Creator
John Brightland & Charles Gildon
Title
A Grammar of the English Tongue
Coverage
London
Publisher
John Brightland
Date
1711
Description
Primary authorship is customarily given to Gildon (1665–1724), described by the Dictionary of National Biography as “one of the most unfortunate scribblers of his time.” He was satirized in Alexander Pope’s Dunciad and denounced by Jonathan Swift. To promote the book, the authors appropriated Swift’s pseudonym—Isaac Bickerstaff—as the book’s “censor” and attributed laudatory comments to him: “Buy, read, and study this Grammar.” By 1714, it was in a third edition.