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Joseph Cottle

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Joseph Cottle (1770 - 7 June 1853) was an English poet and publisher. He published the earliest books by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey, as well as the groundbreaking Lyrical Ballads.

Joseph Cottle

Joseph Cottle (1770-1853). Portrait by Nathan Cooper Branwhite (?1775-1857). Courtesy Old Somerset.

Life[]

Youth and education[]

Cottle was the younger brother of poet Amos Cottle but did not receive the same classical education.[1]

He was for 2 years at the school of Richard Henderson, who "so stimulated his love of reading that before he was twenty-one he had read more than a thousand volumes of the best English literature."[1]

Career[]

On Henderson's advice Cottle became a bookseller, setting up in business in 1791.[1]

In 1794, through Robert Lovell, he made the acquaintance of Coleridge and Southey, then in Bristol and preparing for emigration to America. Coleridge had been offered in London 6 guineas for the copyright of his poems, but Cottle offered 30, and the same sum to Southey, also proposing to give the latter 50 guineas for his Joan of Arc, and also made arrangements for the lectures delivered on behalf of pantisocracy. He facilitated Coleridge's marriage by the promise of a guinea and a half for every 100 lines of poetry he might produce after the completion of the volume already contracted for. Coleridge's Poems on Various Subjects eventually appeared in April 1796. Southey's Joan of Arc was published in the same year.[1]

Cottle next undertook the publication and support of Coleridge's periodical, The Watchman. He was shortly afterwards introduced by Coleridge to William Wordsworth, and the acquaintance resulted in the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads in the autumn of 1798.[1]

In 1799 Cottle retired from business as a bookseller, and for the next few years published volumes of poetry: Malvern Hills’ in 1798, John the Baptist and Alfred in 1801, The Fall of Cambria in 1809, and Messiah in 1815. These pieces attracted sufficient attention to expose him to the sarcasm of Byron,[1]

His acquaintance with Coleridge was renewed years later. When in 1814 and 1815 Coleridge was at a low ebb by his opium addiction, Cottle addressed to him some well intended rebukes. In his Biographia Literaria, Coleridge alludes to Cottle as "a friend from whom I never received any advice that was not wise, or a remonstrance that was not gentle and affectionate."[1]

Against advice from Thomas Poole and James Gillman, Cottle, in his Early Recollections: Chiefly relating to Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1837), enumerated his generosities to Coleridge and Southey, and entered into details of Coleridge's opium habit. "The confusion in Cottle's Recollections is greater than any one would think possible," said Southey; the book is inaccurate in its dates, and documents quoted are garbled. It has details on others such as Robert Lovell and William Gilbert. It has youthful portraits of Coleridge, Southey, Wordsworth, and Charles Lamb. A 2nd edition was published in 1847 under the title of Reminiscences of Coleridge and Southey.[1]

Cottle died at Fairfield House, Bristol.[1]

Writing[]

The appendix to the 4th edition of his Malvern Hills (1829) contains several essays, including an account of his tutor Henderson, a discussion of the authenticity of the Rowley poems, and a description of the Oreston Caves, near Plymouth, and their fossils. His correspondence with Joseph Haslewood on the Rowley manuscripts is preserved in the British Museum.[1]

Publications[]

Poetry[]

  • Poems. Bristol, UK: Bulgin & Rosser, for G.G. & J. Robinson, London, 1795.
  • Malvern Hills: A poem. London: T.N. Longman, 1798.
  • Malvern Hills, and other poems. Bristol, UK: Biggs & Cottle, for T.N. Longman & O. Rees, London, 1802.
  • John the Baptist: A poem. Bristol, UK: Biggs & Cottle, for T.N. Longman & O. Rees, London, 1802.
  • Alfred: An epic poem in twenty-four books. Bristol, UK: Biggs, for Longman and Rees, London, 1804.
  • The Fall of Cambria: A poem. (2 volumes), Bristol, UK: Harris & Bryan, for Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme, London, 1808.
  • Messiah: A poem, in twenty-eight books. Bristol, UK: Mary Bryan, for Button, London, 1815.
  • An Expostulatory Epistle to Lord Byron. London: T.J. Manchee, for Cadell & Davies, 1820.
  • Dartmoor, and other poems. London: T.J. Manchee, for T. Cadell, 1823.
  • Hymns and Sacred Lyrics. London: T. Cadell, 1828.

Non-fiction[]

Juvenile[]

  • Felix the Woodcutter; or, Good and evil: A moral tale for youth. Boston: Thomas B. Wait / Charles Williams, 1812.

Collected editions[]

Translated[]

Edited[]

  • Thomas Chatterton, Works (edited with Robert Southey). (2 volumes), Bristol, UK: Biggs & Cottle, for T.N. Longman & O. Rees, London, 1803. Volume II
  • Selection of Poems: Designed chiefly for xchools and young persons. Bristol, UK: Long & Dennis, for J. Johnson, London, 1805; Bristol, UK: Mary Bryan, for Button, London, 1815; Bristol, UK: T.J. Manchee, for T. Cadell, London, 1823.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[2]

See also[]

References[]

  •  Garnett, Richard (1887) "Cottle, Joseph" in Stephen, Leslie Dictionary of National Biography 12 London: Smith, Elder, p. 296  . Wikisource, Web, May 19, 2016.

Notes[]

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Garnett, 296.
  2. ↑ Search results = au: Joseph Cottle, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, May 19, 2016.

External links[]

Poems
Books
About

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Cottle, Joseph

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