Robert Browning: A Critical Edition of the Major Works, edited by Adam Roberts (OUP, £13.99 in UK)

There is a great deal of Browning, ranging from Pauline of 1833 to Asolando published in 1889, the year of his death. The dramatic lyrics 9r soliloquy (or monologue) was probably his best and most characteristic genre - certainly it was the one he preferred himself. There is a long (nearly 150 pages) excerpt from the narrative poem The Ring and the Book Pippa Passes is given entire, but there are only a few pages from Fifine at the Fair and nothing from Balaustion's Adventure, and what used to be a favourite recitation piece, Sordello, is ignored. A long essay on Shelley is also given and, finally, a lengthy selection from Browning's letters, including the early ones written in courtship to Elizabeth Barrett. It is almost redundant to add that there are many pages of notes - when reading Browning, a bookish, learned and allusive poet, you generally need them.