Introduction. 'The Wits have sent for the Book': (non-)reading, and Spenserian books before 1700 -- Spenser the Whig: John Hughes's Clubbable edition, 1715 -- Miscellaneous Spenser: verse miscellanies and miscellaneous culture, 1716-1750 -- Spenser illustrated antiquaries and illustrations: Thomas Birch's 1751 edition -- Spenser annotated: two scholarly editions, 1758-1759 -- Spenser and the public domain: the Scottish Publishers' series, 1778-1795 -- Appendix: A checklist of the eighteenth-century editions of Edmund Spenser.
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 Samuel Johnson. What was it like to read Spenser in the eighteenth century? Or, in some cases, what was it like to not read Spenser? The first comprehensive study of all of the eighteenth-century editions of Edmund Spenser addresses these questions through bibliographical analysis, and examination of the history of the book, and 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"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.