John Bowle (writer)

John Bowle (1725–1788) was an English clergyman and scholar, known today primarily for his ground-breaking, annotated edition of the early 1600s Miguel de Cervantes novel Don Quixote.

Having entered holy orders, he obtained the vicarage of Idmiston (spelt Idemeston in his Don Quixote), north of Salisbury in Wiltshire, where he died on 26 October 1788, his 63rd birthday.

[4] An erudite scholar who was often in London,[5] Bowle was acquainted with French, Spanish, and Italian literature, and accumulated a large and valuable library, sold in 1790.

[2] In a form of advertising of the day, Bowle published in 1777 a lengthy letter to his friend, the medievalist Thomas Percy, concerning a planned new edition of the Miguel de Cervantes novel Don Quixote, to be illustrated by annotations and extracts from the historians, poets, and romances of Spain and Italy, and other writers, ancient and modern, with a glossary and indexes.

[2] In 1784 Bowle complained in The Gentleman's Magazine, in four pseudonymously-signed letters, and in 1785 he published Remarks on the Extraordinary Conduct of the Knight of the Ten Stars and his Italian Squire, to the editor of Don Quixote.

[1] One of Baretti's points was that John Talbot Dillon, a Spanish-speaker also associated with the Don Quixote project, needed recognition, while Bowle treated the language solely as written.

In Archaeologia are remarks on the old pronunciation of the French language, musical instruments mentioned in Le Roman de la Rose, parish registers, and playing cards.