A Collection of Poems by Several Hands

The best-selling anthology of the eighteenth century, A Collection of Poems by Several Hands was edited by Alexander Pope’s protege, Robert Dodsley. It includes poems by Samuel Johnson, Thomas Gray, David Garrick, Lady Mary Wortley Montague, Horace Walpole, Joseph and Thomas Warton, James Thomson, Elizabeth Carter, Pope and many others. Begun as a three volume work in 1748, the Collection had grown to six volumes by 1758, and went through eleven editions in thirty-four years. Together with his brother James, Dodsley became the most celebrated publisher of the age. In 1755 The Edinburgh Review judged the anthology much more valuable than any other of the same kind and the Gentleman’s Magazine (1780) called it the best in our language. Although the Collection occupied a central place in eighteenth century literary culture, it has not been in print for more than two hundred years. This edition (1782) includes additional annotations by James Dodsley and biographical and historical notes by Isaac Reed. A new critical introduction by the bibliographical historian Michael Suarez describes the editorial, printing, marketing and readership history of Dodsley’s Collection. A new and comprehensive Index to all the poems is included in Volume 6.