Editing Rupert Hart-Davis (section)

===Editor===
Hart-Davis was described by ''The Times'' as "the king of editors".<ref name=times79/> He edited volumes of the letters of the playwright [[Oscar Wilde]], the writer and caricaturist [[Max Beerbohm]], and the writer [[George Moore (novelist)|George Moore]], as well as the diaries of the poet [[Siegfried Sassoon]] and the autobiography of [[Arthur Ransome]]. ''A Beggar in Purple'', his commonplace book, was published in 1983. ''Praise from the Past'', a collection of tributes to writers, was published in 1996.

His ''Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde'', compiled over the same period as Hart-Davis's correspondence with George Lyttelton, was described in a review of the latter as "a mammoth undertaking whose difficulties and challenges are documented in great detail in the letters, giving a satisfying portrayal of what dedication in literary scholarship looks like from the inside".<ref>[[A. C. Grayling]] in ''[[The Independent on Sunday]]'', 30 September 2001, p. 17.</ref> Wilde's grandson, [[Merlin Holland]], wrote, "It was his decision fifty years ago to publish the first edition of Oscar Wilde's letters which helped to put my grandfather back into the position which he lost in 1895 as one of the most charismatic and fascinating figures in English literary history."<ref>Holland, p. x</ref>

In his last memoir, Hart-Davis listed the books he had edited as: ''The Second Omnibus Book'' (Heinemann) 1930; ''Then and Now'' (Cape) 1935; ''The Essential [[Neville Cardus]]'' (Cape) 1949; ''Cricket All His Life'' by [[E.V. Lucas]] (RHD Ltd) 1950; ''All in Due Time'' by Humphry House (RHD Ltd) 1955; ''George Moore: Letters to [[Maud Cunard|Lady Cunard]] 1895–1933'' (RHD Ltd) 1957; ''The Letters of Oscar Wilde'' (RHD Ltd) 1962; ''Max Beerbohm: Letters to [[Reginald Turner (writer)|Reggie Turner]]'' (RHD Ltd) 1964; ''More Theatres'' by Max Beerbohm (RHD Ltd) 1969; ''Last Theatres'' by Max Beerbohm (RHD Ltd) 1970; ''A Peep into the Past'' by Max Beerbohm (Heinemann) 1972; ''A Catalogue of the Caricatures of Max Beerbohm'' (Macmillan) 1972 ; ''The Autobiography of Arthur Ransome'' (Cape) 1976; ''Electric Delights'' by William Plomer (Cape) 1978; ''Selected Letters of Oscar Wilde'' (Oxford) 1979; ''Two Men of Letters'' (Michael Joseph) 1979; ''Siegfried Sassoon: Diaries 1920–1922'' 3 vols. (Faber) 1981–85; ''War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon'' (Faber) 1983; ''More Letters of Oscar Wilde'' (Murray) 1985; ''Siegfried Sassoon: Letters to Max Beerbohm'' (Faber) 1986; ''Letters of Max Beerbohm'' (Murray) 1986.<ref>Hart-Davis (1998) unnumbered introductory page following title page</ref>