The Complete Spectator

Abstract

The Spectator was one of the greatest publishing sensations of the eighteenth century. The first multivolume collected edition was in the press before the original series had been concluded, and it soon appeared in luxury illustrated volumes, pocket formats, and schoolroom editions. This chapter charts the first hundred years of the Spectator’s life in print, focusing on complete editions produced in the British Isles. The account begins with the Tonsons’ bookselling dynasty, and their dominance of the London Spectator market for the first half of the century, taking in the first illustrations of the papers and the first scholarly edition. In Scotland and Ireland a parallel market flourished, and Scottish writers were responsible for landmark scholarly editions at the turn of the nineteenth century. The chapter is accompanied (in an Appendix) by a descriptive catalogue of complete editions of the Spectator from 1712 to 1812, accounting for 79 editions (over 600 volumes). The catalogue is a key resource for further study of The Spectator, its afterlives, and influence.