Literary Texts and Collections

Abstract

Poetry led the way in the gradual abandonment of the capital in the middle decades of the eighteenth century. An analysis of texts and letters by James Thomson and Thomas Gray, however, reveals the inconsistencies in textual presentation at mid-century. An examination of classical texts (Horace’s in particular) shows the variety of ways in which poetry in Latin could be presented, edited, translated, and imitated. Alexander Pope, in particular, was adept at manipulating typographical form as he edited and imitated Horace’s epistles. Changes in the typographical presentation of plays began with William Congreve, and an analysis of the various editions of Shakespeare in the eighteenth century reveals that this neoclassical form of presentation lasted throughout the period. The change from the old style of printing conventions to the new style began with Jacob Tonson’s collected edition of 1723 and Pope’s of 1725—although individual plays were often printed in the older style. This new style was also adopted earlier in the century by the Gentleman’s Magazine, Robert Dodsley’s collections of old plays and contemporary poetry, and in other anthologies and journals (but not in newspapers). The emerging novel of the 1740s provides an opportunity to examine these typographical changes in the hands of Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne, and the varying ways in which these authors and their printers handled quotations and dialogues.