Born in Bristol and educated in Hanham, Joseph Cottle established himself as a bookseller, printer and publisher in the heart of the city in April 1791. From his shop on the corner of Wine Street and High Street, Cottle sold a range of novels, religious and political works, supporting and advancing the works of many local poets, including: Chatterton, Southey, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Ann Yearsley. An active voice in the anti-slavery movement, Cottle promoted Coleridge's politcal lectures. He published the first edition of Coleridge's Poems, Coleridge and Wordsworth's collaborative volume Lyrical Ballads, and the first collected edition of Chatterton's poems, edited by Southey. He also helped pay for Chatterton's statue in St Mary Redcliffe churchyard and for a memorial to Southey in Bristol cathedral.
Cottle also donated his entire collection of antediluvian fossils from the Oreston Caves near Plymouth to Bristol City Museum. He added a description of the Caves as an appendix to the fourth ediiton of his Malvern Hills (1829).
He is buried at Arnos Vale cemetery.
