Memoirs of the life, writings, and amours of William Congreve, Esq. : interspersed with miscellaneous essays, letters, and characters written by him : also some very curious memoirs of Mr. Dryden and his family, with a character of him and his writings by Mr. Congreve - Wilson, Charles, Esq.; Oldmixon, Mr. (John), 1673-1742.; Pre-1801 Imprint Collection (Library of Congress); John Davis Batchelder Collection (Library of Congress) (London : [s.n.], 1730)
Primarily a pastiche of previous published material and gossip. Charles Wilson is believed to be a pseudonym, probably of John Oldmixon. Cf. Edmund Gosse's Life of William Congreve, p. viii, etc.
Divided into two parts, the 1st of which is not so numbered and the 2nd of which has only caption title: Memoirs, &c., part II.
The publisher may be bookseller Edmund Curll, with whose 1730 ed. of Mr. Congreve's last will and testament this work is often found bound, as here.
The last 2 leaves are an index to the work and to a different ed. of Congreve's will and testament, giving further grounds for believing that Curll is the publisher and that he issued the two works together.
Signatures: A-Hp8(B, p2(BA-Kp8(B.s
With: Congreve, William. Mr. Congreve's last will and testament. London : Printed for E. Curll ..., 1730. Copy 2 -- Victor, Benjamin. Memoirs of the life of Barton Booth, Esq. London : Printed for John Watts at the Printing-Office in Wild-Court ..., 1733. The Memoirs of Congreve and his Will and testament were probably issued together, with the Memoirs of Booth bound in subsequent to publication. LC copy has the Will and testament mistakenly bound between the 1st and the 2nd parts of the Memoirs of Congreve.
Keywords: Congreve, William, -- 1670-1729.; Dryden, John, -- 1631-1700.; Authors, English -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- Biography; Dramatists, English -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- Biography