1891. George Willis Cooke was a Unitarian minister, writer, editor and lecturer best known now for his landmark history of the Unitarian movement in the 19th century and for his work on transcendentalist writers and publications. Largely self-taught, Cooke was author or editor of some twenty books on a wide range of subjects, establishing him as an important literary figure. In his guidebook to Browning Cooke's intent was to help clarify the poet's works for those who have found it difficult to read him.