The Most Disreputable Trade: Publishing the Classics of English Poetry 1765-1810A publishing phenomenon began in Glasgow in 1765. Uniform pocket editions of the English Poets printed by Robert and Andrew Foulis formed the first link in a chain of literary products that has grown ever since, as we see from series like Penguin Classics and Oxford World Classics. Bonnell explores the origins of this phenomenon, analysing more than a dozen multi-volume poetry collections that sprang from the British press over the next half century. Why such collections flourished so quickly, who published them, what forms they assumed, how they were marketed and advertised, how they initiated their readers into the rites of mass-market consumerism, and what role they played in the construction of a national literature are all questions central to the study. The collections played out against an epic battle over copyright law, and involved fierce contention for market share in the 'classics' among rival publishers. It brought despair to the most powerful of London printers, William Strahan, who prophesied that competition of this nature would ruin bookselling, turning it into 'the most pitiful, beggarly, precarious, unprofitable, and disreputable Trade in Britain'. Samuel Johnson's Lives of the Poets were part of such a collection, dubbed 'Johnson's Poets'. The third edition of this collection, published in 1810, brought the national project to its high water mark: it contained 129 poets, plus extensive translations from the Greek and Roman classics. By this point, all the features that characterize modern series of vernacular classics had been established, and never since has such an ambitious expression of the poetic canon been repeated, as Bonnell shows by peering forward into the nineteenth century and beyond. Based on work with archival materials, newspapers, handbills, prospectuses, and above all the books themselves, Bonnell's findings shed light on all aspects of the book trade. Valuable bibliographical data is presented regarding every collection, forming an indispensable resource for future work on the history of the English poetry canon. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 42
Page 15
... Spenser to Pope they sprang up '[c]ross- legged, leaning on plinths, elegantly draped and with a book or two'. John Cheere produced them at his workshop near Hyde Park Corner, soon to be rivaled by Charles Harris and other sculptors ...
... Spenser to Pope they sprang up '[c]ross- legged, leaning on plinths, elegantly draped and with a book or two'. John Cheere produced them at his workshop near Hyde Park Corner, soon to be rivaled by Charles Harris and other sculptors ...
Page 21
... Spenser (1754–62), insisting that hard-won qualifications like a 'facility with older languages' were requisite to obtain 'access to the high-cultural works of the past'. Staking out a form of 'professional prerogative', he stressed ...
... Spenser (1754–62), insisting that hard-won qualifications like a 'facility with older languages' were requisite to obtain 'access to the high-cultural works of the past'. Staking out a form of 'professional prerogative', he stressed ...
Page 30
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
Page 31
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
Page 39
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
Contents
1 | |
7 | |
Robert and Andrew Foulis | 39 |
The Classics Spread Across Scotland | 68 |
4 John Bells Little Trifling Edition Revisited | 97 |
5 Johnsons Prefaces and Bells Connected System of Biography | 134 |
William Strahan Joseph Wenman et al | 169 |
7 Robert Andersons Comprehensive View of English Poetry | 199 |
8 Charles Cookes Pocket Library | 227 |
A Body of Standard English Poetry | 266 |
10 Splinter Canons Fugitives and Empire | 309 |
A Library to Every House | 344 |
Select Bibliography | 353 |
Index of Booksellers Printers Publishers | 371 |
General Index | 375 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Addison advertisement Akenside Ambrose Philips Anderson Andrew Foulis anthology Apollo Press authors Beattie Bell Bell’s edition biographical Blair Britain canon Chaucer Churchill classics Cooke Cooke’s copy Cowley Creech critical cultural defined Denham Dryden duodecimo Edinburgh editor Eighteenth-Century elegant Elzevir English poetry English Poets engraved find fine finished first five Glasgow Gray illustrations imprint James James Beattie John Johnson’s Prefaces July letter Library Library of America literary literature Lyttelton Mark Akenside Milton miscellany multi-volume collections octavo original Paradise Lost Parnell Pocket Edition Poems poet’s Poetical poetry Poets Pope Pope’s portraits printed printers profit proprietors prospectus publication published purchasers readers reflected reprinted Robert Robert Foulis Samuel Johnson Scottish Sept Shakespeare Sharpe’s Shenstone Spenser Strahan Strahan to Creech Swift Thomas Thomas Parnell Thomson title-page Tonson translations verses Vignette vols Wenman William wrappers writing