In 1939, on the first day of excavation at the archaeological site that he called The Palace of Nestor, Carl W. Blegen uncovered a Mycenaean palace. Its archives contained clay tablets inscribed in the so-called Linear B script, a syllabary employed to record the Greek language. These documents had been unintentionally baked in a conflagration that destroyed the palace early in the 12th century B.C.

Blegen, who died in 1971, planned to see published in a final volume of his excavation report all Linear B texts from Pylos. This publication in two fascicles fulfils his commitment and is the work of several generations of scholars who have remained dedicated to the enterprise. After a preliminary detailed introduction, Linear B tablets 1–616 (in part 1) and 622–1589 (in part 2) are presented accompanied by color photographs, transcriptions and definitive epigraphical and palaeographical notes.

The Palace of Nestor IV will be fundamental for any future study of Mycenaean economy and society.