OF POPE'S COLLECTED EDITIONS OF HIS WORKS.
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he Works of Mr. ALEXANDER POPE. London: Printed by W.BOWYER for BERNARD LINTOT, between the Temple Gates, 1717.4to and folio. This volume consists of all the acknowledged poems which Pope hadhitherto published, with the addition of some new pieces. The Works of Mr. ALEXANDER POPE. Volume ii. London: Printedby J. WRIGHT, for LAWTON GILLIVER, at Homer's Head in FleetStreet, 1735. 4to and folio. The volume of 1735 contains, with a few exceptions, the poems which Popehad printed since 1717. The pages of each group of pieces--Epistles,Satires, Epitaphs, etc.--are numbered separately, and there are otherirregularities in the numbers, arising from a change in the order of theMoral Essays after the sheets were struck off. Letters of Mr. ALEXANDER POPE, and Several of his friends.London: Printed by J. WRIGHT for J. KNAPTON in LudgateStreet, L. GILLIVER in Fleet Street, J. BRINDLEY in New BondStreet, and R. DODSLEY in Pall-Mall, 1737. 4to and folio. This is Pope's first avowed edition of his letters. A half-title, "TheWorks of Mr. Alexander Pope in Prose," precedes the title-page. The Works of Mr. ALEXANDER POPE, in Prose. Vol. ii. London:Printed for J. and P. KNAPTON, C. BATHURST, and R. DODSLEY,1741. 4to and folio. The half-title is more precise: "The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, inProse. Vol. ii. Containing the rest of his Letters, with the Memoirs ofScriblerus, never before printed; and other Tracts written eithersingly, or in conjunction with his friends. Now first collectedtogether." The letters are the Swift correspondence, and they are in adifferent type from the rest of the book. The numbers of the pages arevery irregular, and show that the contents and arrangement of the volumehad been greatly altered from some previous impression. The folio copiesof the two volumes of poetry, and the two of prose, are merely thequarto text portioned out into longer pages, without a single leaf beingreprinted. The trifling variations from the quartos were introduced whenthe matter was put into the folio size. The Works of ALEXANDER POPE, ESQ.; vol. i. with explanatoryNotes and Additions never before printed. London: Printedfor B. LINTOT, 1736. Small 8vo. This is the first volume of an edition which extended to nine volumes,and which from the want of uniformity in the title-pages, the dates, andnames of the publishers appears to consist of odd volumes. The copyrightof Pope's works belonged to different proprietors, and they at lastagreed to print their respective shares in small octavo, that theseveral parts united might form a complete set. Each proprietorcommenced printing his particular section of the octavos when theprevious sizes he had on hand were sold, and thus it happened that thesecond volume of the edition came out in 1735 before the first, whichwas published in 1736. The series was not finished till 1742, when thefourth book of the Dunciad was added to the Poems, and the SwiftCorrespondence to the Letters. Some of the volumes were reprinted, andthe later editions occasionally differ slightly from their predecessors.The Poems and Letters of Pope are more complete in the octavos than inthe quartos, but the octavos, on the other hand, omit all the proseworks except the Letters, and the Memoirs of Scriblerus, and octavos andquartos combined are imperfect in comparison with the editions whichhave been published since Pope's death.
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