Robert Boulter and the Publication of Andrew Marvell’s Miscellaneous Poems

Andrew Marvell’s Miscellaneous Poems (1681) is a puzzling folio. While the title page announces Marvell’s parliamentary credentials, its political intent was blunted by the cancellation of the poems on Cromwell from all but two known copies. The signs of this abridgement at press are obvious. What the strange appearance of the folio combined with the removal of the Cromwell poems might mean for our understanding of Miscellaneous Poems has received a good deal of scholarly attention. Most scholars agree that the deletion of the Cromwell poems was an act of self-censorship on the part of the publisher, Robert Boulter, either for financial reasons or because Boulter hesitated at the political consequences of making panegyrics on Cromwell public. Critics argue that the two surviving copies containing the Cromwell poems somehow evaded the process of cancellation. This essay argues that these existing theories are flawed. New bibliographic evidence proves that the Cromwell poems survived for reasons at odds with current assumptions. And tracing Boulter in state papers, newsletters, treatises, and probate and parish records reveals a deeply partisan man unlikely to baulk at the publication of Cromwell memorabilia. Examining newly discovered records about Boulter together with the bibliographical evidence, this essay considers the motivations underlying the publication of the folio and challenges how we view the censorship of Miscellaneous Poems.