Author: [COOPER (Elizabeth), editor]:
Title: The Historical and Poetical Medley:; Or Muses Library; Being A Choice and Faithful Collection of the best Antient English Poetry, from the Times of Edward the Confessor, to the Reign of King James the First. With The Lives and Characters of the know Writers taken from the most Authentick Memoirs. Being The most valuable Collection of the Kind now extant, affording Entertainment upon all Subjects whatsoever.
Description: London: Printed for T. Davies..., 1738. 8vo, 193 x 112 mms., pp. [vii], viii - xvi, 400, contemporary calf, red leather label; front joint and hinge cracked, top and base of spine chipped, corners worn, with a cypher bookplate on the front down end-paper, and the pink bookplate of Patrick M. Nery on the verso of the cancelled title-page. Elizabeth Cooper (née Price, c. 1698 - 1761) made the acquaintance of literary men in her husband's auction rooms, and she had William Oldys as her collaborator for this volume, which was first published in 1737. Yvonne Noble in Oxford DNB notes, "The Muses Library is competent in every respect and remains well worth reading. It has been credited by reputable modern scholars as the model for Samuel Johnson's format in his Lives of the Poets and as the chief inspiration for Thomas Chatterton's antique style." David Baker, in his Companion to the Playhouse (1764) said, "we must rank [her] among the Female Geniuses of this Kingdom." This is a reissue of the 1737 edition, with a cancel title-page; the final leaf has been reset.

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