Thomas Chatterton Manuscript Project
Books
Books and Magazines
Read or Used by Chatterton
Here there bee thee Genisyse of Rowley.
Chatterton's 'Book of Magic' was actually a copy of Henry Cornelius Agrippa's 'His Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy. Of Geomancy...1655. It was but one of over a hundred books used or read by Chatterton, many of which seemed to contain that magic ingredient 'inspiration.'
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The following list of books read or used by Chatterton, is limited by my wish to trace such claims to source. The list will surely grow as I discover more, and I should add that according to p.160 of Love and Madness, Mary Newton is said to have told Croft (in the guise of Hackman) that she sent Chatterton a catalogue of the books he had read, to the number of many hundreds, however, the actual letter (or rather, Croft's version of it) tells it differently.
Feel free to suggest additions to the list; in the meantime read on or scroll to Chatterton's Book of Magic.
A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence.
By Richard Verstegan
The first book in our list of books read or used by Chatterton has to be :
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A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, in Antiquities, concerning the most noble and renowned English Nation.
It was reprinted multiple times from 1605 -1673, and contains the first English version of the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
More importantly, if you are interested in the genesis of Rowley, the names Aella and Bertha appear on the same page in the 1655 edition. It is also in the 1634 edition, but on two following pages, pp.139, 140.
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This rather lovely book offers the chance of further investigation and research. It is mentioned by Meyerstein in relation to a paragraph in John Evans' Chronological Outline of the History of Bristol, 1824, p.284, where Evans states that he is printing for the first time the fact that Chatterton's favourite bookshop was Mr Goodall's, in Tower Lane (opposite Cider-house Passage).
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According to John Evans, Goodall related that: "our youthful poet passed many hours in a day, buying such books as came within his means, and sitting to read those which he either did not wish to possess or could not afford to purchase. His reveries were seldom distracted by the presence of other customers. He was particularly attached to one book, on Saxon manners and customs, which remained in the shop after news arrived from London of his death, but was at last missed without the help of a customer."
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So, what of the mysteriously 'missing' book? Which book is Mr Goodall referring to? The first book you might think of, as did Meyerstein of course, was Verstegan's A Restitution...," which contains pictures of Saxon Idols," and a glossary "of our most ancient English words." It also has, as mentioned above, the names "Aella" and "Bertha," on page 110, which, according to Meyerstein, "is odd, because the two names are only connected in Rowley."
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In his drive for self-education, where exactly did Chatterton turn? For example, did he have access to the City Library in King Street? The answer comes from Catcott's correspondence, which he transcribed in his 'Chattertoniana' letter-book. On page 227 is his transcript of a letter from Mr Benjamin Donne, which came in reply to Catcott's enquiry as to whether Chatterton ever visited the library - the answer is a resounding 'no.' Click the link to read the letter for yourself : View​
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More to come on the subject of the access Chatterton had to books; from circulating libraries and bookshops, to his own father's books, as not all of them were sold to a Mr. Long. He also had access to the libraries of Barrett, and the two Catcotts, which, in itself, demonstrates that there was some camaraderie and a thriving community in and around Redcliffe. Although, I should add that George Catcott says that Chatterton couldn't have had access to the Rev. Alexander Catcott's library for even Alexander's own family were excluded from it.
Ancient Funerall Monuments (1631)
John Weever
Weever's Ancient Funerall Monuments, 1631.
Did you know that Chatterton tended to take the easiest route when compiling his works ? - well, obviously, don't we all do that? When Chatterton was creating his character, Sire Gualeroyn Chatterton, he didn't waste time or brain power drawing it from scratch, instead he searched the books he had access to and found this engraving of a Knight holding a church in his hands, and he traced that. The engraving is of a part of the east window of a chapel in Norwich, and is on page 846 of the book mentioned above.
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For further reading on this subject click : Archaeologia, or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity:
Thanks to Edward H.W. Meyerstein for this segment. I should add, with regard to Meyerstein, that when you read what I write, please imagine me peeking out of Meyerstein's top pocket, rather than standing on the shoulders of such a giant! I refer you to his book 'A Life of Thomas Chatterton,' which is always near to my hand. It is not available to read online, but you might dare to read his handwritten manuscript of it - not an easy read as his writing is difficult to make out, but worth a go : A Life of Thomas Chatterton. I am currently working on an OCR'd (Optical Character Recognition) copy of Meyerstein's index, which is uploaded but not quite finished, check it out here.
The Fairie Queene (1590)
Edmund Spenser
Royal Collection Trust
Taylor p.968, offers Spenser's 'The Fairie Queene' (1590), books I, IV & V, as having possibly influenced Chatterton's 'The Tournament. An Interlude.' At no expense whatever, apart from my time, which is the most valuable expense of all, I bring you clarity :
Taylor points out the following possibilities:
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the gauntlet challenge, p.57, verse 2, line 1.
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the minstrels, p.60, verse 3, line 4.
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'straunger knights,' p.60, verse 3, line 3.
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the trumpet [trompett], p.61, last verse on the page, line 1.
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the hammers, used by Spenser in simile, p.62, verse 1.
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the awarded shield, p.61 , line 22
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the awarded shield, p.64 , line 9
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the awarded shield, p.64 , line 18
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Chatterton's : The Tournament. An Interlude : View
Spenser's : The Fairie Queen (online) : View
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The Antiquities of Warwickshire (1656)
William Dugdale
Taylor p.968, offers p.72 of this edition (along with Spencer's The Fairie Queene) as a possible influence on Chatterton's 'The Tournament.' The engraving actually faces p.73 and is marked 73 (in this copy) : View
I regret that I have nothing more to add on this currently, but offer it to my readers to investigate further. A delightful engraving, so what's not to love eh!
A Help to English History (1674)
Peter Heylyn
Heylyn 1709 : P.16 : View
Taylor shows that Chatterton used Heylyn's 'A Help to English History, Containing A Succession of all the Kings of England, the English Saxons, and Britaines; the Kings and Princes of Wales, the Kings and Lords of Man, the Isle of Wight..., 1709,' and he lists a number of pages as possible sources for some of Chatterton's works.
For the sake of my sanity I have added a link to each page that starts a sequence of pages - thereby reducing the number of links and my workload, which is key to me. See pages 14; 15; 16; 18; 20; 21; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29; 30; 31; 33; 37; 38; 39; 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48; 49; 50; 68; 95; 105; 110; 124; 138; 139; 141; 145; 156; 195; 196; 207; 218; 260; 266; 287; 308; 327; 328; 347; 365; 368; 383; 440; 460; 461; 531
I include two editions of this work, 1674, and 1709. They differ in page numbers but the content seems to be the same, for example, the pages on Oxford starts on p.439 in the 1709, but on p.419 in the 1674, the pages also break at different places.
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Taylor used the 1709 Edition of Heylyn to arrive at his conclusions : View 1709 complete
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The 1674 Edition is a special treat with a mass of annotations : View 1674 complete
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Chatterton provides his own direct proof that he used Heylin, for he mentions Heylin's book at the foot of page 26 of Antiquities Book 3rd : View
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Note:
On the off-chance that you might want to try compiling the above yourself as an exercise, the information was gleaned from Taylor's index in The Complete Works of Thomas Chatterton, vol 2, p.920, and cross-checked against the page numbers quoted in Taylor's edition, which then allowed me to gather the above page numbers in Heylyn (Taylor's edition is not available online unless you have access via a University).
A Compleat History of the Holy Bible
(1737)
(The Chatterton Family Bible)
Surely this book must lay claim to having the earliest influence upon young Chatterton.
You can now read this tired old book in all of its grumpy glory by clicking the link, The Chatterton Family Bible, for analysis and images.
Some Specimens of the Poetry of the
Antient Welsh Bards, 1765
Some Specimens of the Poetry of the Antient Welsh Bards, 1765 : View
Meyerstein suggests that poem 1 from Evan Evans' book, influenced Chatterton's 'The Hirlas,' which was published in the Town and Country Magazine : View our control page,
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See Meyerstein pp.250, 286n : View our Meyerstein Page
Henry Cornelius Agrippa
His Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy. Of Geomancy.
Magical Elements of Peter de Abano.
Astronomical Geomancy. The Nature of Spirits.
Arbatel of Magick. 1655
Henry Cornelius Agrippa .
His Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy. Of Geomancy. Magical Elements of Peter de Abano. Astronomical Geomancy. By Gerard Cremonensis. Of he Nature of Spirits. By G. P. Villinganus. Arbatel of Magick. (1665).
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Chatterton's father had a library of around 150 books, most of which were sold after his death, but a few were kept by the family including the Agrippa.
We do know a little of the history of the book :
The first we hear of it is in a letter from Edward Gardner, in volume 3 of 1803, p.523, where Gardner states that Chatterton's father 'was deeply read in Cornelius Agrippa.' The next important mention is in Meyerstein, where we learn that Lambert gave the book, along with Chatterton's mock will, to Paget in 1797.
​Thanks to the forward thinking of the Johns Hopkins Sheridan Library, where the book is now located, and Archive.org, you can now read the Chatterton's copy of the actual book, see the title page above : View the book online.
In addition, Johns Hopkins has gathered a number of magazines containing Chatterton's works during his life, well as books published in the years following his death, which contain details of his life and works : All available to View online
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Still working on this today 27/09/2024 : The Consuliad, which includes mention of Agrippa, to be added above : View
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Vocabularium Anglo-Saxonicum
Thomas Benson 1701
It is impossible to have looked deeper into Chatterton and his sources than Donald S. Taylor did,
Taylor states that 2% of the Rowleian words used by Chatterton came from this edition or from the earlier Somner edition. I understand that when using this book Chatterton didn't get beyond the letter 'a'. Click to view and see why.
An Universal Etymological English Dictionary
By Nathan Bailey
The story in this panel (below the images), is not relevant to Chatterton but I am a romantic soul and couldn't just ignore it, now could I! And anyway life is about the journey, not the arrival!
The 1751 edition, above, is from the bookcase of QE!, so no link.
However, do click H. E. Barker's letter, above, to see the letter referring to Lincoln and read the dictionary online. It has the date of 1763 written on the title page.
The Dictionary Society of North America has an article on this subject too : Click to View.
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Online Editions Click the year to read: 1737 *****1763
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Where is Chatterton's copy of this dictionary?
The article about the 'Lincoln' dictionary mentions that after further research on the book they 'discovered the name Thomas faintly inscribed on the front endpaper' and, 'Although the title page is missing, we have also been able to date the edition to 1770 by comparing it with other copies.'
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There was a Thomas in the Lincoln family, so it is clear that the 'Thomas' they found inscribed in the dictionary, along with the date '1770,' cannot be Chatterton, as he was using his copy of the dictionary before 1770. It is also likely that Chatterton's copy of this dictionary belonged to his father, so his dictionary would date to before 1752.
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The implication promulgated by H. E. Barker, who was definitely a bit of a romantic and quite a storyteller, seems to be that the bullet hole in the cover of the book, saved someone's life, perhaps even Abraham Lincoln's, Oh the romance of it all!, but this is also impossible, as the dictionary is quite thick and not something you would carry about with you, and certainly not in your pocket - it is quite a lumpy little thing!
Bailey's Dictionary Continued
How could I resist this next edition of Bailey's Dictionary
This edition of Bailey's Dictionary (title page is missing), was carried by Mr Harry, the boatswain, onboard the ship HMS Dartmouth. During 1827 they faced a truly horrendous engagement against the 'Turks,' which cost the lives of a thousand or more men and the loss of over 60 ships read more.....
HMS Dartmouth is the ship second from left and directly behind the two small rowing boats.
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The book was for sale on Ebay, raising funds for The Salvation Army, sadly it is now gone.
(.QE!.) Analysis: The title page is missing making it difficult to date the book; An inscription / annotation of this type is usually at the front of a book;
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The inscription is unlikely to be a fabrication as the book is priced at only £129.99 (now reduced to £99.99); The writing and phrasing is of the period; the date of 1830 (looks more like 1330, but that is how eights and threes were sometimes written) is an approximation with the battle taking place in 1827. All in all, the inscription imbues the book with the romance of a lost world and a famous battle - what's not to love! If I could afford it and didn't already have two of Bailey's dictionaries, I would have bought it myself - and, in any case, it's for a jolly roger good cause! (this book is no longer available).
As an alternative to the 'Navarino' Dictionary
you might empty that bulging wallet for this $3,800 model
You might notice that Bailey's is incorrectly spelled on the spine but no matter as it's cheap enough at $3,855 plus postage.
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So, now the Navarino edition looks like a great choice.
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Visit this rare leather bound beast on Ebay to read more.... Going, going, gone and no longer on Ebay.
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Dictionarium Anglo-Britannicum:
Or, A General English Dictionary
By John Kersey
According to Meyerstein, p107, see image below, all the hard words in Chatterton's 'The Mayor's first Passing over the Old Bridge,' are in the 1708 edition of Kersey's Dictionary.
Chatterton had his favourite sources for all of his antique works, among them was; Kersey's, and Bailey's Dictionaries, Speght's Chaucer, and Percy's Reliques.
Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
By Thomas Percy
The images above of are of the 1794 edition (QE!'s Bookcase) click the images to read the 1765 editions online at Google Books.
A Treatise on the Deluge
By Alexander Catcott, A.M.
Vicar of Temple [Church] Bristol
Not available online
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Don't be alarmed, we are not veering into religion - not as such, however, the Chatterton story is inextricably linked to religion in one way or another. It is said, that Chatterton was allowed access to the study of the Reverend Alexander Catcott, vicar of Temple Church, Bristol, and author of this work, although George Symes Catcott (Alexander's brother) denies this.
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The last few pages of the book includes a poem, a paraphrase of the 104th psalm by Alexander Stopford Catcott (The father of Alexander, George, and of Martha, the lady that Chatterton called The Rose of Virginity). This poem seems to have influenced Chatterton's The Death of Nicou : View
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The images above are from my own copy, which includes manuscript pages of Alexander's Will at the back of the book. I should add that Meyerstein's, A Life.., p.306, states that Alexander the younger, believed from the first that Chatterton wrote Rowley.
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It seems that Alexander Catcott gave a copy of his book to Chatterton, for it was found in the attic room where he died. The book now resides in the Bodleian complete with a four of Chatterton's of works written onto the blank pages in the hand of Chatterton himself:
'Sentiment', 'The Methodist', 'If wishing for the mystic Joys of Love', 'Heccar and Gaira'. See Meyerstein p.443, & Taylor p.1015.
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This wonderful little book has a life of its own; it was lost until it was serendipitously* found on a bookshelf in a public house in Oxford (can something be lost if nobody knows it's missing?). The story behind it's discovery was reported by W. D. Macray in Notes and Queries, September 1858 : View online *
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(*Thanks to Walpole for Serendipity)
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*To save you the trouble of leaving our website, here is the story in full, direct from Notes and Queries :-
"CHATTERTON.
An interesting Chatterton relic has lately come into my possession in the following singular manner. Stepping into a little village public house in the neighbourhood of Oxford, after a country walk, to procure some refreshment, my attention was attracted to some half-dozen volumes on a bookshelf. Amongst these I found Catcott's Treatise on the Deluge, in two parts, (1756-68); at the beginning and end of which were several leaves filled with MS. verses, and having at the end of the first poem the name of Chatterton faintly written in a different hand. For a trifle I became possessor of the volume; although, being totally unacquainted with the poet's handwriting, as well as with his compositions, I had little idea at the time of the real interest of my acquisition. Upon comparing the verses, however, with facsimiles in editions of Chatterton's Works, the identity of writing was apparent to all who saw them, and any possible doubt has been since entirely removed by my having had an opportunity of examining one of the Chatterton MSS. in the British Museum. I find also that Chatterton has written his own name at the foot of one of the pages of the volume, beside a roughly tricked coat of arms. The following are the poems of which copies in, therefore, the autograph of their unhappy author (unhappy, were it only for the miserable character of these productions of scoffing unbelief,) are here found.
1. "Epistle to the Revd Mr. Catcott, Dec. 16, 1769," with the note in prose at the end, on seven leaves at the beginning of the volume. The only variation from the printed copies which is worth notice consists in the blank in the line commencing “*** wants learning," &c., and in those which follow, being filled up with the name of Burgum, as in the corresponding passage in the poem of "Kew Gardens." (All that follow are at the end of the volume.)
2. The "Sentiment."
3. The verses headed "The Methodist " in the printed copies, but which here are without a title; dated 1770. The blank "C—t" is filled up with the name of Catcott at length.
4. Eleven (unprinted) lines without a beading; of a nature which too well forbids their publication. (Several leaves appear in this place to have been torn out, then follows:-)
5. " The Defence." In this poem the following variations deserve notice :-
Taylor, edd.: T**l*r, MS.
Notion just : notions.
Dreads the path : treads.
A line appears? appears:
(i. e. a colon after "appears," instead of an interrogation).
The passage from "Why to be sure," &c., to "Every strain," is within inverted commas.
There is no stop after "I can testify." (Two more leaves have here been removed.)
(Upon the cover): -
6. The six last lines of "Hecca and Gaira," dated 3 Jan. 1770.
The following name of a former owner is inscribed in the volume: "Chris' Jeaffreson, e dono Jos. Oldham, March 12th, 1792."
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At the same time that I obtained this volume, I became also the purchaser of two little vellum bound books, then doing duty as the supporters of a dilapidated stuffed bird; but which in any case or condition (and their present condition is one of merciless mutilation) one would not have looked for in the, too often, uncongenial quarters of a public-house parlour. The running title of one, which as yet I have been unable to identify, is The Holy Pilgrim; the other is Perkins's Treatise of a Reformed Catholike.
W. D. MACRAY. "
Temple Church Bristol
You all know by now, that every page in this website will be developed further as the days and weeks roll on. This is because every cog in the wheel of Chatterton's story has a life of its own - take Temple Church as an example: it is said to lean further than the almost leaning tower of Pisa. More importantly, it has links to the Knights Templar and dates back to before the 12th C. And, of course, Alexander Catcott, A.M., author of the previous book, was vicar of Temple Church Bristol.
(.QE!.) Working on this at the moment - a couple of bricks bottom left should do it!
The Young Gentleman and Lady's Philosophy
Volume 1
by Benjamin Martin
Benjamin Martin
Engraving from Martin's Philosophy
The Copernican System
According to Jacob Bryant, in Observations Upon the Poems of Thomas Rowley, 1781, p.533 : View online
'Dr Glynn applied to Mr Clayfield in Castle street; as he was said to have lent many books to Chatterton. But the account, which he gave, was, that, to the best of his remembrance, he never lent him but two books: for he had but few in his possession; the whole being contained in a glass case. The two books alluded to were Martin's Philosophical Grammar; and one volume of Martin's Philosophy. The latter, he thinks, was borrowed merely for the copy of verses, which are prefixed to it.'
This can only be volume 1 of the three volume set, which contains poems about the solar system and a lovely little engraving of the Copernican System on an Orrery designed by Benjamin Martin.
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In the same book is an engraving of Mr Rowley's Grand Orrery - life is full of coincidences, and this one is quite glaring. I wonder what Chatterton thought when he saw it?
To be clear, 'Martin's Philosophy' is: The Young Gentleman and Lady's Philosophy, volume 1. You might also like to view the other two volumes of this set: Volume 3 And Volume 2
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Here we go, putting yet more flesh on the bones of poor Chatterton. Click the images and links above to read the books, and if you wish to learn more about the amazing Benjamin Martin, try the following links: Wikipedia Benjamin Martin; and The Dictionary of National Biography.
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According to the Science Museum website, Benjamin Martin, thanks to his son bankrupting the business, committed suicide after his retirement - a sad end indeed : Science Museum.
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However, further research brings forth from the Gentleman's Magazine: 'Brief memoirs [one page, so it was brief] of the late ingenious Benjamin Martin, including a nice engraved portrait.' In this report they say that he survived his attempted suicide, but the wound hastened his death: The Gentleman's Magazine August 1785.
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Benjamin wrote a number of books, here's another one to temp you: The General Magazine of Arts and Science.
Charles Churchill
Camden's Britannia
The Odes, Epodes, and Carmen Seculare of Horace
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Horace
Translated by David Watson
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Issues: still working on this as it may have been an earlier edition with a different title.
Emanuel Collins
Miscellanies in Prose and Verse 1762
Miscellanies in Prose and Verse 1762 : View
John Milton
The Works of John Milton
Dr. Thomas Newton, DD, Bishop of Bristol (Editor)
Elizabeth Cooper (née Price)
1698? – 1761?
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According to Wiki:
'Cooper created an anthology of poetry 'The Muses Library' (1737), which gathered together English verse from the 11th to the 16th century, covering Edward the Confessor to Samuel Daniel. She achieved this by contacting the family of artists, and thanks to the goodwill of William Oldys. Despite its readability and the inclusion of relevant biographies, the book was not a commercial success, and it failed to pay for a second volume by Cooper on poetic theory. The book however did make a mark, as the frauds created by Thomas Chatterton are thought to have drawn on Cooper's book and Samuel Johnson is said to have used Cooper's book as a model for his Lives of the Poets. '
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The Muses Library (1737) : no view
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Bertrand H. Bronson : 'Chattertoniana' : View
Bronson shows that Cooper's book was a hugely important influence on Chatterton.
('Chattertoniana' was published in Modern Language Quarterly, 1950, v11, issue 4)
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William Collins : Poet
1721 - 1759
According to Wiki, the above image is the only portrait of Collins. It shows him at 14 years of age.
Yet another sad life-story: Born in 1721, confined to a mental institution by 1754, and dead in 1758 at the age of 37.
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Meyerstein believes (p.82 of his A Life of Chatterton) that William Collins shares 'the honours with Churchill of being Chatterton's favourite eighteenth-century poet.' He offers, on the same page, two of Chatterton's works, an 'Ode to Miss Hoyland'. and a song 'To Miss Hoyland' (the first line of the song starts Tell me God of soft desires), as having been inspired by Collins, the author of an Ode to Evening.
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Meyerstein also references Collins on the following pages of his 'A Life of Chatterton' : Odes, 82, 179, 200, 222, 231, 252, 501 ; Oriental Eclogues, 19, 179, 227, 318, 401n : View Meyerstein
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The works of William Collins are included here because it seems obvious enough that Chatterton and his poetising friends would read all the poets of their own century.
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Persian Eclogues (later called Oriental Eclogues) : View
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Works of William Collins, 1898 : View
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Renascence Editions : View
'Note on the e-text: this Renascence Edition was transcribed in April 2007 by Sandra Jones from the Clarendon Press type facsimile edition of 1925. "This reprint of Persian Eclogues follows Mr. Thomas J. Wise's copy of the rare original. The misprints on the title-page, tantas and delectis, have been corrected. For the autograph corrections made by Collins in the Dyce copy of the first edition, and for changes introduced into the text in Oriental Eclogues (J. Payne, 1757, see the edition of Collins in the Oxford Poets, pp. 313-314." '
The Oeconomy of Human Life
The Dublin 1765 copy of this book, which contains, three of Chatterton's signatures and the date Novr. 3rd 1766, was listed by Meyerstein, p.49n, as in the Bristol Museum collection : View an online copy
Note: Bristol Museum was hit during the Blitz and so I need to check to see if the book escaped the bombs.