This volume investigates the complete literary output of Elizabethan writer Thomas Deloney to establish a definitive, annotated record of his contributions to early modern prose. Editor Francis Oscar Mann provides a comprehensive scholarly framework, utilizing primary source manuscripts and early printed editions to reconstruct Deloney's texts. The work serves as a critical examination of Deloney's role in the development of the English novel, contextualizing his narratives within the social and economic landscape of the late sixteenth century.

Scholars and historians regard this edition as a foundational resource for the study of Elizabethan popular literature. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and the thoroughness of the editorial notes provided by Mann.