George Thomas Tanselle was born on January 29, 1934, in Lebanon, Indiana.[2] He received a bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1955.[2] Tanselle attended graduate school at Northwestern University where he studied with Harrison Hayford among others. He received his PhD in 1959 from the department of English where his dissertation was titled Faun at the Barricades: The Life and Work of Floyd Dell.[3]
Tanselle absorbed the principles of Walter W. Greg and Fredson Bowers, who developed the theory of textual criticism, a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in texts, both manuscripts and printed books, in order to create a text which most closely reflects the author's intent. He has been called the "most prominent, consistent, and authoritative defender of the Greg-Bowers approach to editing," which is now the "dominant theoretical and practical position in Anglo-American editing." Tanselle has sought to accommodate legitimate critiques of its limitations, such as the insistence on the difference between substantive and accidentals, that is, the difference between the words and their spelling and punctuation. [6] Tanselle, says one scholar, like Greg and Bowers, postulates the notion of an "ideal 'correct' text, measured against which extant texts show various degrees of 'corruption' that the editor seeks to remove." Tanselle follows this tradition more flexibly, but still comes to rest on the "principle of the author's final intention," which the "editor (or critic) seeks first to understand and then to implement..." This position is opposed to the New Criticism, which rejects the author's intent, since the author's intentions are not relevant specifically by themselves, taken solely, for an artistic work, or "piece of art", once it is finished.[7]
—— (1977). The Editing of Historical Documents. Charlottesville, Va.: Published for the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia by the University Press of Virginia. ISBN0-8139-0804-3.
—— (1981). The History of Books as a Field of Study: A Paper. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Hanes Foundation, Rare Book Collection/Academy Affairs Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
—— (1990). Textual Criticism and Scholarly Editing. Charlottesville: Published for the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia by the University Press of Virginia. ISBN0-8139-1303-9.
Sallust (1993). David L. Vander Meulen; G. Thomas Tanselle (eds.). Samuel Johnson's Translation of Sallust: A Facsimile and Transcription of the Hyde Manuscript. Translated by Samuel Johnson. New York Charlottesville: Johnsonians ; Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia.
—— (1997). Preface. The Middle Hill Press: A Checklist of the Horblit Collection of Books, Tracts, Leaflets, and Broadsides Printed by Sir Thomas Phillipps at His Press at Middle Hill, or Elsewhere to His Order, Now in the Library of the Grolier Club. By Holzenberg, Eric. New York: The Grolier Club. ISBN0-910672-20-2.
—— (1998). Literature and Artifacts. Charlottesville: Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia. ISBN1-883631-06-8.
—— (2003). Textual Criticism and Scholarly Editing. Charlottesville: Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia. ISBN1-883631-09-2.
Ray, Gordon Norton; G. Thomas Tanselle (2005). The Art Deco Book in France. Charlottesville New Castle, Del.: Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia ; Distributed by Oak Knoll Books. ISBN978-1-883631-12-3.
—— (2006). The Pleasures of Being a Scholar-Collector. New York: Grolier Club. ISBN0-910672-66-0.
—— (2009). Bibliographical Analysis: A Historical Introduction. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-76034-8.
—— (2011). Book-Jackets: Their History, Forms, and Use. Charlottesville; New Castle, Del.: Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia ; Oak Knoll Books. ISBN978-1-883631-13-0.
Tanselle, G. Thomas; Hal Kugeler (2011). Other People's Books: Association Copies and the Stories They Tell. Chicago: Caxton Club. ISBN978-0-940550-10-0.
(2015). Portraits and Reviews. Charlottesville: The Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia.
—— (2020). Descriptive Bibliography. Charlottesville; New Castle, Del.: Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia ; Oak Knoll Books. ISBN978-1-883631-19-2.
Tanselle, G. Thomas. 2021. Books in My Life. Edited by David L. Vander Meulen. Charlottesville: The Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia.
—— (1995). "The Varieties of Scholarly Editing". In D. C. Greetham (ed.). Scholarly Editing: A Guide to Research. New York: The Modern Language Association of America.
—— (2003). "Dust-Jackets, Dealers, and Documentation." Studies in Bibliography (Charlottesville, Va.) 56, no. 1 (2003): 45–140.
^1987 Lecture: Tanselle, G. Thomas, and University of Pennsylvania Press. 1989. A Rationale of Textual Criticism. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.