Title: The Lives of the Most Famous English Poets (1687)
Author: William Winstanley
Commentator: William Riley Parker
Release Date: March 25, 2005 [EBook #15461]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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The lives
Of the Most Famous
English Poets.
(1687)
By
William Winstanley.
A facsimile reproduction with an introduction by William Riley Parker
Gainesville, Florida
scholars’ facsimiles &
reprints
1963
Scholars’ facsimiles &
reprints
1605 N.W. 14th Ave.
Gainesville, Florida, U.S.A.
Harry R. Warfel, general editor
Reproduced from A copy
owned by
Harry R. Warfel
L.C. Catalog card number: 63-7095
Manufactured in the U.S.A.
Letterpress by J.N. ANZEL,
Inc.
Photolithography by Edwards
Brothers
binding by Universal-Dixie
bindery
Introduction
This book merits more attention and respect from literary historians than thus far have been accorded it. The case must be stated carefully. The work has obvious faults and limitations, which probably account for its never having been reprinted since its appearance in 1687. Almost forty percent of it is largely or entirely derivative. Its author, William Winstanley (1628?-1698), was undoubtedly a compiler and a hack-writer; his attitudes and methods can hardly be termed “scholarly.” Nevertheless, this pioneer in biographical and bibliographical research was more nearly a scholar than the man he is usually alleged to have plagiarized; he wanted to see the books that Edward Phillips was often content merely to list by title in his Theatrum Poetarum (1675), and altogether, for his own enjoyment and that of his readers, he quoted from the works of more than sixty poets. Moreover, unlike Phillips, he tried to arrange his authors in chronological order, from Robert of Gloucester to Sir Roger L’Estrange.