Within the first twenty years following Spenser's death, no fewer than three editions of The Faerie Queene were published. However, after a 1617 edition of collected works, 62 years passed until a new edition appeared.

This folio edition of 1679 appeared as John Milton's own heroic poem, Paradise Lost began to reach a wide audience, suggesting a renewed and recreated interest in heroic poetry and the literary aspects of the English Renaissance.

This edition of collected works is believed to be partially edited by John Dryden. It contains the work Brittain's Ida, originally ascribed to Spenser in 1628 by editor Thomas Walkley. It was, however, most likely written by Phineas Fletcher, a protege of Spenser.