§8. John Dunton. I. Defoe—The Newspaper and the Novel. Vol. 9. From Steele and Addison to Pope and Swift. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes. 1907

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Volume IX. From Steele and Addison to Pope and Swift.

I. Defoe—The Newspaper and the Novel.

§ 8. John Dunton.

Space is wanting for a full discussion of the evolution of journalism between the fall of The Observator and the founding of The Review. A few meagre newspapers sprang up to rival The Gazette so soon as James had fled the kingdom, and, between 1690 and 1696, John Dunton, the eccentric bookseller, later famous for his Life and Errors and for his absurd political pamphlets, published his Athenian Gazette, afterwards The Athenian Mercury, as an organ for those curious in philosophical and recondite matters.