The Poetical Works of...

Object: Travelling Library
Accession #: 1969.4.1-59


The guest room currently displays a partial collection of John Bell's landmark publishing project, The Poets of Great Britain Complete from Chaucer to Churchill. Out of 109 volumes serially published between 1777 and 1782, Wilton has fifty-eight, assembled in a handmade, period display case labeled "Bell's British Poets 1780." Each of the featured authors works are spread over one to eight of the slim volumes. A life of the author, engraving of his likeness, and original, thematically-relevant vignette precedes an unabridged version of his works.


Bell was a pioneering publisher, both in his ambition to make all the works by the most esteemed British authors available under one collection, and in his attempt to make this collection affordable to the less well-to-do. To that end, he had it printed in a range of qualities marketed to customers with a much wider variety of disposable income than the typical audience of the time. Additionally, he allowed the volumes to be sold separately, rather than only in complete sets. Although Wilton's collection likely resulted from this policy, its features illustrate that it is among the higher end of Bell's tier of quality. Both the books and the display case feature gilded leather and marbleized paper, somewhat faded and embrittled with age. There is even a secret compartment behind the title-bearing top edge of the case!

From The Poetical Works of
John Dryden, v.II, 1778

To Bell, the collection represented an opportunity to capitalize on national pride. Building on the existing market for Greek and Latin classics, he wanted to compile all the English classics into one monumental collection. One of the earliest attempts to publish a comprehensive literary canon, it is likely to have appealed to a wealthy American family with proud British roots like the Randolphs.

Some of the problems attending Bell's enterprise include the challenge of compiling the works, biographies, and likenesses of fifty poets from various sources, the publisher's premises burning down in 1778, the untimely death of his illustrator, and a vigorous trade war from the powerful London booksellers lobby, not to mention the disruptive influence of the war with the American colonies. Of his extremely ambitious project, Bell is quoted as saying: "To describe the particular circumstances attending the progress of the publication of the Poets, would be painting a picture of misfortunes, which, if related, would cause mankind to doubt the practicability of surmounting them." Despite the difficulty it entailed, here at Wilton we are very glad Mr. Bell did complete his project. Even with only a partial collection, Bell's British Poets is a cherished member of the collection. 

Title page from The Poetical Works of
Abraham Cowley, v.I, 1777

Bibliography:

Bonnell, Thomas F. "John Bell's 'Poets of Great Britain:' The 'Little Trifling Edition' Revisited." Modern Philology 85 (1987), 128-152.