Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collier, Joel
COLLIER, JOEL (18th cent.), was the pseudonym of a musician named George Veal (not of J. L. Bicknell, as stated by Fetis), who was a tenor-player at the Italian Opera in the latter half of the eighteenth century, and who wrote a satire of Dr. Burney's 'Musical Tour,' entitled 'Musical Travels in England,' which enjoyed a wide popularity. The first edition appeared in 1774; the second was published in 1775, and contains an appendix consisting of a fictitious account of the last sickness and death of Joel Collier, by Nat Collier. Other editions appeared in 1776 and 1785, but all editions are rare, owing, says M. Fetis, to the suppression of the work by the Burney and Bicknell (?) families. In 1818 Veal followed his previous effort by a scathing satire of Jean-Baptiste Logier's system of pianoforte instruction, entitled 'Joel Collier Redivivus, an entirely new edition of that celebrated author's Musical Travels, dedicated to that great musical luminary of the musical world, J. B. L-g-r' (London, 1818, 8vo).
[Fetis's Biographie Universelle des Musiciens; Collier's Works.]