Isaac D'Israeli

The son of a Venetian merchant, Isaac D'Israeli studied at Enfield school and in Amsterdam and Leyden. Upon his return to England he lived in Exeter where he knew Hugh Downman and became a prolific writer of popular essays. He corresponded with Vicesimus Knox and was a participant, with Bowles, Byron, and Campbell, in the Pope controversy. At a time when literary histories of English literature were few, D'Israeli's famous anecdotal collections were important conduits through which knowledge of literary history reached a broad readership. He was the father of Benjamin Disraeli, the novelist and politician.

TEXT RECORDS:

1790A Defence of Poetry.
1791On the use of the Pagan Mythology in Poetry.
1791The Living Language.
1793Poet Laureate.
1793Romances.
1794The Poets Laureat.
1796On French and English Poetry, and on Some French Words.
1820Spence's Anecdotes of Books and Men.

PUBLICATIONS:

A defence of poetry. 1790.
Curiosities of Literature. 1791.
Eighty-nine fugitive fables. 1792.
A dissertation on anecdotes. 1793.
Domestic anecdotes of the French nation. 1794.
An essay on the manners and genius of the literary character. 1795.
Miscellanies, or literary recreations. 1796, 1801.
Vaurien: or sketches of the times. 2 vols, 1797.
Mejnoun and Leila: the Arabian Petrarch and Laura. 1797.
Romances. 1799, 1801, 1807.
The loves of Mejnoun and Leila. 1800.
Narrative poems. 1803.
Flim flams! or the life and errors of my uncle, and the amours of my aunt! with an illuminating index! 3 vols, 1805.
Despotism: or the fall of the Jesuits. 2 vols, 1811.
Calamities of authors: including some inquiries respecting their moral and literary characters. 2 vols, 1812.
Quarrels of authors: or some memoirs for our literary history. 3 vols, 1814.
An inquiry into the literary and political character of James I. 1816.
Psyche. 1823?
Commentaries on the life and reign of Charles the First, King of England. 5 vols, 1828-31.
Eliot, Hampden, and Pym. 1832.
Genius of Judaism. 1833.
The illustrator illustrated. 1838.
Miscellanies of literature. 1840.
Amenities of Literature: consisting of sketches and characters of English literature. 2 vols, 1841.
A letter from I. D'Israeli to C. P. Cooper. 1857.
Works, ed. Benjamin Disraeli. 7 vols, 1859.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

English
Jewish
Dissenter

Enfield School
Dissenting academy
Leyden

essayist
historian

European Magazine
The Monthly Magazine
The Monthly Review
Gentleman's Magazine
Quarterly Review

James Pettit Andrews
Lord Byron
John Wilson Croker
Rev. Thomas Frognall Dibdin
Dr. Hugh Downman
Rev. Richard Hole
Rev. Vicesimus Knox
John Herman Merivale
John Murray
John Nichols
Henry James Pye
Samuel Rogers
Elizabeth Ryves
William Seward
Robert Southey
John Taylor Esq.
Dr. John Wolcot

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL; CBEL (3rd ed); DLB.

"Biographical Sketch of D'Israeli" Monthly Mirror 2 (December 1796) 451-59 [portrait]; David Rivers, Literary Memoirs of Living Authors (1798); Poetical Register for 1801 (1802); John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes (1812-15); Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors (1816); A New Biographical Dictionary of 3000 Cotemporary Public Characters (1825); William Maginn, "Gallery of Literary Characters: Israel D'Israeli, Esq." Fraser's Magazine 5 (April 1832) 321 [portrait]; Allan Cunningham, "Literature of the last Fifty Years" The Athenaeum (14 December 1833) 851; Robert Chambers, Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844); John Mitford, "D'Israeli's Amenities" Gentleman's Magazine NS 17 (1842) 342-66; Robert Chambers, Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844); Illustrated London News (29 January 1848) [portrait]; obituary in Gentleman's Magazine NS 30 (July 1848) 97-99; Benjamin Disraeli, memoir in Curiosities of Literature (1849); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); C. C. Smith, "Isaac D'Israeli" in North American Review 90 (1860); William Jerdan, Men I have Known (1866) 178-82; [Portrait in Works, 1881]; Maclise Gallery (1898); Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05); C. L. Cline, "Unpublished Notes on the Romantic Poets" Texas Studies in English (1941); C. L. Cline, "The Correspondence of Robert Southey and D'Israeli" Review of English Studies 17 (1941); W. S. Samuel, "D'Israeli: First Published Writings" Notes and Queries 30 (April 1949); Nangle, Index to Monthly Review (1955); Jack, OHEL (1963); Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database (1995).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Isaac D'Israeli:

1.	1794  William Seward, "On Leaving a Letter of Introduction from Mr. D'Israeli to Mr. Jackson, Organist of the Cathedral of Exeter, who was from Home" Whitehall Evening Post (26 July 1794).
2.	1813  Robert Southey to Neville White, 25 January 1813; Life and Correspondence (1849-50) 4:16.
3.	1814  Lord Byron, Journal, 17 March 1814; Letters and Journals, ed. Rowland E. Prothero (1898-1901) 3:401-02.
4.	1816 ca.  Washington Irving, 1816 ca.; Samuel Smiles, in A Publisher and his Friends: Memoir of John Murray (1891) 2:127.
5.	1823  T. Crofton Croker to William Blackwood, 26 March 1823; Margaret Oliphant, William Blackwood and his Sons (1897) 1:517.
6.	1823  William Maginn, in Blackwood's Magazine (March 1823); Noctes Ambrosianae, ed. Mackenzie (1854) 1:282-83.
7.	1824  Thomas Frognall Dibdin, in The Library Companion (1824; 1825) 2:742n.
8.	1824  John Herman Merivale, Diary Entry, 19 December 1824; Anna Wilhelmina Merivale, Family Memorials (1884) 248.
9.	1832  William Lisle Bowles to Philip Bliss, 26 May 1832; Garland Greever, A Wiltshire Parson and his Friends (1926) 136.
10.	1832  William Maginn, "Gallery of Literary Characters: Israel D'Israeli, Esq." Fraser's Magazine 5 (April 1832) 321.
11.	1833  Allan Cunningham, in "Biographical and Critical History of the Literature of the last Fifty Years" The Athenaeum (14 December 1833) 851.
12.	1838  Henry Fothergill Chorley, 8 May 1838; Autobiography, Memoirs, and Letters (1873) 1:190-92.
13.	1848 ca.  Edgar Allan Poe, "Marginalia CLXXVII" 1848 ca; Works (1853) 3:567.
14.	1866  William Jerdan, in Men I have Known (1866) 179-80.
15.	1882  Margaret Oliphant, in The Literary History of England (1882) 2:373-78.
16.	1891  Samuel Smiles, "Isaac D'Israeli" A Publisher and his Friends: Memoir of John Murray (1891) 1:141-55.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Isaac D'Israeli:

1.	1798  David Rivers, in Literary Memoirs of Living Authors (1798) 1:158-59.
2.	1816  Anonymous, in Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors (1816) 95-96.
3.	1825  Anonymous, "I. D'Israeli, Esq." A New Biographical Dictionary of 3000 Cotemporary Public Characters (1825) 2:510-12.
4.	1844  Robert Chambers, in Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844; 1850) 2:688.
5.	1848  Benjamin Disraeli, Life of Isaac D'Israeli (1848) in D'Israeli, Works (1859) 1:viii-xxxvii.
6.	1848  Anonymous, Obituary in Gentleman's Magazine NS 30 (July 1848) 97-99.
7.	1883  William Bates, after William Maginn; Maclise Gallery (1883; 1898) 102-06.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1790  Henry James Pye:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Defence of Poetry (1790) 3-4.
2.	1790  Dr. John Wolcot:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Defence of Poetry (1790) 5.
3.	1791  Samuel Boyse:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Curiosities of Literature (1791) 1:63.
4.	1791  Rev. Peter Heylyn:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Curiosities of Literature (1791) 1:492-93.
5.	1791  Samuel Johnson:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Curiosities of Literature (1791) 1:82.
6.	1791  William Lauder:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Curiosities of Literature (1791) 1:254.
7.	1791  Rev. Henry More:   Isaac D'Israeli, in "Modern Platonism" Curiosities of Literature (1791; 1866) 810.
8.	1791  Sir Walter Raleigh:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Curiosities of Literature (1791) 1:317.
9.	1791  William Shenstone:   Issac Disraeli, "Shenstone's Schoolmistress" Curiosities of Literature (1791; 1866) 360-62.
10.	1791  Sir Richard Steele:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Curiosities of Literature (1791) 1:231-32.
11.	1793  Bp. William Bedell:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Curiosities of Literature (1793) 2:14.
12.	1793  Sir William Cavendish:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Curiosities of Literature (1793) 2:40.
13.	1793  Dr. Erasmus Darwin:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Curiosities of Literature (1793) 2:47.
14.	1793  Ben Jonson:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Curiosities of Literature (1793) 2:114.
15.	1804  Sir John Davies:   Isaac D'Israeli, "Sir John Davies" The Monthly Magazine 18 (August 1804) 43.
16.	1809  Sir Richard Steele:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Review of Drake, Essays ... illustrative of the Tatler, Spectator, Guardian; Quarterly Review 1 (May 1809) 402.
17.	1812  John Campbell:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Calamities of Authors (1812; 1881) 84-85.
18.	1812  John Dennis:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Calamities of Authors (1812; 1881) 52.
19.	1812  Michael Drayton:   Isaac D'Israeli, "Miseries of Successful Authors" in Calamities of Authors (1812); Works (1881) 5:209-12.
20.	1812  John Dryden:   Isaac D'Israeli, "Miseries of Successful Authors" in Calamities of Authors (1812); Works (1881) 5:204-07.
21.	1812  Rev. Robert Herrick:   Isaac D'Israeli, in "Illusions of Writers in Verse" Calamities of Authors (1812); Works (1881) 5:214-15.
22.	1812  Nathaniel Lee:   Isaac D'Israeli, "Illusions of Writers in Verse" Calamities of Authors (1812); Works (1881) 5:213-14.
23.	1812  Rev. Andrew Macdonald:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Calamities of Authors (1812) 1:208-10.
24.	1812  William Julius Mickle:   Isaac D'Israeli, "Miseries of Successful Authors" Calamities of Authors (1812); Works (1881) 5:207-09.
25.	1812  John Oldmixon:   Isaac D'Israeli, in "Authors by Profession" Calamities of Authors (1812-13); Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05) 3:125.
26.	1812  Matthew Prior:   Isaac D'Israeli, "Illusions of Writers in Verse" in Calamities of Authors (1812); Works (1881) 5:215-18.
27.	1812  Thomas Rymer:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Calamities of Authors (1812; 1881) 85.
28.	1812  Rev. Percival Stockdale:   Isaac D'Israeli, "Illusions of Writers in Verse" Calamities of Authors (1812); Works (1881) 5:218-24.
29.	1812  Horace Walpole:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Calamities of Authors (1812; 1881) 50-51.
30.	1814  Rev. Richard Bentley:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Quarrels of Authors (1814) 3:299-300.
31.	1814  John Gilbert Cooper:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Quarrels of Authors (1814) 1:121-22.
32.	1814  Sir William Davenant:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Quarrels of Authors (1814) 2:223-24.
33.	1814  Thomas Dekker:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Quarrels of Authors (1814) 3:149.
34.	1814  Thomas Edwards:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Quarrels of Authors (1814) 3:295-97.
35.	1814  Bp. Richard Hurd:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Quarrels of Authors (1814) 1:126-31.
36.	1814  William King:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Quarrels of Authors (1814) 73-76.
37.	1814  Andrew Marvell:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Quarrels of Authors (1814) 2:203-04.
38.	1814  Dr. Henry Stubbe:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Quarrels of Authors (1814) 1:37-39.
39.	1814  Rev. Jonathan Swift:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Quarrels of Authors (1814) 3:297-99.
40.	1814  Leonard Welsted:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Quarrels of Authors (1814) 1:156.
41.	1815  Helen Maria Williams:   Isaac D'Israeli to John Murray, 1815; Smiles, A Publisher and his Friends: Memoir of John Murray (1891) 1:280.
42.	1817  George Steevens:   Isaac D'Israeli, "On Puck the Commentator" Curiosities of Literature (1817; 1866) 486-89.
43.	1820  Joseph Addison:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Review of Spence's Anecdotes, Quarterly Review 23 (July 1820) 420-21.
44.	1820  Lady Mary Wortley Montagu:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Review of Spence's Anecdotes, Quarterly Review 23 (July 1820) 414-19.
45.	1820  Alexander Pope:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Review of Spence's Anecdotes, Quarterly Review 23 (July 1820) 433-34.
46.	1820  Nicholas Rowe:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Review of Spence's Anecdotes, Quarterly Review 23 (July 1820) 421-22.
47.	1820  Rev. Joseph Spence:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Review of Spence's Anecdotes, Quarterly Review 23 (July 1820) 402-07.
48.	1822  Rev. William Lisle Bowles:   Isaac D'Israeli to Lord Byron, 19 July 1822, in Byron, Letters and Journals, ed. Rowland E. Prothero (1898-1901) 6:86-87.
49.	1822  Rev. Henry John Todd:   Isaac D'Israeli to Lord Byron, 10 June 1822; Byron, Letters and Journals, ed. Rowland E. Prothero (1898-1901) 6:84.
50.	1825  Rev. Thomas Frognall Dibdin:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Quarterly Review 32 (1825) 152.
51.	1829  John Wilson Croker:   Isaac D'Israeli to John Wilson Croker, 6 July 1829; The Croker Papers, ed. Louis J. Jennings (1884) 1:439-41.
52.	1832  Alexander Pope:   Isaac D'Israeli to Samuel Rogers, February 1832; Clayden, Rogers and his Contemporaries (1889) 2:79-80.
53.	1836  Edward Bysshe:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Curiosities of Literature (1836; 1881) 3:497-98.
54.	1836  John Campbell:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Curiosities of Literature (1836; 1881) 3:507.
55.	1836  Elizabeth Cooper:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Curiosities of Literature (1836; 1881) 3:507 & n.
56.	1836  Gerard Langbaine:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Curiosities of Literature (1836; 1881) 3:500-02.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(biography records)

1.	1797  Elizabeth Ryves:   Isaac D'Israeli, "Hasty Recollections of an Unfortunate Genius" Monthly Magazine 4 (September 1797) 212-15.
2.	1809  Sir Philip Sidney:   Isaac D'Israeli, Review of Thomas Zouch, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Sir Philip Sidney; Quarterly Review 1 (February 1809) 77-92.
3.	1809  Rev. Percival Stockdale:   Isaac D'Israeli, Review of Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Percival Stockdale; Quarterly Review 1 (May 1809) 371-86.
4.	1812  Thomas Churchyard:   Isaac D'Israeli, from Calamities of Authors (1812); Works (1881) 26-28.
5.	1812  William Collins:   Isaac D'Israeli, "Disappointments Disordering the Intellect" in Calamities of Authors (1812); Works (1881) 5:178-86.
6.	1812  Gabriel Harvey:   Isaac D'Israeli, in Calamities of Authors (1812; 1881) 117-30.
7.	1836  William Oldys:   Isaac D'Israeli, "Oldys and his Manuscripts" in Curiosities of Literature (1836; 1881) 3:499-502.