Eighteenth-Century Political Biographies

Series Editor: J A Downie

The most prominent writers of the eighteenth century, such as Swift and Defoe, Addison and Steele, Pope, Gay, Fielding and Johnson, were actively involved in writing pamphlets and periodical essays which were overtly political. Other writers well known in their own day whose literary reputations are beginning to rise once more – such as John Toland, Delarivier Manley and Eliza Haywood – were also heavily employed in the writing of political polemic.

Situating the writings of the period against the background of the lives of the men and women who wrote them, the series provides present-day readers with an unrivalled means of recuperating the meaning of texts from the past. The series has a multi-disciplinary approach, appealing to scholars of History, Political Studies, Political Science, Political Thought, English Literature, Religion and Philosophy in the eighteenth-century period.

Send us a Proposal
We invite submissions from established scholars and first-time authors alike. Prospective authors should send a detailed proposal with a rationale, chapter outlines and at least two sample chapters alongside a brief author's biography and an anticipated submission date.

For detailed information on submitting a proposal, including an example of a successful submission, please click here.

Please contact either Mark Pollard, Publishing Director (mpollard@pickeringchatto.co.uk) or J A Downie (a.downie@gold.ac.uk) for preliminary review.

Readership

The series will have a multi-disciplinary approach appealing to all scholars of History, Political Studies, Political Science, Political Thought, English Literature, Religion, and Philosophy in the eighteenth century period.

Editorial board

J A Downie is Professor of English at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He has published widely on English literature and politics in the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, including a biography of Swift, Jonathan Swift, Political Writer (1984). His other books include Robert Harley and the Press: Propaganda and Public Opinion in the Age of Swift and Defoe (1979) and To Settle the Succession of the State: Literature and Politics, 1678-1750 (1994). He has also edited the ‘Party Politics’ volume of Pickering & Chatto’s The Complete Works of Daniel Defoe, and is currently editing The Poor Man’s Plea and The Great Law of Subordination consider’d for the same series.

Published titles

Forthcoming titles

A Political Biography of Eliza Haywood
Kathryn King
(June 2012)
A Political Biography of Frances Burney
Lorna J Clark
(2016)
A Political Biography of Joseph Addison
Charles Knight
(2014)
A Political Biography of Maria Edgeworth
Susan Manly
(2016)
A Political Biography of Samuel Johnson
Nicholas Hudson
(June 2013)
A Political Biography of Thomas Paine
W A Speck
(June 2013)

Download leaflet pdfs

Eighteenth-Century Political Biographies leaflet

Return to top

To place a standing order for books in this or any other series email sales@pickeringchatto.co.uk. Please include the name of each series in which you are interested and indicate whether you have already bought earlier books in the series.