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Joseph Cottle (1770–1853) was an English publisher and author. Cottle started business in Bristol. He published the works of
Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...
and
Robert Southey Robert Southey (; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic poetry, Romantic school, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth an ...
on generous terms. He then wrote in his ''Early Recollections'' an exposure of Coleridge that was, at the time, severely criticised and generally condemned.


Life

Joseph Cottle was born on 9 March 1770 in Barton Alley,
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
.Basil Cottle, ''Joseph Cottle of Bristol'' (Bristol Historical Association pamphlets, no. 65, 1987), p. 1
/ref> He was the brother of Amos Simon Cottle but did not receive his classical education; he was for two years at the school of Richard Henderson. Henderson advised him to become a bookseller, and Cottle set up in business in 1791. In 1794 he made, through Robert Lovell, the acquaintance of Coleridge and Southey, then in Bristol and preparing for emigration to America. Coleridge had been offered in London six guineas for the copyright of his poems, but Cottle offered thirty, and the same sum to Southey, also proposing to give the latter fifty guineas for his ''Joan of Arc'', and 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 hundred lines of poetry he might produce after the completion of the volume already contracted for. This eventually appeared in April 1796. ''Joan of Arc'' was published in the same year. Cottle next undertook the publication and support of Coleridge's periodical, ''The Watchman''. He was shortly afterwards introduced by Coleridge to
William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...
, and the acquaintance resulted in the publication of the two poets' ''
Lyrical Ballads ''Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems'' is a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, first published in 1798 and generally considered to have marked the beginning of the English Romantic movement in literature. ...
'' in the autumn of 1798. In the following year Cottle retired from business as a bookseller. His acquaintance with Coleridge was renewed years later. When in 1814 and 1815 Coleridge was at a low ebb by his
opium Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...
addiction, Cottle addressed to him some well intended rebukes. In his ''
Biographia Literaria The ''Biographia Literaria'' is a critical autobiography by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, published in 1817 in two volumes. Its working title was 'Autobiographia Literaria'. The formative influences on the work were William Wordsworth's theory of poe ...
'', 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.' Cottle died at Fairfield House, Bristol, 7 June 1853.


Works

He produced several volumes of his own. ''Malvern Hills'' was published in 1798, ''John the Baptist, a Poem'', in 1801, ''Alfred, an Epic Poem'', in the same year, ''The Fall of Cambria'' in 1809, ''Messiah'' in 1815. These pieces exposed him to the sarcasm of
Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...
. 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 Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his '' Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book '' Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764� ...
. A second edition was published in 1847 under the title of ''Reminiscences of Coleridge and Southey''. The appendix to the fourth 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 Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...
, and their fossils. His correspondence with Joseph Haslewood on the Rowley manuscripts is preserved in the British Museum.


Bibliography

* ''Early Recollections'' *
Essays on Socinianism
' * ''Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey''
full text
at
Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...
)


References

;Attribution


External links


Image of Cottle
at the
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cottle, Joseph 1770 births 1853 deaths 19th-century British publishers (people) Robert Southey Samuel Taylor Coleridge