Renaissance scholar Gary Taylor of the FSU English department has won the Elizabeth Dietz Memorial Award for the best book published in “early modern” studies.

The award recognizes Taylor’s editorial work on Thomas Middleton: Collected Works and its companion volume, Thomas Middleton and Early Modern Textual Culture. The work was selected for the prize from 200 eligible publications.

One judge commented that Taylor and his team had “by a remarkable sustained act of editorial will … produced an entity of such scholarly mass that its gravity pulls many stray works and adaptations … into the Middleton orbit; to call the project inclusive would be an understatement.”

Taylor also received praise on the homefront. “This award brings important recognition to our department and faculty,” said Ralph Berry, chair of the English department, “and on behalf of everyone, I want to thank Gary for representing us all so well.”

Thomas Middleton: Collected Works also garnered Taylor a previous major honor, the Modern Language Association Prize for a Distinguished Scholarly Edition. Taylor edited the book, as well as its companion volume, with John Lavagnino of King’s College in London.