The Poet and the Publisher: The Case of Alexander Pope, Esq., of Twickenham versus Edmund Curll, Bookseller in Grub Street

Description

The quarrel between the poet Alexander Pope and the publisher Edmund Curll has long been a notorious episode in the history of the book, when two remarkable figures with a gift for comedy and an immoderate dislike of each other clashed publicly and without restraint. However, it has never, until now, been chronicled in full. Ripe with the sights and smells of Hanoverian London, The Poet and Publisher details their vitriolic exchanges, drawing on previously unearthed pamphlets, newspaper articles and advertisements, court and government records, and personal letters. The story of their battles in and out of print includes a poisoning, the pillory, numerous instances of fraud, and a landmark case in the history of copyright. Indecently entertaining, the book is a forensic account of events both momentous and farcical.

Pat Rogers is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Liberal Arts at the University of South Florida and an acknowledged authority on Pope. A prolific author and editor, his books include Edmund Curll, Bookseller, with Paul Baines (2007); A Political Biography of Alexander Pope (2010); and the Oxford World's Classics editions of Pope's work.

'Drawing on deep familiarity with the period and its personalities, Pat Rogers has given us a witty and richly detailed account of the ongoing war between the greatest poet of the eighteenth century and its most scandalous publisher. Cleverly presented as the trial of Pope v. Curll, with scores of documents as "exhibits" and with posterity as jury, the narrative fully justifies the author's comment that "Pope and Curll are both inherently funny."' - Leo Damrosch, author of the bestselling The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age