Since its first appearance in 1867, this novel has been acclaimed as one of Trollope's most successful protrayals of mid-Victorian life. The Claverings is filled with contemporary detail and shows, as Trollope often does, the weakness of men and the emotional strength of women.

Designed as a complement to the sections of pre-Shakespearean and Elizabethan comedies already published in The World's Classics as part of a series of anthologies of the English drama.

This collection includes "Black-ey'd Susuan," "Money," "Masks and Faces," "The Colleen Bawn," "Lady Audley's Secret," "The Ticket-of-Leave-Man," "Caste," "Two Roses," "The Bells," and "A Pair of Spectacles." Each play is printed in the form in which it was originally performed, and includes an introductory headnote by Rowell. A glossary of stage terms and a reading list complete the text.