Isaac D'Israeli

Isaac D'Israeli (11 May 1766 – 19 January 1848) was an English writer and scholar, father of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1868 and 1874-1880) Benjamin Disraeli. It had John Murray as editor.

Biography

He was born in Enfield, Middlesex, England, in May 1766; His father was a Jewish merchant who had emigrated from Venice some years ago. He received most of his education in Leiden, and at age 16 began his literary career with some verses dedicated to Samuel Johnson.

He wrote the work Mejnoun and Leila, an oriental story, but his fame was assured with his best and best-known work, Curiosities of Literature, a collection of anecdotes about historical people and events, unknown books, and habits of book collectors. The work was very popular and sold massively in the 19th century, through many editions—it was published in four volumes for several years until they were unified into one—and it is still in print. One of his books, The Life and Kingdom of Charles I (1828), was awarded a prize by the University of Oxford.

Work

• The Life and Reign of Charles I [1828]
• Illustrations of the Literary Character
• Mejnoun and Leila.
• Curiosities of Literature (4 volumes [1791-1823]; 1 vol. [1824]) (text outline)
• A Dissertation on Anecdotes [1793]
• An Essay on the Literary Character [1795]
• Miscellanies; or, Literary Recreations [1796]
• Romances [1799]
• Amenities of Literature [1841]
• Calamities of Authors [1812-3]
• Quarrels of Authors [1814]
• The Genius of Judaism [1833]