The Rise of Robert Dodsley: Creating the New Age of Print - Hardcover

"I doubt whether Dodsley's brother would thank a man who should write his life, yet Dodsley himself was not unwilling that his original low condition should be recollected. When Lord Lyttelton's "Dialogues of the Dead "came out, one of which is between Apicius, an ancient epicure, and Dartineuf, a modern epicure, Dodsley said to me, 'I knew Dartineuf well, for I was once his footman.'" --Samuel Johnson, from Boswell's "Life of Johnson" "I doubt whether Dodsley s brother would thank a man who should write his life, yet Dodsley himself was not unwilling that his original low condition should be recollected. When Lord Lyttelton s Dialogues of the Dead came out, one of which is between Apicius, an ancient epicure, and Dartineuf, a modern epicure, Dodsley said to me, I knew Dartineuf well, for I was once his footman. " Samuel Johnson, from Boswell s Life of Johnson" "I doubt whether Dodsley s brother would th" "I doubt whether Dodsley' s brother would thank a man who should write his life, yet Dodsley himself was not unwilling that his original low condition should be recollected. When Lord Lyttelton' s "Dialogues of the Dead "came out, one of which is between Apicius, an ancient epicure, and Dartineuf, a modern epicure, Dodsley said to me, ' I knew Dartineuf well, for I was once his footman.' " -- Samuel Johnson, from Boswell' s "Life of Johnson "

This is the story of Robert Dodsley (1703-1764) who started life as an apprentice weaver, developed into a poet and playwright, and became his century's premier bookseller and publisher. He served as a protege, publisher, or patron of Pope, Johnson, Fielding, Richardson, and many others.