Endymion "Biography"

[Darkling10]

Hello all,

I've lurked around this forum for a while and enjoyed learning and following conversations. I'm hoping that my fellow Keats lovers can help me with an assignment I have.

I'm in graduate school and studying Library and Information Science with a concentration in Rare Books. For one of my classes I have to write a "biography" of a book so of course I chose to research something with Keats. I'm writing about Endymion; I was able to see several first edition copies at the New York Public Library, one of them being Woodhouse's annotated copies. (This was one of the top five greatest days of my life.)

What I need help with is a bit odd- but does anyone know anything about the font/typography used to print Endymion?

Also, the printer is T. Miller. I feel like Mr. Miller is a ghost as I cannot find any information about him. This could be that he was "just a printer" but I would have expected to find something. If anyone knows anything about the printer, or a resource where I could find something I'd be highly appreciative.

And finally, I have to refer to early works of Endymion, things that inspired Keats to write it. I have some things that I have written about already but was wondering if anyone had any other literary connections I might be able to look into.

I'm sure I'll have more questions as the assignment progresses but these are the two points I'm stumbling on most right now.

I am extremely grateful for any help! I've had a lot of fun researching for this assignment so far and am glad I get to use a grad class as an excuse to learn more about my favorite poet

Rebecca

[Sid13]

Hello, Rebecca. If you haven't looked them up already, you should read Michael Drayton's two poems about Endymion (Endimion and Phoebe and the later poem The Man in the Moon) as sources for Keats's poem.

I agree that Thomas Miller was probably just a printer. He seems to have worked closely with Taylor and Hessey. Besides Endymion, he printed for them books by Clare, Hazlitt, Reynolds, and Cary's translations of Dante. In fact all but three of the books printed by Miller that I could find in a casual web search were for Taylor and Hessey. However, they certainly did not work exclusively with Miller. The Lamia volume, for example, was printed by someone else. I did stumble across one odd item. Miller is credited as the printer on the title page of Letters, Poems, and Miscellaneous Papers of the Late James Tyson, dated 1822. The strange thing about this is that Miller died in May 1821. At first I speculated that perhaps his son with his same name took up his business. But since Miller was only 38 when he died, the hypothetical Tom Jr. would have been only a teenager at most at the time. Perhaps his widow kept up the printing shop.

I hope some of this may be of use to you. Anyway, good luck on your project.

Sid

[Darkling10]

Thank you for your reply Sid! I wasn't too sure about the Michael Drayton lead that I had earlier picked up but since you mentioned it I will look more closely into it.

I had known some of what you mentioned, but thank you for sharing everything! I agree that from what I have found he seems to have been the principal printer for Taylor and Hessey for a good amount of time. May I ask where you found that Miller died in May 1821?

This was absolutely useful! Thank you again!

[Sid13]

Rebecca, I came (by way of Google) across an obituary for Miller in the European Magazine and London Review. It's very short, just "May 13. Mr. Thomas Miller, printer, Noble-street, Cheapside, aged 38." (Their obituary for Keats a couple of hundred pages earlier is just as brief: "February 23. At Rome, of a decline, John Keats, the poet, aged 25.")

Sid

[linda0012]

Rebecca, I came (by way of Google) across an obituary for Miller in the European Magazine and London Review. It's very short, just "May 13. Mr. Thomas Miller, printer, Noble-street, Cheapside, aged 38." (Their obituary for Keats a couple of hundred pages earlier is just as brief: "February 23. At Rome, of a decline, John Keats, the poet, aged 25.")

Sid

What were you trying to say actually sid? I actually could not understand it.

[Sid13]

Rebecca, I came (by way of Google) across an obituary for Miller in the European Magazine and London Review. It's very short, just "May 13. Mr. Thomas Miller, printer, Noble-street, Cheapside, aged 38." (Their obituary for Keats a couple of hundred pages earlier is just as brief: "February 23. At Rome, of a decline, John Keats, the poet, aged 25.")

Sid

What were you trying to say actually sid? I actually could not understand it.

I was just quoting the very terse obituary notice the European Magazine and London Review published for the printer Thomas Miller (because Rebecca had asked me where I had read of Miller's death), and then, for comparison, added the same magazine's obituary for Keats.

Sid