The Paston Letters Ad 1422 1509 V6 1904

Author : James Gairdner
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781330892510
Total Pages : 348 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (925 download)

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Download or read book The Paston Letters, Vol. 1 written by James Gairdner and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-07 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Paston Letters, Vol. 1: A. D., 1422-1509, New Complete Library Edition, Edited With Notes and an Introduction And in spite of all that was artificial and affected in his character, - in spite even of the affectation of pretending a snobbish interest in ancient duchesses - Walpole was one of the fittest men of that day to appreciate such a publication. Miss Hannah More was less easily pleased, and she no doubt was the type of many other readers. The letters, she declared, were quite barbarous in style, with none of the elegance of their supposed contemporary Rowley. They might perhaps be of some use to correct history, but as letters and fine reading, nothing was to be said for them.1 It was natural enough that an age which took this view of the matter should have preferred the forgeries of Chatterton to the most genuine productions of the fifteenth century. The style of the Paston Letters, even if it had been the most polished imaginable, of course could not have exhibited the polish of the eighteenth century, unless a Chatterton had had some hand in their composition. Yet the interest excited by the work was such that the editor had no reason to complain of its reception. The Paston Letters were soon in everybody's hands. The work, indeed, appeared under royal patronage, for Fenn had got leave beforehand to dedicate it to the King as 'the avowed patron' of antiquarian knowledge. This alone had doubtless some influence upon the sale; but the novel character of the publication itself must have excited curiosity still more. A whole edition was disposed of in a week, and a second edition called for, which, after undergoing some little revision, with the assistance of Mr. George Steevens, the Shakspearian editor, was published the same year. Meanwhile, to gratify the curious, the original ms. letters were deposited for a time in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries; but the King having expressed a wish to see them, Fenn sent them to Buckingham Palace, then called the Queen's Palace, requesting that, if they were thought worthy of a place in the Royal Collection, His Majesty would be pleased to accept them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.