Alexander Pope

GILES JACOB (1686-1744)

The poetical register: or, The lives and characters of all the English poets. With an account of their writings

London: Printed and sold by A. Bettesworth, W. Taylor and F. Batley [etc.] 1723

This is a useful, and early, bio-bibliography, a reference tool much like today’s Oxford Companions. The author, however, ran afoul of Alexander Pope for criticizing the play Three Hours After Marriage (1717), which had been written by John Gay with anonymous assistance from John Arbuthnot and Pope, and Jacob duly appears as one of the dunces in The Dunciad.  Jacob had better luck with his various legal reference books, including the very popular Every Man His Own Lawyer.

ALEXANDER POPE (1688-1744) 

The Dunciad, variorum. With the prolegomena of Scriblerus 

London, Printed for A. Dod, 1729 

From the collection of Stanley Marcus. Gift of Linda Marcus, 2003. 

OWEN RUFFHEAD (1723-1769) 

The life of Alexander Pope, esq., comp. from original manuscripts; with a critical essay on his writings and genius 

London: C. Bathurst [etc.], 1769 

“Digested from Bishop Warburton’s materials at his request.” Cf. DNB 

ALEXANDER POPE (1688-1744) 

The works of Alexander Pope ... in verse and prose containing the principal notes of Drs. Warburton and Warton, to which are added, now first published, some original letters, with additional observations, and memoirs of the life of the author, by the Rev. William Lisle Bowles ... ; illustrations, and critical and explanatory remarks, by Johnson, Wakefield, A. Chalmers ... and others . 

London: Printed for J. Johnson...[et al.], 1806 

From the collection of Margaret Morton Blum. 

MAYNARD MACK 

Alexander Pope: A Life 

New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985