Robert Dodsley
Robert Dodsley | |
|---|---|
| Born | Error: Invalid birth date for calculating age near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England |
| Died | September 23, 1764 (aged 61) Durham, England |
| Occupation(s) | Bookseller, publisher, poet, playwright, author |
| Years active | 1729–1759 |
| Known for | Publishing works of Samuel Johnson; editing Select Collection of Old Plays and A Collection of Poems by Several Hands |
Robert Dodsley (13 February 1703 – 23 September 1764) was a multifaceted English figure known as a bookseller, publisher, poet, playwright, and author.
Life
Originating from a village near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, where his father served as a schoolteacher, Dodsley first trained as an apprentice to a stocking-maker. He then absconded to become a footman. His early literary achievements, combined with financial backing from acquaintances—including a £100 loan from Alexander Pope—allowed him to launch a bookselling enterprise at Tully's Head in Pall Mall, London in 1735.
Dodsley rapidly established himself as a prominent publisher, releasing works by distinguished writers such as Samuel Johnson. Notably, he paid ten guineas for Johnson’s poem London (1738) and also supported the publication of Johnson’s Dictionary. His catalogue included authors like Edward Young, Mark Akenside, Thomas Gray, the Reverend Joseph Spence, and Joseph Warton. He collaborated with the printer John Baskerville on several projects. In 1738, he faced brief incarceration due to the contentious release of Paul Whitehead's Manners.
In 1759, Dodsley withdrew from active business, entrusting management to his brother James Dodsley. He passed away while visiting Joseph Spence and was interred in Durham, England.
Works
Dodsley’s inaugural publication was Servitude: a Poem written by a Footman (1729), followed by A Muse in Livery, or the Footman's Miscellany (1732), both supported by patrons of high social standing. His theatrical contributions encompass the satirical farce The Toy-Shop (1735), the well-received King and the Miller of Mansfield (1737), its follow-up Sir John Cockle at Court (1738), and the tragedy Cleone (1758). The latter sold 2,000 copies on its opening day and underwent four editions within its first year.
He is chiefly recognized for editing two significant anthologies: the Select Collection of Old Plays (12 volumes, 1744; later editions expanded by Isaac Reed and William Carew Hazlitt) and A Collection of Poems by Several Hands (1748), which sought to preserve esteemed poetry beyond their initial printings. Due to its success, the poetry anthology grew to six volumes by 1758.
Dodsley also initiated several literary periodicals: The Museum (1746–1767), The Preceptor (1748) featuring an introduction by Dr Johnson, The World (1753–1756), and The Annual Register (1758) with Edmund Burke as editor. Contributors included notable figures such as Horace Walpole, Akenside, Soame Jenyns, Lord Lyttelton, Lord Chesterfield, and Burke himself.
Among his later notable publications were The Select Fables of Esop (1761), which remained in circulation for many years with contributions from Dodsley and his associates, and the posthumous three-volume edition of the Works of William Shenstone (1764–1769), carefully compiled to showcase Shenstone’s finest writings.
List of selected works
See also
Bibliography
- Knight, Charles. Shadows of the Old Booksellers. London: Bell and Daldy, 1865.
- "At Tully's Head." Included in Eighteenth Century Vignettes, 2nd series. Edited by Austin Dobson. London: Chatto and Windus, 1907.
- Banham, Martin. The Cambridge Guide to the Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
- Dickens, Charles. "The Muse in Livery" featured in "Household Words, A Weekly Journal" Vol. 11, No. 13, Whole No. 266, 1855
- Hartnoll, Phyllis. The Oxford Companion to the Theatre. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983.
- Solomon, Harry M. The Rise of Robert Dodsley: Creating the New Age of Print. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1996.