This two-volume work, originally published in 1705 and now reissued in John Nichols' edition of 1818, was one of the earliest examples of autobiographical writing in English. John Dunton (1659 1732), a highly eccentric bookseller and publisher, was also responsible for one of the first periodicals in London, the Athenian Gazette, which invited its readers to submit questions on any topic, to be answered by the Athenian Society, a group of learned men (in fact, Dunton himself and some cronies). However, he was not a practical businessman, and the death of his wife and his own illness led to...

Sir Richard Steele (1672 1729), soldier, courtier and dramatist, is best remembered for his founding of two literary and political periodicals, the Tatler and the Spectator (the latter jointly with his friend Joseph Addison). These two volumes of his letters to friends and family were compiled by the publisher John Nichols and published in 1809. Nichols claims in his preface that these letters, 'some of them evidently scribbled when their amiable Author was probably not in the very best condition for penmanship', are nonetheless of great interest, 'as they contain the private and undisguised...

Sir Richard Steele (1672 1729), soldier, courtier and dramatist, is best remembered for his founding of two literary and political periodicals, the Tatler and the Spectator (the latter jointly with his friend Joseph Addison). These two volumes of his letters to friends and family were compiled by the publisher John Nichols and published in 1809. Nichols claims in his preface that these letters, 'some of them evidently scribbled when their amiable Author was probably not in the very best condition for penmanship', are nonetheless of great interest, 'as they contain the private and undisguised...