Books and Authors

by Anonymous

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Pages: 184

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About this book

A basket of family papers at Wotton yields John Evelyn's diary, opening this collection of literary anecdotes with the recovery of a manuscript. The anonymous compiler gathers short sketches, remembered conversations, jests and curious incidents about writers and their books. Its contents range from the Blue-Stocking Club and Johnson's London haunts to the origins of pen names, publishing payments and disputed authorship.

Literary life appears through objects and places as much as through famous names. Dryden has a favourite chair at Will's Coffee-house, while Button's receives contributions to The Guardian through a lion-head letter box. Another sketch recounts a review editor's earnest response to Byron's joke about a bribe. These compact pieces suit readers interested in the social habits of authors, the business of writing and the small stories that gather around books.