Prizewinner: Joint winner of the Robert and Vineta Colby Scholarly Book Prize 2013, awarded by The Research Society for Victorian Periodicals 'Shakespeare, [ Maginn] commented, recreates for us the wonderful court of princes, beggars, judges, swindlers, heroes, bullies, gentlemen, scoundrels, justices, thieves, knights tapsters and the rest whom he drew about him, and this is what David Latane, in the teeth of considerable difficulty, has done for Maginns world.' Times Literary Supplement '... What this biography does achieve is to piece together, at times ingeniously, the fragmented and wayward life of a unique man of letters.' Library and Information History '... Latané's book thus makes an unusually valuable contribution to modern scholarship on early-nineteenth-century British periodical culture. ... with its wealth of literary and political details and anecdotes, this is a book that belongs in the library of any scholar interested in Blackwood's, Fraser's, and nineteenth-century British periodicals in general.' NBOL19 Latanés study does a fine job of balancing a careful assessment of Maginns excesses with an appreciation of his immense productivity. Latané has offered an extraordinary picture of the bustling world of literary London that[ ...] runs against the grain of Romantic stereotypes of creative genius. BARS Review '[ The book] is a significant study of the dilemma of working with words that has troubled writers, authors, editors, publishers and scholars from the nineteenth century to the present day. ... a pleasure to read. Always clear and well-crafted, the prose is often enhanced with unexpectedly apt turns of phrase ...' Victorians Institute Journal
