); John Norden's publications and manuscript surveysBibliography