The Early Roxburghe Club 18121835

Book Club Pioneers and the Advancement of English Literature

By (author) Shayne Husbands

Publication date:

21 August 2017

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

229x153mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781783086900

The Roxburghe Club, founded in 1812, has an unbroken publishing history from 1814 to the present day. The Early Roxburghe Club 1812–1835 offers a new narrative for the formative years of the Roxburghe Club, for the ‘bibliomania’ of the Romantic period and for early nineteenth-century antiquarian culture and its relationship to the emergent popularity and status of English vernacular literature. By examining in detail the make-up and membership of the club, including its social and political affinities, this revised history of the first two decades of its existence offers both an alternative view of the early club and its significant contribution to the move between antiquarian and scholarly areas of influence in the study of English literature.

List of Figures; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Chapter 1. The Persistence Of Myth; Chapter 2: Scandal, Libel And Satire; Chapter 3. The Roxburghe Club and the Politics of Class; Chapter 4: Politics, Religion, Money; Chapter 5. Club Members And Their Book Collections; Chapter 6. The Passion For Print; Chapter 7. The Literary Works Of The Roxburghe Club Members; Chapter 8. The Club Editions; Chapter 9: The Legacies Of The Club; Conclusion; Appendix 1: The Club Membership 1812– 1835 177; Appendix 2: Roxburghe Club Editions 1812– 1835; Bibliography; Index.

‘A helpful study, distinguished by its careful archival research and insight into the relationship between the history of knowledge and the history of sociable networks. Husbands sheds new light on the early years of the Roxburghe Club and the role that Regency bibliophiles played in the development of literary scholarship.’
—Deidre Lynch, Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature, Harvard University, USA