Literary Correspondences of the Tonsons

"This edition presents the literary correspondences of the Tonsons, that is, those letters which shed light on the functioning of their publishing house, the rise of the author, the creation of literature, literary canons, and what Abigail Willilams calls 'Whig literary culture.' It also provides exemplary letters from Tonson's retirement which shows networks of friendship and patronage at work and which mark significant moment in the lives of the Tonsons. It proves that the study of these individuales, through their own words and those of those with whom they corresponded, is an important witness to their wider agency in political, diplomatic, ecclesiastical, theatrical, musical, architectural, academic, legal, and social history in late Stuart and early Hanoverian England-and in Europe."