Tottel's Miscellany

📅 1557 ✏️ Richard Tottel (compiler/publisher) 📖 Richard Tottel

TudorRenaissanceSonnetFirst Anthology16th CenturyEnglish

Tottel's Miscellany (1557), formally titled 'Songes and Sonettes,' is the first printed English poetry anthology. Compiled and published by the London printer Richard Tottel, it introduced the poetry of Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, to the English reading public and established the printed anthology as a literary form.

Overview

Songes and Sonettes, written by the ryght honorable Lorde Henry Haward late Earle of Surrey, and other — known universally as Tottel's Miscellany — was published on 5 June 1557 by the London printer Richard Tottel. It is the first printed anthology of English poetry and one of the most important books in English literary history.

The first edition contained 310 poems attributed to four named poets and a large group of "uncertain authors":

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey — 40 poems, including the first English sonnets in the form that would become the "Shakespearean" sonnet
Sir Thomas Wyatt — 97 poems, including the first English Petrarchan sonnets
Nicholas Grimald — 40 poems (reduced to 10 in the second edition)
Uncertain Authors — 133 poems of varying quality and attribution

Historical Significance

Before Tottel's Miscellany, English poetry circulated primarily in manuscript among courtly circles. Tottel's decision to print these poems made them available to a literate public for the first time. The anthology went through at least nine editions between 1557 and 1587, making it a genuine bestseller by Tudor standards.

The collection introduced the English sonnet to a broad readership. Surrey's poems, in particular, established the three-quatrain-and-couplet form (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG) that Shakespeare would later adopt. Without Tottel's Miscellany, the Elizabethan sonnet tradition — and arguably Shakespeare's Sonnets — would have developed very differently.

Editorial Interventions

Tottel heavily edited many of the poems, particularly Wyatt's, to regularise their metre according to mid-sixteenth-century tastes. Modern scholars have restored Wyatt's original texts, revealing a rawer, more complex poet than Tottel's smoothed versions suggest. This editorial intervention makes Tottel's Miscellany an early case study in the power of anthology editors to reshape literary reputations.

Legacy

Tottel's Miscellany established the printed poetry anthology as a viable commercial and literary form in English. Every English-language poetry anthology published since — from Palgrave to Norton — follows in its wake.

Related Anthologies

Palgrave's Golden Treasury

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Tottel's Miscellany?

Tottel's Miscellany (1557), formally titled 'Songes and Sonettes,' is the first printed English poetry anthology. Published by London printer Richard Tottel, it introduced the poems of Sir Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey to the reading public and established the anthology as a literary form.

Why is Tottel's Miscellany important?

It was the first printed poetry anthology in English, it introduced the sonnet form to a broad audience, and it established the commercial viability of poetry collections. Surrey's sonnet form (published here) directly influenced Shakespeare.

Last updated: 2026-07-01