Robert Dodsley

Robert Dodsley, 1703–64, English publisher and author. He wrote occasional verses, and also several plays, including The King and the Miller of Mansfield (1737); a ballad opera, The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green (1741); and the tragedy Cleone (1758). He is best known, however, as the publisher of works by Pope, Johnson, Gray, and Goldsmith and as the editor ...

Robert Dodsley, 1703–64, English publisher and author. He wrote occasional verses, and also several plays, including The King and the Miller of Mansfield (1737); a ballad opera, The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green (1741); and the tragedy Cleone (1758). He is best known, however, as the publisher of works by Pope, Johnson, Gray, and Goldsmith and as the editor of A Select Collection of Old Plays (12 vol., 1744) and A Collection of Poems by Several Hands (6 vol., 1748–58). He founded with Burke the Annual Register (1758), which still exists.