William Wordsworth (1770–1850) was a poet and leader of the Romantic movement along with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He is best known for the early Romantic poems published in 'Lyrical Ballads', and his long, semi-autobiographical poem 'The Prelude'. Wordsworth was offered the poet laureateship late in his life, after the death of his friend and neighbour Robert Southey in 1843. Initially he demurred, and was only persuaded to accept the position when it was made clear to him that there would be no writing requirements. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were both admirers of Wordsworth and were very keen to have him as laureate. This set of, in total, six volumes of Wordsworth’s 'Poetical Works' was amended and annotated in the poet’s own hand as preparation for a later edition. The set contains several errors, which is perhaps why Wordsworth chose to use it for corrections for the next edition. The set was purchased by the Royal Library in 1944 and was rebound in house by Ernest Day at that time.