Edmund Spenser and the eighteenth-century book / Hazel Wilkinson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wilkinson, Hazel, 1987- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599--Criticism, Textual.

Spenser, Edmund.

Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599--Appreciation--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599--Criticism and interpretation--History--18th century.

Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599--Influence.

Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599--Bibliography.

Book industries and trade--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Book industries and trade.

Great Britain--Intellectual life--18th century.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 263 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2017.

Summary:

Edmund Spenser's epic poem The Faerie Queene (1590-96) occupied an important place in eighteenth-century culture. Spenser influenced almost every major writer of the century, from Alexander Pope to William Wordsworth. What was it like to read Spenser in the eighteenth century? Who made Spenserian books, and how did their owners use and interpret them? The first comprehensive study of all of the eighteenth-century editions of Edmund Spenser addresses these questions through bibliographical analysis, and through examination of the history of the book and of eighteenth-century literature and culture. Within these contexts, Hazel Wilkinson provides new information about the production, contents, texts, and reception of the eighteenth-century editions of Spenser, to illuminate how his cultural presence became so far-reaching. With each chapter structured around a major edition of Spenser's work, this volume provides a timely addition to arguments about the nature of literary history and the growing cult of great writers of the past.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title page

Title page

Copyright page

Dedication

Contents

List of Abbreviations

List of Illustrations

A Note on the Text

Acknowledgements

Introduction 'The Wits have sent for the Book': (Non-)Reading, and Spenserian Books before 1700

Chapter 1 Spenser the Whig: John Hughes's Clubbable Edition, 1715

Chapter 2 Miscellaneous Spenser: Verse Miscellanies and Miscellaneous Culture, 1716-1750

Chapter 3 Spenser Illustrated: Antiquaries and Illustrations: Thomas Birch's 1751 Edition

Chapter 4 Spenser Annotated: Two Scholarly Editions, 1758-1759

Chapter 5 Spenser and the Public Domain: The Scottish Publishers' Series, 1778-1795

Conclusion The Legacy of Eighteenth-Century Spenserianism

Appendix A Checklist of the Eighteenth-Century Editions of Edmund Spenser

Works Cited

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 17 Nov 2017).

ISBN:

1-108-19870-8

1-108-19629-2

1-108-18788-9

1-108-19509-1

1-108-19750-7

1-108-18571-1

1-108-20350-7

OCLC:

1012837804