John Bowle (writer)

John Bowle (1725 – 1788) was an English clergyman, known today primarily for his ground-breaking, annotated edition of Cervantes's Don Quixote.

Bowle, called by his friends Don Bowle, was descended from Dr. John Bowle, bishop of Rochester. He was born on 26 October 1725, was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, and became M.A. in 1750. He was elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1776. Having entered holy orders, he obtained the vicarage of Idmiston (spelt Idemeston in his Don Quixote), in Wiltshire, where he died on 26 October 1788, aged 63.

Bowle was an erudite scholar, acquainted with French, Spanish, and Italian literature, and accumulated a large and valuable library, sold in 1790. He was a member of Samuel Johnson's Essex Head Club. He preceded John Douglas in detecting William Lauder's forgeries. He is the first to whom the term "Hispanist" was applied.

He published in 1765 Miscellaneous Pieces of Antient English Poesie, containing Shakespeare's King John, and some of the satires of John Marston. In 1777 he published a lengthy letter to Thomas Percy concerning a new edition of Cervantes's Don Quixote de la Mancha," 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. He gave also an outline of the life of Cervantes in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1781, and circulated proposals to print the work by subscription.

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