William Warren Vernon

“ Stimulated by the example of his father, whose great services to Dante literature in the printing of various unpublished early commentaries on the Divina Commedia, and in the production of the magnificent "Vernon Dante," are universally recognised, and inspired by the enthusiasm of his friend, Sir James Lacaita, Mr. Vernon, in the intervals of a busy life as a country gentleman, devoted himself to the study of Dante, a study which was to bear fruit eventually in the well-known series of Readings on Divina Commedia, published in six volumes and in several edition between 1889 and 1909. ”

“ Vernon's own "Readings" were primarily based.
As an expounder of Dante he made no claim to originality nor to independent research; he was content for the most part to summarize and dissect the existing commentaries after the plan adopted in the edition of Scartazzini, of whose methods he was somewhat blind admirer. But though he addressed himself rather to the beginner than to the serious student, his "readings" have special merits of their own, which give them a permanent value. Not the least of these was his insistence on the fact that Dante was a Tuscan. ”

“ In 1917 he published a volume of "Recollections of Seventy-two Years," consisting largely of records of life and travel in Italy, and containing some interesting reminiscences of the kingdom of Naples in the days of King Bomba. ”