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- Title
George Cheyne and ‘The Catechism’: A Missing Title from the Press of Samuel Richardson.
- Authors
Shuttleton, David E.
- Abstract
The correspondence between the physician and medical author George Cheyne and his friend and patient, the London master-printer Samuel Richardson, contains several references to the future novelist undertaking the printing of a ‘Catechism’ on Cheyne’s behalf in 1738. This work was undertaken by way of a favour for which Cheyne remained immensely grateful. The item itself, which was probably intended for largely private circulation, has hitherto eluded bibliographers. This essay sets out the circumstances surrounding this printing commission and, for the first time, firmly identifies the title in question. It also establishes that the author of ‘the Catechism’ was not, as has sometimes been supposed, Cheyne himself, but James Allen a member of the physicians’ circle of predominantly Scottish Episcopalian pietists who had a shared interest in ‘internal religion’. These findings will be of concern to bibliographers and historians of the book interested in tracing the productions of Richardson’s press as well as literary scholars concerned to clarify the possible significance of Richardson’s exposure to this loose-knit religious grouping and their often literary engagement with distinctly Continental forms of pietism.
- Subjects
UNITED Kingdom; PRINTING; CHEYNE, George, 1673-1743; RICHARDSON, Samuel, 1689-1761; ALLEN, James; ENGLISH catechisms; HISTORY of printing
- Publication
Library, 2011, Vol 12, Issue 1, p37
- ISSN
0024-2160
- Publication type
Essay
- DOI
10.1093/library/12.1.37