Joseph Cottle – författare

Thomas Chatterton (1752-70) was only seventeen when he died of arsenic poisoning. Among his family and friends he was known as a versifier with a fascination for medieval manuscripts, but none suspected the true scope of his work. At eleven, he was already writing poetry, and by the end of his life his love poems, eclogues and forged medieval pieces numbered in the hundreds. Chatterton is best known for the Rowley poems, which he claimed were transcribed from the work of a fifteenth-century monk. Although the precocious skill of his forgeries, once exposed, often went unrecognised by critics, Chatterton's legacy influenced the Romantics for decades after his death. This three-volume collection of his work, edited by Joseph Cottle and Robert Southey, first appeared in 1803. Volume 1 includes his earliest poetry, and a biography by George Gregory (also reissued separately in this series).

Thomas Chatterton (1752-70) was only seventeen when he died of arsenic poisoning. Among his family and friends he was known as a versifier with a fascination for medieval manuscripts, but none suspected the true scope of his work. At eleven, he was already writing poetry, and by the end of his life his love poems, eclogues and forged medieval pieces numbered in the hundreds. They were to influence the Romantics for decades after his death. This three-volume collection of his work, edited by Joseph Cottle and Robert Southey, first appeared in 1803. Volume 2 contains the Rowley poems, for which Chatterton is best known. Ironically, they were never published under his own name in his lifetime: he claimed that the poems were transcripts he had taken from the work of Thomas Rowley, a fifteenth-century monk. The value of these ambitious forgeries is still underappreciated.

Thomas Chatterton (1752-70) was only seventeen when he died of arsenic poisoning. Among his family and friends he was known as a versifier with a fascination for medieval manuscripts, but none suspected the true scope of his work. At eleven, he was already writing poetry, and by the end of his life his love poems, eclogues and forged medieval pieces numbered in the hundreds. Chatterton is best known for the Rowley poems, which he claimed were transcribed from the work of a fifteenth-century monk. Although the precocious skill of his forgeries, once exposed, often went unrecognised by critics, Chatterton's legacy influenced the Romantics for decades after his death. This three-volume collection of his work, edited by Joseph Cottle and Robert Southey, first appeared in 1803. Volume 3 includes Chatterton's prose works, selected letters, some contemporary discussion of his work, and Cottle's account of the Rowley manuscripts.

Published in 1847 by Joseph Cottle (1770-1853), this work recounts his relationship with Coleridge and Southey, whom he first met in 1794 as a successful bookseller in Bristol. Cottle went on to finance a number of the Romantic poets' publications, including Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads (1798), which is seen as marking the start of Romanticism. A reworking of Cottle's controversial Early Recollections (1837), Reminiscences was criticised upon publication for being exaggerated and misleading, coloured by the breakdown of the author's friendship with the poets, as well as revealing information about disputes, moneylending and Coleridge's opium addiction. In spite of its shortcomings, the work gives a uniquely valuable insight into the lives and characters of the Romantic poets by a member of their inner circle. Cottle's memoir has much to reveal about the poets' private lives and artistic influences during a key moment in the Romantic period.

The reminiscences of Bristol bookseller Joseph Cottle (1770-1853) have been described as 'unreliable but essential'. The son of a tailor, Cottle was an avid reader, opening a bookshop in 1791. Three years later he was introduced to Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey, and became the earliest publisher of their works: through them, he also knew Wordsworth, and published the Lyrical Ballads in 1798. He later fell out with all three men, and in 1837 published (despite Southey and Coleridge's family attempting to prevent it) this quickly notorious two-volume work, through which Cottle lost an expensive libel case in which he was sued by Hannah More's coachman. Ten years later, he recast the book as Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey (also reissued in this series). Both works contain evasions and distortions, but are valuable for their account of some vital years in the lives of the great Romantic poets.

The reminiscences of Bristol bookseller Joseph Cottle (1770-1853) have been described as 'unreliable but essential'. The son of a tailor, Cottle was an avid reader, opening a bookshop in 1791. Three years later he was introduced to Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey, and became the earliest publisher of their works: through them, he also knew Wordsworth, and published the Lyrical Ballads in 1798. He later fell out with all three men, and in 1837 published (despite Southey and Coleridge's family attempting to prevent it) this quickly notorious two-volume work, through which Cottle lost an expensive libel case in which he was sued by Hannah More's coachman. Ten years later, he recast the book as Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey (also reissued in this series). Both works contain evasions and distortions, but are valuable for their account of some vital years in the lives of the great Romantic poets.