This chapter seeks to triangulate three key figures in the world of books: Pope, the elite author; John Dennis, a writer in the middle ranks (though he aspired to a higher station, something that he has partially achieved in modern times as a critic); and Curll, the populist bookseller who did not know his place. The discussion follows the interweaving careers of this trio, as the story of their dealings confirms how central their role was in the battle of the books taking place before and after The Dunciad – a site where Dennis as author and Curll as publisher are made to stand for their respective professions. Each man was useful to the others in one way or another. His adversaries would take advantage of the resources of print culture to engage Pope where the literary, the religious, and the political routinely met. In this way, the critic and the publisher came to operate in a perverse synergy with the poet.

The central topic here is the entity known as ‘Grub Street’, referring to the milieu comprising figures in the book trade and to their output. Various ways of defining this term are outlined, including historical, sociological, topographical, national, legal, political, educational, technical, moral, and conceptual modes of approach. A brief comparison is made between English experience and the world of clandestine literature in France during the Enlightenment. The bookseller’s quarrels with Pope and Defoe are analysed, along with the notion of ‘Curlicism’, invented by Defoe and proudly adopted by Curll himself. A range of publishing stratagems and misleading devices are described to illustrate Curll’s practice. Two notable features are his proclivity for issuing wills of recently deceased figures of note; and his repeated insertion of ‘keys’ to scandalous materials he published on current celebrities.

Swift obviously built his writings on some of the traditions of high culture, such as the classical literature of Greek and Rome, but he also drew on an alternative heritage deriving from less august sources. This chapter provides a concise account of the uses Swift made in his writings of some topics and forms that stood outside the mainstream of polite literature in his day. This includes sections on his hoaxes and parodies; his interactions with the material and practices of Grub Street; his use of the street ballad form; his treatment of daily, chiefly urban, life; and his description of popular entertainments in Gulliver.