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Key People

James Dodsley

1724 - 1797

Bookseller & Publisher

Chatterton's Two Letters to James Dodsley

(Chatterton's Search for a Patron is Underway)

Chatterton is 16 years old and still an Apprentice at Lambert's

Chatterton image from C. E. Russell

Thomas Chatterton

Dodsley's bookshop cartoon
Robert Dodsley brother of James Dodsley

No image of James Dodsley. 

Here's one of his brother -

A family likeness perhaps.

Before he wrote to Walpole, Chatterton first wrote to James Dodsley, the Bookseller and Publisher. It was only after he failed to hook Dodsley with a sample of his work, that he moved his search for a Patron to Horace Walpole.

​

It seems that Chatterton wrote only these two letters to Dodsley. Unfortunately, Dodsley's replies (if he did reply), are missing. It is likely that Chatterton didn't take rejection very well, it is also likely that he destroyed any negative replies he did get. If Dodsley did reply, I wonder if he recommended that Chatterton approach Walpole?  

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Provenance of the two letters:

  • Found at the clearing out of Dodsley's Counting House (Meyerstein, p.251n)

  • John Hugh Smyth Pigott. Sold at Auction 1849 (the same auction sold the Fust Ms.).

Chatterton's First  Letter to Dodsley

21st Dec, 1768

Chatterton's first letter to Dodsley

The letter above is the first printing from: Britton's Redcliffe Church 1813 : View

Location of Chatterton's Original Handwritten Manuscript

Location of Chatterton manuscript Houghton Hyde room at Harvard

 Location of Chatterton's original handwritten manuscript :

 Houghton Hyde Room, Harvard University.

(Donald F. Hyde Collection)

We await the courtesy of a photograph of the original MS.

Chatterton's Second Letter to Dodsley

15th February, 1769

Chatterton's 2nd letter to Dodsley top of letter
Chatterton's 2nd letter to Dodsley bottom of letter

 The First Printing above is from: Britton's Redcliffe Church 1813 :   View

 The 'specimen of the Tragedy' Chatterton included in the letter, were the ten lines shown below from, Ó”lla  [Aella].  The complete work can be read here :  View

verse 1a Ye Chrystyans for Dodlsey page.jpg
verse 1b Ye Chrystyans for Dodlsey page.jpg
verse 1c Ye Chrystyans for Dodlsey page.jpg

Location of Chatterton's Original Handwritten Manuscript

Location of Chatterton manuscript Historical Society Pennsylvania

 Location of Manuscript: The rather grand

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

We await the courtesy of a photograph of the original MS.

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