The Early English Text Society was founded in 1864 by Frederick James Furnivall, with the help of Richard Morris, Walter Skeat, and others, to bring the mass of unprinted Early English literature within the reach of students and to provide sound texts from which the New English Dictionary (subsequently the Oxford English Dictionary) could quote.

In 1867 an Extra Series was started of texts already printed but not in satisfactory or readily obtainable editions.

In 1921 the Extra Series was discontinued and all publications were subsequently listed and numbered as part of the Original Series.

In 1970 the first of a new Supplementary Series was published; volumes in this series are issued only occasionally, as suitable texts become available, and consist mostly but not exclusively of Old English texts, medieval drama and facsimiles of notable manuscripts.

Meanwhile one or two medieval English texts continue to be published every year. Most of the past publications are kept in print, though in some cases older editions have been replaced by newer ones.