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A transcript of a letter from the Ashley Manuscripts at the British Library, written by English poet Christopher Smart to bookseller Robert Dodsley of London, England, is presented. It is dated January 3, 1747/8 at Pembroke Hall, University of Cambridge, in Cambridge, England and requests Dodsley insert advertisements in various newspapers for a proposed collection of poetry which eventually is printed as "Poems on Several Occasions" in 1752. The advertising copy which subsequently appeared in the "London Evening-Post" on January 7-9, 1748 is also presented. A discussion of the letter's provenance is given.

The author discusses how the Oxford University Press's (OUP's) booklet entitled "Periodical," which was published between 1896 and 1979, provides invaluable bibliographic and historical value as a source material for scholars. It was published roughly four to five times per year and contained excerpts, essays, criticisms, and expanded advertising for the OUP's books. It focuses especially on how "Periodical" influenced public views and sales of the works of English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins including the 1918 "Poems" prefaced by Robert Bridges, and its second edition of 1930 introduced by Charles Williams.