Park, Thomas, 1759-1834

English antiquary and bibliographer.

Thomas Park was born in 1759 and spent his early life training to be an engraver. In 1797 he changed his occupation, turning his total attention instead to literature and antiquities. In 1792 he published his first volume of verse. He went on to publish more verse but mainly he edited many historical and literary works. He died in 1834.

Thomas Park (1759-1834) was an antiquary and bibliographer. In 1792 he met William Cowper, who encouraged him to publish his poems, which he did as Sonnets and other Small Poems (1797). He also became a prolific editor, editing such works as Nugae antiquae: a miscellaneous collection of papers by Sir John Harington, selected by the late Henry Harington, and newly arranged, with illustrative notes, 2 vols. (1804). His poetry editions include Sharpe's Works of the British Poets (1805-8), published in forty-two volumes, with a supplement in six more volumes; Dryden's Fables from Boccaccio and Chaucer, collated with the best editions (2 vols., 1806); and Horace Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors, Enlarged and Continued (1806), with many portraits. He also edited Harleian Miscellany (1808-13); Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. By Bishop Percy (1812); Cooke's Translation of Hesiod for the Greek and Roman Poets (1813); Ritson's Select Collections of English Songs, with their Original Airs (1813); and Heliconia: a Selection of English Poetry between 1575 and 1604 (1815). Park was also a collector, especially of English poetry and of portraits of poets.