STEELE, SIR RICHARD

born 1672, Dublin, Ire. died Sept. 1, 1729, Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Wales pseudonym Isaac Bickerstaff English essayist, dramatist, journalist, and politician, best known as principal author (with Joseph Addison) of the periodicals The Tatler and The Spectator. Additional reading There is no systematic bibliography of Steele's works. Aitken's Life (see below) has a bibliography, as does Blanchard's edition of The Christian Hero (see below). Rae Blanchard has edited The Christian Hero (1932), the Correspondence (1941, reprinted 1970 with additional letters), Tracts and Pamphlets (1944, reprinted 1967), Occasional Verse (1952), The Englishman (1955), and Periodical Journalism, 171416 (1959). John Loftis has edited The Theatre, 1720 (1962); and Shirley Strum Kenny, The Plays (1971). Donald F. Bond has edited The Spectator, 5 vol. (1965); The Tatler was edited by G.A. Aitken, 4 vol. (189899, reprinted 1970). The most fully documented biography is G.A. Aitken, The Life of Richard Steele, 2 vol. (1889, reprinted 1968); more up-to-date are the biographies by Willard Connely, Sir Richard Steele (1934); and Calhoun Winton, Captain Steele: The Early Career of Richard Steele (1964) and Sir Richard Steele, M.P.: The Late Career (1970). See also John Loftis, Steele at Drury Lane (1952). Critical studies include Walter J. Graham, The Beginnings of English Literary Periodicals: A Study of Periodical Literature, 16651715 (1926, reprinted 1972); F.W. Bateson, English Comic Drama, 17001750 (1929); and A.R. Humphreys, Steele, Addison, and Their Periodical Essays (1959).