Kate Chisholm

A mighty contest from trivial things — the quarrel between Alexander Pope and Edmund Curll

An obscure battle over copyright between the poet and the Grub Street bookseller becomes a prism through which Pat Rogers views the upheavals of the period

Portrait of Alexander Pope by William Hoare. Credit: Getty Images 
issue 05 June 2021

Rapid technological advance, a dark underworld of uncensored publishing, a threatened rupture with Scotland, even fears of a new outbreak of plague. Close scrutiny of the first few decades of the 18th century reveals some startling (and oddly reassuring) parallels with our own trying times. In his new book, Pat Rogers, an expert on the writings of Alexander Pope and much else, resurrects what you might think was an obscure battle over copyright between Pope and the Grub Street bookseller and printer Edmund Curll.

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