Image ID: 21176

Robert Dodsley, Publisher and Poet

Courtesy of Mansfield Museum and Art Gallery

Mansfiel
England

Dodsley was a playwright and publisher, and was born in Mansfield in 1704. His father was a teacher at the local grammar school and he was apprenticed to a stocking weaver when young. Robert did not enjoy this work so he ran away to London and took a job as a footman. He was a great reader and published his first book of poetry in 1732. His work was admired by Alexander Pope, and it was through his influence that Dodsley's play 'Toy Shop' was performed at Covent Garden in 1735 with great success. He set up as a bookseller, but still continued to write plays, such as 'Rex et Pontifex' (1745), and 'Cleone' (1758). He published work by Dr Johnson, Pope, and others, and founded the Annual Register with Edmund Burke in 1759. He is chiefly remembered for his Select Collection of Old Plays (12 volumes written between 1744 and 45) and his Poems by Several Hands (3 volumes in 1748 and 6 volumes in 1758). Dodsley died in 1764.

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