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Article published In: Historiographia Linguistica
Vol. 27:1 (2000) ► pp.21–36

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Robert Dodsley and the Genesis of Lowth’s

Short introduction to english grammar

 | University of Leiden
Published online: 29 May 2000
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.27.1.03tie
Summary
On the basis of an analysis of the correspondence of the 18h-century London bookseller Robert Dodsley (1703–1764), a proposal is offered concerning the origin of Robert Lowth’s (1710–1787) Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762). The author presents arguments which suggest that Lowth’s grammar was not his own idea but that of Dodsley, who also invoked the assistance of another author whose work he published, William Melmoth (1710–1799). If this thesis holds, Lowth’s grammar is just as much the outcome of a ‘bookseller’s project’, as Dr Johnson’s Dictionary (1755), the idea for which, according to Johnson’s biographer Boswell, also came from Dodsley.
Résumé
Sur la base d’une analyse de la correspondance du libraire/éditeur de Londres, Robert Dodsley (1703–1764), cet article offre une proposition pour l’origine de la Short Introduction to English Grammar de Robert Lowth (1710–1787) de 1762. Selon l’auteur, cette grammaire ne semble pas avoir été l’idée de Lowth lui-même mais plutôt celle de Dodsley qui avait aussi demandé l’assistance d’un autre auteur publié par lui, William Melmoth (1710–1799). Selon cette hypothèse, la grammaire de Lowth est aussi bien le résultat d’un ‘projet des libraires’, tel que le fameux Dictionnaire du docteur Johnson de 1755, l’idée pour lequel venant, selon son biographe Boswell, aussi de Dodsley.
Zusammenfassung
Auf der Grundlage einer Analyse des Briefwechsels des in London lebenden Buchhändlers und Verlegers Robert Dodsley (1703–1764) wird in diesem Aufsatz eine These zur Entstehungsgeschichte der Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762) von Robert Lowth (1710–1787) vertreten, derzufolge die Grammatik nicht auf einer Idee von Lowth selbst beruhte, sondern von Dodsley stammte. Da Dodsley auch die Hilfe von William Melmoth (1710–1799), dessen Werke ebenfalls von Dodsley herausgegeben wurden, anrief, läßt sich schließen, daß die Lowth’sche Grammatik ebenso das Ergebnis eines ‘Verlegerprojekts’ war wie das berühmte Wörterbuch von Dr. Johnson (1755), das den Angaben von Boswell, dem Biographen Johnsons, zufolge ebenfalls von Dodsley initiiert worden war.
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