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Transcriber's Note:

  - - signifies italic text;
  ^ or ^{} signifies a superscript.
  [=] signifies a letter with a macron accent (straight line over);
  [~] signifies a letter with a tilde over.
  Both macron and tilde sometimes indicate an omitted letter.


  This is a collection bibliographical notes on old books. In the
  older books there are many instances of the long 's', printed as
  'ſ', and used mostly in the middle of words.

  A final 's' was printed as 's', as it is now. A final double-'s'
  was usually printed as 'ſs'. An exception is on Psge 41: 'Odyſſ'.

    "Finis duodecim libri Hom. Odyſſ. Opus nouem dierum,"

  Occasionally, 'ſſ' in the middle of a word, was printed as 'ſs'.

  Some examples of the use of 'ſ' and 'ſs':

   'Paradiſe loſt' (Paradise lost), 'The Pilgrims Progreſs'
  (The Pilgrims Progress), 'Odyſses' (Odysses), etc

  The letter 'w' was often printed as 'vv', and 'W' as 'VV'.
  'J/j' was often printed as 'I/i', and 'I/i' as 'J/j'.

  Thus 'The Rich Jew of Malta' appears in this book as
  'The Rich Ievv of Malta'.

  'v' was often printed as 'u', and 'u' as 'v' thus, "God ſaue the
  Queene" for "God save the Queen".

  Also: "vntill this preſent tyme" for "until this present time".

  In the earlier books, people wrote what they heard. All spelling
  variants, if they make sense, and are not obvious printing errors,
  have been retained.

  Spelling rules did not exist until the later part of the 19th
  century. Some words and names (e.g. Church-yard/Churchyard) are
  hyphenated on some pages, unhyphenated on others. All have been
  retained.

  Punctuation is not nessarily consistent, is not always present,
  and sometimes occurs where we would not expect it (e.g. 'the price
  of .ii. Shyllynges the piece'; '.xiii Articles'; 'and before the
  yere ,M,iiiiC, and .ix', etc.). A colon (:) was sometimes used
  instead of a full stop. Apostrophes were sometimes conspicuous by
  their absence (e.g. 'Le Morte Darthur' for 'Le Morte D'Arthur'),
  and opened brackets were not always closed. There are some
  instances of quotations enclosed in double quotes nested inside
  quotations similarly enclosed in double quotes, leading to the
  occasional paragraph ending in ."" This would appear to have been
  the printing style of the time, and has been retained.

  The Author has included a list of corrections on Page 221, at the
  end of the book and before the Index. These corrections have been
  implemented, as listed.

  The rest of the Transcriber's Note is at the end of the book.

       *       *       *       *       *




    The committee on Publications of the Grolier Club
    certifies that this copy of "Bibliographical Notes on
    One Hundred Books Famous in English Literature"
    is one of three hundred and five copies printed on
    French hand-made paper, and three on vellum, during
    the year nineteen hundred and three.

       *       *       *       *       *




BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

ON ONE HUNDRED BOOKS FAMOUS IN

ENGLISH LITERATURE

       *       *       *       *       *




  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
  ON
  ONE HUNDRED BOOKS
  FAMOUS IN
  ENGLISH LITERATURE

  COMPILED BY
  HENRY W. KENT

  [Illustration]

  THE GROLIER CLUB
  OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

  MCMIII

  Copyright, 1903, by
  THE GROLIER CLUB OF THE
  CITY OF NEW YORK




PREFACE


After the publication of the volume entitled _One Hundred Books
Famous in English Literature with Facsimiles of the Title-pages and
an Introduction by George E. Woodberry_, the books themselves were
gathered from the collections of members of the Club for an exhibition
at the Club-house. All of these volumes belonged to the first
published editions, except where copies of the earliest editions were
not obtainable, or, for some reason, were not desirable. In two cases,
those of "Tottel's Miscellany" and Lyly's _Euphues_, copies of the
first editions are unique, and, therefore, practically not obtainable.
The second edition of _A Myrrour For Magistrates_ contains the first
issue of the poem called an _Induction_ by the Earl of Dorset,
and was, therefore, the edition which it was desirable to show.
Notwithstanding the oft-repeated statement that copies of the second
edition of Bacon's _Essays_ are of greater rarity than those of the
first, no copy of the first edition was forthcoming, and one of the
later date was necessarily included in the collection. In one or
two instances a second issue of a first edition was used where the
extremely rare first issue was not owned by a member of the Club.

Arranged side by side, each volume open at its title-page, the
individuality of these well-known works was brought out strikingly:
taken collectively, they illustrated, clearly and interestingly, the
development of the Book in England. Members of the Club were thus led
to suggest the publication of a second, or supplementary volume, which
should give the bibliographical facts connected with each book, and
which should indicate, briefly, something of this development. The
present volume was undertaken in response to this suggestion.

The relations of author with printer or publisher, the success
or failure of the books, matters of illustration, and marked
peculiarities of editions, issues or volumes--all these things are
referred to at greater or less length. In some cases, the facts have
been given with fullness; but in others, like that of the Shakespeare
_First Folio_, about which so much has been written, it was thought
unnecessary to enter into details. Many of the books in the list
having been already the subjects of whole bibliographies, or, having
been carefully collated in other works, full collations have not been
thought desirable here. It should be noted, in this connection, that
the collations of books printed before the eighteenth century
are given by signatures, while of books published after 1700, the
paginations are given. Works of more than two volumes have not been
collated in detail.




CONTENTS

           TITLE                         AUTHOR         DATE    PAGE

  The Canterbury Tales                   Chaucer        1478      3

  Confeſſio Amantis                      Gower          1483      5

  Le Morte Darthur                       Malory         1485      7

  The Booke of the Common Praier                        1549      9

  The Vision of Pierce Plowman           Langland       1550     12

  Chronicles of England Scotlande, and
  Irelande                               Holinshed      1577     15

                                        {Baldwin,  }
  A Myrrour For Magiſtrates             {Sackville,}
                                        {and others}    1563     19

  Songes And Sonettes                    Howard         1567     22

  The Tragidie of Ferrex and Porrex     {Norton and}
                                        {Sackville }   [1570?]   24

  Euphues                                Lyly           1581     26

  The Countesse Of Pembrokes Arcadia     Sidney         1590     29

  The Faerie Queene                      Spenser        1590     32

  Eſſaies                                Bacon          1598     34

  The Principal Navigations, Voiages,
  Traffiques And Discoueries of the
  Engliſh Nation                         Hakluyt        1598     36

  The Whole Works Of Homer               Chapman       [n. d.]   40

  The Holy Bible                                                 44

  The Workes                             Jonson         1616     48

  The Anatomy Of Melancholy              Burton         1621     51

  Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies       Shakespeare    1623     53

  The Tragedy of The Dutchesse of Malfy  Webster        1623     56

  A New Way To Pay Old Debts             Massinger      1633     57

  The Broken Heart                       Ford           1633     58

  The Famous Tragedy of
  The Rich Ievv Of Malta                 Marlowe        1633     59

  The Temple                             Herbert        1633     60

  Poems                                  Donne          1633     62

  Religio Medici                         Browne         1642     65

  The Workes                             Waller         1645     67

  Comedies And Tragedies                {Beaumont and}
                                        {Fletcher    }  1647     69

  Hesperides                             Herrick        1648     72

  The Rule And Exercises
  Of Holy Living                         Taylor         1650     74

  The Compleat Angler                    Walton         1653     75

  Hudibras                               Butler         1663     77

  Paradiſe loſt                          Milton         1667     79

  The Pilgrims Progreſs                  Bunyan         1678     82

  Absalom And Achitophel                 Dryden         1681     84

  An Essay Concerning
  Humane Understanding                   Locke          1690     86

  The Way of the World                   Congreve       1700     88

  The History Of The
  Rebellion and Civil
  Wars In England                        Clarendon      1702     89

  The Tatler                                            1710     91

  The Spectator                                         1711     94

  The Life And Strange
  Surprizing Adventures
  Of Robinson Crusoe                     Defoe          1719     97

  Travels Into Several
  Remote Nations Of
  The World                              Swift          1726     99

  An Essay On Man                        Pope          [1733]   102

  The Analogy Of Religion                Butler         1736    104

  Reliques Of Ancient
  English Poetry                         Percy          1765    105

  Odes                                   Collins        1747    109

  Clarissa                               Richardson     1748    110

  The History Of Tom Jones               Fielding       1749    112

  An Elegy Wrote In A
  Country Church Yard                    Gray           1751    114

  A Dictionary Of The English
  Language                               Johnson        1755    117

  Poor Richard improved                  Franklin       1758    119

  Commentaries On The Laws Of England    Blackstone     1765    121

  The Vicar Of Wakefield                 Goldsmith      1766    123

  A Sentimental Journey Through
  France And Italy                       Sterne         1768    126

  The Federalist                                        1788    128

  The Expedition of Humphry
  Clinker                                Smollett       1771    130

  An Inquiry Into The Nature and
  Cauſes Of The Wealth Of Nations        Smith          1776    132

  The History Of The Decline And
  Fall Of The Roman Empire               Gibbon         1776    133

  The School For Scandal                 Sheridan      [n. d.]  136

  The Task                               Cowper         1785    137

  Poems                                  Burns          1786    141

  The Natural History And
  Antiquities Of Selborne                White          1789    143

  Reflections On The Revolution
  In France                              Burke          1790    146

  Rights Of Man                          Paine          1791    147

  The Life Of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.      Boswell        1791    150

                                       {Wordsworth   }
  Lyrical Ballads                      {and Coleridge}  1798    153

  A History Of New York
  by Diedrich Knickerbocker             Irving          1809    155

  Childe Harold's Pilgrimage            Byron           1812    157

  Pride And Prejudice                   Austen          1813    161

  Christabel Kubla Khan, A Vision;
  The Pains Of Sleep                    Coleridge       1816    163

  Ivanhoe                               Scott           1820    165

  Lamia, Isabella,
  The Eve Of St. Agnes,
  And Other Poems                       Keats           1820    167

  Adonais                               Shelley         1821    169

  Elia                                  Lamb            1823    171

  Memoirs                               Pepys           1825    173

  The Last Of The Mohicans              Cooper          1826    175

  Pericles And Aspasia                  Landor          1836    177

  The Posthumous Papers Of
  The Pickwick Club                     Dickens         1837    180

  Sartor Resartus                       Carlyle         1834    183

  Nature                                Emerson         1836    186

  History Of The Conquest Of Peru       Prescott        1847    187

  The Raven And Other Poems             Poe             1845    189

  Jane Eyre                             Brontë          1847    191

  Evangeline                            Longfellow      1847    192

  Sonnets                               Mrs. Browning   1847    193

  Melib[oe]us-Hipponax                  Lowell          1848    194

  Vanity Fair                           Thackeray       1848    196

  The History Of England                Macaulay        1849    199

  In Memoriam                           Tennyson        1850    201

  The Scarlet Letter                    Hawthorne       1850    202

  Uncle Tom's Cabin                     Mrs. Stowe      1852    204

  The Stones of Venice                  Ruskin          1851    205

  Men And Women                         Browning        1855    208

  The Rise Of The Dutch Republic        Motley          1856    209

  Adam Bede                             George Eliot    1859    211

  On The Origin Of Species              Darwin          1859    213

  Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám              Fitzgerald      1859    216

  Apologia Pro Vita Sua                 Newman          1864    217

  Essays In Criticism                   Arnold          1865    218

  Snow-Bound                            Whittier        1866    219

       *       *       *       *       *


  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

  ON

  ONE HUNDRED BOOKS

  FAMOUS IN

  ENGLISH LITERATURE

       *       *       *       *       *




GEOFFREY CHAUCER

(1340?-1400)


1. [The Canterbury Tales. Printed at Westminster by William Caxton,
about 1478.]

    The text begins with the first line of the book, and there is
    no prefatory note or colophon, to give a clue to the name of
    the work, its place of publication, its printer, or the date
    of its production. The date and the name of the printer,
    however, are determined by the type, which is a font used by
    Caxton in books printed at Westminster between the years 1475
    and 1481. This type, known as Type No. 2, because it was the
    second employed by him (the first used for printing books in
    England), is like the characters in manuscripts written in
    Bruges in the fifteenth century, and called "Gros Bâtarde."
    Colard Mansion, the earliest printer of Bruges, used a font of
    similar style, and Caxton probably formed his type on the
    same models, if, indeed, he did not procure it from Mansion
    himself, with whom he learned the new art of printing. But we
    may also identify our printer by means of his own statement
    made in the signed "Prohemye" to the second edition of
    the work, printed in 1484 (?), where, in speaking of the
    difficulty of obtaining a pure text, he makes an interesting
    criticism of this, the first edition. He says:

    "For I fynde many of the sayd bookes, whyche wry- | ters haue
    abrydgyd it and many thynges left out, And in | so[~m]e place
    haue sette certayn versys, that he neuer made ne sette | in
    hys booke, of whyche bookes so incorrecte was one brought to
    me vj yere passyd, whyche I supposed had ben veray true &
    cor- | recte, And accordyne to the same I dyde do enprynte a
    certayn | nombre of them, whyche anon were sold to many and
    dyuerse | gentyl men, of whome one gentylman cam to me, and
    said that | this book was not accordyn in many places vnto the
    book that | Gefferey chaucer had made, To whom I answerd that
    I had ma-| de it accordyng to my copye, and by me was nothyng
    added ne | mynusshyd."

    According to the arrangement of William Blades, this is the
    tenth work of England's first printer, and the fifth printed
    on English soil. It was printed after his return from Bruges,
    whither he had gone as a mercer, and where he turned printer
    and editor. Few of the books from his press exceed it in size
    and beauty. Nine copies are known; two are in the British
    Museum, one in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, one in Merton
    College, Oxford, and five in private libraries. Of all these
    only two are in perfect condition.

    The volume has no signatures, folios or catchwords, and the
    lines are unevenly spaced. The rubrication of the initial
    letters was done by hand.

    In the matter of purity of text this edition is inferior
    to the second, as Caxton himself thus early recognized; the
    manuscript from which it was printed, Tyrwhitt tells us,
    "happened unluckily to be one of the worst in all respects
    that [he] could possibly have met with." But however that may
    be, the _Canterbury Tales_ is entitled to a chief place among
    English books as presenting the first printed text of Chaucer,
    who, "by hys labour enbelysshyd, ornated, and made faire our
    englisshe."

      Folio. Black letter.

      COLLATION: _371 leaves; sixteen of which are in facsimile._




JOHN GOWER

(1325?-1408)


2. This book is intituled, confeſ- | ſio amantis / that is to saye
| in englysshe the confeſſyon of | the louer maad and compyled
by | Johan Gower squyer borne in walys | ... (Colophon) Enprynted at
Westmestre by me | Willyam Caxton and fynyſſhed the ij | day of
Septembre the fyrſt yere of the | regne of Kyng Richard the thyrd /
the yere of our lord a thouſand / CCCC / | lxxxxiij / (a mistake for
1483).

    The text is a composite one, being taken from at least three
    MSS. Manuscripts are extant in three versions: the earliest is
    dedicated to Richard II, and contains a panegyric on Chaucer;
    the second is dedicated to Henry of Lancaster, but the poets
    having quarreled, the panegyric is omitted; and the third is
    likewise addressed to Henry, but with certain differences in
    the work. With the exception of these variations, the text is
    alike in all.

    The type of the printed work exhibits two variations of the
    same characters, and is called Type No. 4, and No. 4*. It is
    the smallest font employed by Caxton in any of his books, and
    the most used, thirty-one volumes having been printed between
    1480 and 1487 in one or the other or in both variations.

    The printer does not, as in the following work, write a
    special prologue or preface to the _Confessio_, but states
    all the facts he knows concerning it in the introductory
    paragraph, or title, at the beginning of the first column.
    The book has no catchwords or folios, and the signatures are
    irregularly printed. Seventeen copies were known to Blades:
    three in the British Museum; Cambridge, Pembroke College,
    Cambridge, Hereford Cathedral, Lambeth Palace Library, Queen's
    College, and All Souls, Oxford, each having one; while eight
    were in private libraries.

    The copy whose title-page is here shown in facsimile is one
    of five copies that are perfect. We first hear of it in the
    library of Brian Fairfax, a Commissioner of Customs in the
    18th century, who bequeathed it to his kinsman, Hon. Robert
    Fairfax, afterward seventh Lord Fairfax. Lord Fairfax intended
    to sell the collection at auction, but eventually sold it
    entire, in 1756, to his relative, Francis Child of Osterley
    Park, for two thousand pounds. In 1819 the Osterley Park
    library passed into the family of the Earl of Jersey, and,
    when finally dispersed, in 1885, brought thirteen thousand and
    seven pounds, nine shillings.

    At the time of the intended auction, in 1756, a catalogue was
    printed, but afterward all but twenty copies of the edition
    were suppressed. One of these is marked with the valuation
    of each book, and shows the _Confessio_ to have been held at
    three pounds. Eight hundred and ten pounds was the price it
    brought at the sale in 1885.

      Folio.  Black letter.  12-5/8 × 18-15/16 inches

      COLLATION: _222 leaves; four of which are blank_.




SIR THOMAS MALORY

(1430?-1470?)


3. (Colophon) ¶ Thus endeth thys noble and Joyous book entytled le
morte | Darthur / Notwythſtondyng it treateth of the byrth / lyf /
and | actes of the ſayd kyng Arthur / of his noble knyghtes of the
| rounde table / ... whiche book was re | duced in to englyſſhe by
ſyr Thomas Malory knyght as afore | is ſayd / and by my deuyded in
to xxj bookes chapytred and | enprynted / and fynyſſhed in thabbey
westmestre the last day | of Juyl the yere of our lord / M / CCCC /
lxxxv / ¶ Caxton me fieri fecit.

    The book begins with a prologue by Caxton wherein he tells how
    he came to print it, presents his reason for the belief that
    Arthur was an historical personage, and relates some facts
    with regard to the sources of the romance. He says:

    "After that I had accomplysshed and fynysshed dyuers hystoryes
    as wel of contemplacyon as of other hyſtoryal and worldly
    actes of grete conquerours & prynces, and also certeyn bookes
    of ensaumples and doctryne, Many noble and dyuers gentylmen
    of thys royame of Englond camen and demaunded me many and
    oftymes, wherfore that I haue not do made & enprynte the noble
    hystorye of the saynt greal, and of the moost renomed crysten
    Kyng, ... kyng Arthur....

    Th[=e]ne al these thynges forsayd aledged J coude not wel
    denye, but that there was suche a noble kyng named arthur, and
    reputed one of the ix worthy, & fyrst & chyef of the crysten
    men, & many noble volumes be made of hym & of his noble
    knyztes in frensshe which I haue seen & redde beyonde the see,
    which been not had in our maternal tongue, but in walsshe ben
    many & also in frensshe, & Somme in englysshe but nowher nygh
    alle, wherfore such as haue late ben drawen oute bryefly in
    to englysshe, I haue after the symple connynge that god hath
    sente me, vnder the fauour and correctyon of al noble lordes
    and gentylmen enprysed to enprynte a book of the noble
    hystoryes of the sayd kynge Arthur, and of certeyn of his
    knyghtes after a copye vnto me delyuerd, whyche copys Syr
    Thomas Malorye dyd take oute of certayn bookes of frensshe and
    reduced it in to Englysshe, And I accordyng to my copye haue
    doon sette it in emprynte...."

    The volume is printed without folios, head-lines, or
    catchwords, in the type known as No. 4, already referred to
    under the _Confessio_. The initial letters are printed from
    wood.

    Only two copies are known; one perfect, from which the
    facsimile of the title-page was taken, the other an imperfect
    one, which belonged to Earl Spencer's collection. The British
    Museum possesses only a fragment. Our copy, like that of the
    _Confessio_, was one of the nine Caxtons belonging to the
    Fairfax library. In the list of 1756, it was valued at two
    pounds, twelve shillings and sixpence; in 1885 it sold for one
    thousand nine hundred and fifty pounds.

      Folio.

      COLLATION: _432 leaves, one of which is blank_.




THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER


4. The | booke of the common praier | and adminiſtracion of the |
Sacramentes, and | other rites and | ceremonies | of the | Churche:
after the | uſe of the Churche of | Englande. | Londini, in officina
Richardi Graftoni, | [Two lines] Anno Domini. M.D.XLIX | Menſe
Martij. [Colophon] Excuſum Londini, in edibus Richardi Graftoni |
Regij Impreſſoris. | Menſe Junij M.D.xlix. | Cum priuilegio ad
imprimendum ſolum.

    We know very little about the preparation of the book. An Act,
    dated January 22, 1549, entitled "An Act for uniformity of
    Service and Administration of the Sacraments throughout the
    Realm" speaks of the commissioners who had been appointed, and
    had first met at Windsor in May, 1548, as follows: "Whereof
    His Highness by the most prudent advice ... to the intent a
    uniform, quiet, and godly order should be had concerning the
    premisses, hath appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury, and
    certain of the most learned and discreet Bishops, and
    other learned men of this realm to consider and ponder the
    premisses." The same Act goes on to say "the which at this
    time by the aid of the Holy Ghost, with one uniform agreement
    is of them concluded, set forth and delivered to his highness,
    to his great comfort and quietness of mind, in a book
    entituled,--

    "_The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the
    Sacraments, and other rites and Ceremonies of the Church,
    after the Use of the Church of England._"

    Richard Grafton, the printer of our copy, was originally a
    prosperous London merchant. His zeal for religion led him to
    associate himself with Edward Whitchurch, another merchant, in
    causing Matthews's Bible to be translated and printed in
    1537, in publishing the Coverdale Bible of 1535, and again
    in printing the Cranmer Bible of 1540. He turned printer
    eventually, and his books are counted among the best specimens
    of the book-making of the period. He and his friend, who also
    became a typographer, received a patent from Henry VIII in
    1543 for printing "bookes of diuine service, that is to say,
    the masse booke, the graill, the antyphoner, the himptnell,
    the portous, and the prymer, both in Latyn and in Englyshe of
    Sarum use," all of which had formerly been printed abroad.
    In 1546, Grafton was appointed printer to Prince Edward,
    afterward Edward VI, and in 1547 printer to the King. When the
    _Prayer Book_ came to be put to press there was therefore no
    question of who should be chosen to do the work.

    Ames says that Grafton and Whitchurch continued friends and
    partners for many years, but it is a fact, as Dibdin points
    out, that while up to 1541 their names appear together upon
    title-pages, after that date there are usually two issues of
    each work, part having Grafton's name in the imprint, and part
    Whitchurch's. This is true of the Cranmer Bible, and the same
    thing is found in connection with the_ Prayer Book_. It is
    not known whether the separation is due to some economic
    arrangement agreeable to both printers, or whether they may
    have quarreled. To the names of these two printers of the
    first edition, however, should be added another, that of John
    Oswen of Worcester, formerly of Ipswich, who by virtue of a
    license from Edward VI was printer of "every kind of book, or
    books, set forth by us, concerning the service to be used in
    churches, ministration of the sacraments, and instruction
    of our subjects of the Principality of Wales, and marches
    thereunto belonging ... for seven years, prohibiting all other
    persons whatsoever from printing the same."

    All issues of this edition differ more or less in general
    style and appearance. The most marked dissimilarity in the
    volumes issued by the London printers lies in the special
    woodcut title-page used by each. Grafton's beautiful border
    (repeated for "A Table" and "Kalendar") shows, above a Doric
    frieze supported by pilasters, a view of the Council Chamber
    with King Edward, surrounded by his advisers, and at the
    bottom the printer's punning mark, on a shield upheld by
    two angels. It is as fine a piece of work as anything of the
    period. Grafton afterward used the same border for his
    edition of _A Concordance of the Bible_, printed in 1550.
    The Whitchurch copies have a woodcut border very similar in
    character to those in use twenty years later, which have the
    appearance of being related to some of the borders drawn for
    Plantin. This border consists of caryatids representing Roman
    soldiers with shields, supporting the royal coat-of-arms,
    and below, satyrs and loves with another coat-of-arms in a
    cartouche, and the initial _E_ in a tablet on one side, and
    _W_ on the other.

    The earliest known copy printed by Oswen, a quarto, has a
    colophon which reads: ¶ _At Worceter by_ ¶ | _Jhon Oſwen_.
    ¶ _They be also to ſell at Shreweſburye._ | (_Imprinted the
    xxiiii. day of May._ | _Anno. M.D.XLIV._ The title is framed
    by a border made up of five woodcut panels, carelessly
    arranged; and some of the initial letters are ornamented.

    Another copy, dated July 30, is in folio. The title-page is
    here bordered with ten woodcuts, having between the inner and
    outer sets the rubricated text: "Let euerye soule submyt hym
    ſelfe unto the aucthorite of the higher powers. For there is
    no power but of God. The powers that be, are ordained of God
    whoſoeuer therefore reſiſteth power: reſiſteth the
    ordinance of God. Rom. XIVI." A royal coat-of-arms, which in
    the quarto was placed before the order of Matins, here heads
    the title, printed in red. Every other line following is also
    rubricated. In Grafton's copy the "Te Deum Laudamus," "The
    Song of Zacharias," and "The Letany," occur at the end of the
    book but are not in the table of Contents.

    The statement made in the Act that the work had been
    concluded, set forth, and delivered, must apply, it is
    thought, to the manuscript, since no printed copy is known
    dated earlier than March. A copy printed by Whitchurch has
    the date March 7, 1549, and another by Grafton is dated the
    eighth; other copies are dated in May, June and July. The book
    was used in the London churches on Easter Day, April 21, 1549,
    and was ordered, as we have seen, to be used in all churches
    after the Feast of Pentecost, which fell upon June 9 in 1549.

    From the requirements of its use, we may infer that the
    edition must have been a large one. We are sure of the price
    of the volume from the following note, added at the end of the
    book: "The Kynges Maieſtie, by the aduyſe of his moſte
    deare vncle the Lorde Protector and other his highnes
    Counſell, ſtreightly chargeth and commaundeth, that no
    maner of perſon do ſell this preſent booke vnbounde,
    aboue the price of .ii. Shyllynges the piece. And the ſame
    bounde in paſte or in boordes, not aboue the price of three
    ſhylleynges and foure pence the piece. God ſaue the Kyng."
    The price differs in different volumes. A copy of Oswen's May
    24th issue sets the price at two shillings and twopence for
    unbound copies, and three shillings eightpence for bound
    copies.

      Folio. Black letter and Roman.

      COLLATION: _183 leaves, including title-page. Sig. A-Y, AA-f._




WILLIAM LANGLAND

(1330?-1400?)


5. The Vision | of Pierce Plowman, now | fyrſte imprynted by Roberte
| Crowley, dwellyngin Ely | rentes in Holburne. | Anno Domini | 1505.
Cum priuilegio ad im | primend[~u] ſolum. [Colophon] ¶ Imprinted at
London by Roberte | Crowley, dwellyng in Elye rentes | in Holburne.
The year of | Our Lord M.D.L.

    Before appearing with this work as a publisher, Robert Crowley
    was by no means unknown to the reading world as a writer;
    nor was it probably a mere printer's venture that led him to
    select such a work as this for publication, but sympathy
    with the tendency of the book itself. He had been educated
    at Oxford, and received early the strong bent toward the
    doctrines of the Reformation which prompted the writing of
    his first three books, whose titles indicate something of
    his leaning in the religious controversies of the day: _The
    Confutation of the miſhapen Aunſwer to the miſnamed,
    wicked Ballade, called the Abuſe of y^e bleſſed
    ſacram[=e]t of the aultare ... that Myles Hoggard ... hath
    wreſted.... Compiled by Robert Crowley. Anno. 1548_; _The
    confutation of .xiii Articles, wherunto Nicolas Shaxton ...
    ſubſcribed and ... recanted ... at the burning of ... Anne
    Aſkue_, in [1548] and _An informacion and Peticion agaynſt
    the oppreſſours of the Pore Commons of this Realme_,
    in [1548]. We may picture to ourselves with what relish so
    controversial and partisan a soul must have prepared for the
    press, and then watched through it, what Ellis calls "the
    keenest ridicule of the vices of all orders of men, and
    particularly of the religious."

    Crowley's career as a printer was only an incident in a life
    devoted to championing the new doctrines of Protestantism.
    The three books mentioned were printed by Day and Sere; and
    Herbert thinks that it may have been in their office that our
    printer-writer learned the trade which he followed for three
    years only. Considering the fact that his press was situated
    in Ely Rents, where William Sere also dated his books in 1548,
    and thereabouts, this seems very probable. But from Crowley's
    use of the excellently designed and really charming woodcut
    border with Edward Whitechurch's cipher at the bottom and his
    symbol of the sun at the top, we may almost infer that he was
    on equally familiar relations with that printer, established
    at The Sun, over against the Conduit. We may add that William
    Copeland of The Rose Garland also used, at a later date, a
    similar compartment in several of his books.

    One might expect Crowley, serious and scholarly in his
    tastes, to be a careful editor; and his researches to find
    his author's name, as revealed in "The Printer to the Reader,"
    prove that he was such an one, even if, for some reason
    or other, he did not choose to place the name upon the
    title-page. He says:

    "Beynge deſyerous to knowe the name of the Autoure of this
    moſt worthy worke, (gentle reader) and the tyme of the
    writynge of the ſame: I did not onely gather togyther
    ſuche aunciente copies as I could come by, but alſo
    conſult ſuch m[=e] as I knew to be more exerciſed in
    the ſtudie of antiquities, than I myselfe haue ben. And
    by ſome of them I haue learned that the Autour was named
    Roberte langelande, a Shropshere man borne in Cleybirie,
    aboute .viii. myles from Maluerne hilles.... So that this I
    may be bold to reporte, that it was fyrſte made and wrytten
    after the yeare of our lord .M.iii.C.L. and before the yere
    ,M,iiiiC, and .ix which meane ſpaſe was .lix yeares. We
    may iuſtly c[=o]iect therfore, y^t it was firſte written
    about two hundred yeres paſte, in the tyme of Kynge Edwarde
    the thyrde...."

    The year after _The Vision_ was published our printer was
    ordained a deacon, and, later, made vicar of St. Giles,
    Cripplegate, where he preached and wrote until his death. He
    published no less than twenty-two volumes, eight of which he
    printed himself, thus taking his place, along with Caxton, at
    the head of the list of printer-authors which includes such
    names as Wolfe, Baldwin, Richardson and Morris.

    Dibdin calls the vellum copy of _The Vision_ which belonged to
    Earl Spencer unique, but the copy here collated would deprive
    it of that distinction, even if there were not another in the
    British Museum.

    A comparison of several copies of the book reveals the fact
    that in most of them the date on the title-page has been
    written in to correct the printer's error.

    There were three other impressions issued during 1550, two of
    them said to be "nowe the ſeconde tyme imprinted," and
    the third with the printer's name spelled "Crowlye" on the
    title-page. Rev. W. W. Skeat in his edition of _The Vision_
    says:

    "But all three impressions are much alike. The chief
    differences are, that the two later impressions have many more
    marginal notes, a few additional lines, and also 6 additional
    leaves between the printer's preface and the poem itself,
    containing a brief argument or abstract of the prologue and of
    each of the Passus. The first impression is the most correct;
    also the third impression is much less correct than the
    second, and considerably inferior to it."

      Quarto. Black letter.

      COLLATION: [Illustration:  Five pointed star],
      _two leaves; A-GgI_, in fours. Folioed.




RAPHAEL HOLINSHED or HOLLINGSHEAD

(d. 1580?)


6. 1577. | The Firſte volume of the | Chronicles of England Scot |
lande, and Irelande. | Conteyning, | The deſcription and Chronicles
of England, from the | Firſte inhabiting vnto the conqueſt | [Six
lines] Faithfully gathered and ſet forth, by | Raphaell Holinſhed.
| At London, | Imprinted for George Biſhop. | God ſaue the Queene.

1577 | The | Laſte volume of the | Chronicles of England, Scot- |
lande, and Irelande, with | their deſcriptions. | Conteyning, |
The Chronicles of Englande from William Con- | querour vntill this
preſent tyme. | Faithfully gathered and compiled | by Raphaell
Holinſhed. | At London, | Imprinted for George | Biſhop. |
[Printer's mark] God ſaue the Queene.

    The first edition is known as the Shakespeare edition,
    because it was used by the great poet, in common with all the
    Elizabethan dramatists, in the preparation of his historical
    plays.

    That Holinshed used the adjective _faithfully_ in its true
    sense may be seen by a reference to the dedication of the book
    to Sir William Cecil, Baron of Burleigh, whose coat-of-arms
    appears on the back of the title-page. Here he gives an
    interesting account of the inception and fortunes of the work,
    with an incidental side-light upon the relations of printer
    and professional writer:

    "Where as therefore, that worthie Citizen Reginald Wolfe
    late Printer to the Queenes Maiestie, a man well knowen and
    beholden to your Honour, meant in his life time to publiſh
    an vniuerſall Coſmographie of the whole worlde, and
    therewith alſo certaine perticular Histories of euery knowen
    nation, amongſt other whome he purpoſed to vſe for
    performance of his entent in that behalfe, he procured me to
    take in hande the collection of thoſe Histories, and hauing
    proceeded ſo far in the ſame, as little wanted to the
    accompliſhment of that long promiſed worke, it pleased God
    to call him to his mercie, after .xxv yeares trauell ſpent
    therein, so that by his vntimely deceaſſe, no hope
    remayned to ſee that performed, which we had so long
    trauayled aboute: thoſe yet whom he left in trust to
    diſpoſe his things after his departure hence, wiſhing
    to the benefite of others, that ſome fruite might follow of
    that whereabout he had imployed ſo long time, willed me to
    continue mine endeuour for their furtherance in the ſame,
    whiche although I was ready to do, ſo farre as mine abilitie
    would reach, and the rather to anſwere that trust which the
    deceaſſed repoſed in me, to ſee it brought to ſome
    perfection: yet when the volume grewe ſo great, as they
    that were to defray the charges for the Impreſsion, were not
    willing to go through with the whole, they reſolued first to
    publiſhe the Histories of Englande, Scotlande, and Irelande,
    with their deſcriptions, whiche deſriptions, becauſe
    they were not in ſuch readineſſe, as thoſe of forreyn
    countreys, they were enforced to uſe the helpe of other
    better able to do it than I."

    Reginald Wolfe, so well known and highly esteemed, was a
    German by birth, and trained in his craft in the office of the
    Strasburg master Conrad Neobarius, whose device of _The Brazen
    Serpent_ he afterward adopted. Edward VI appointed Wolfe royal
    printer in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, as well as bookseller and
    stationer, with an annuity of 26s. 8d.

    We find the names of his executors and the chief promoters of
    the history in the entry on the Registers of the Stationers'
    Company, under date of July 1, 1578: "Receyued of master
    harrison and master Bisshop for the licensinge of Raphaels
    Hollingshedes cronycles XX^s and a copy," which, by the way,
    Mr. Arber remarks to be the largest fee he had met with. Some
    copies bear the imprint of one, some of the other; and there
    are still others with the names of John Harrison (there were
    four publishers of this name), Lucas Harrison and John Hunne,
    who were also probably among them "that were to defray the
    charges for the impression."

    No printer's name appears in either volume, but the figure of
    a mermaid upon the title-pages, and a larger mark of two
    hands holding a serpent upon a crutch at the end of the
    first volume, show it to have been from the press of Reginald
    Wolfe's apprentice and successor, Henry Bynneman of The
    Mermaid, in Knight Rider Street. Boy and man knowing his
    master's hopes and fears for his _Universal Cosmographie_,
    acquainted with the long travail put upon it, and so properly
    desirous, like the rest, to see some fruit born of it, who
    could have done the work so well and faithfully as he?

    In the preface to the second volume we are told that it was
    intended to bring out the histories of England, Scotland,
    and Ireland, with their descriptions, in one volume, and
    the descriptions and abridgements of the histories of other
    countries in another; but that the chronicles of England
    growing very voluminous it was deemed best to defer printing
    the histories of the other countries, and to divide the
    material on hand into two volumes. Here, however, a new
    difficulty presented itself; the history of England after the
    Conquest was found to equal in length all the other matter,
    and, if allowed to follow after the early history of the
    Island, in its proper order, would make the volumes very
    unequal in size; so it was given a volume by itself, with the
    pagination continuing that of the English history in the
    first volume. The other histories have separate title-pages,
    paginations, and indexes.

    The book is illustrated with woodcuts in two distinct
    varieties, one, representing the heads of kings, the other,
    spirited scenes in the history. The last are of a better
    character than most of those of the period, and show very
    clearly the influence that Holbein, who had died in
    London twenty-four years before, had exerted upon English
    book-illustration. Some of the cuts are repeated. The
    elaborate woodcut border in the contemporary German style was
    used by the printer in several other books, before and
    after this date. A large, well-designed initial C, with a
    coat-of-arms in the center, printed from a separate block
    ("mortised"), begins the dedication to Lord Burleigh; and a
    large I, with a picture of the Creation, probably designed
    for the first page of a Bible, begins the preface, and _The
    History of Scotland_. This last is the largest initial letter,
    Mr. Pollard says, that he has found in an English book. It
    had previously been used by Wolfe, in 1563. An initial letter,
    representing an astronomer (Ptolemy?), is prefixed to _The
    History of Ireland_. It is signed with a C having a small I
    within it. Other initials of a similar character had been used
    before by John Day, in Cunningham's _Cosmographical Years_,
    published in 1559. A royal coat-of-arms begins the Chronicle
    of the reign of Queen Elizabeth; and in the second volume, at
    page 1868, is a folded woodcut of the "ſiege and wynning of
    Edinburg Caſtell. Anno. 1573." It is signed [C T] _Tyrell_.
    [TN: C T in a rectangular box.]

      Folio. Two volumes. Black letter and Roman. Double
      columns.  Woodcuts.

    COLLATION: ¶, _six leaves; [Illustration: 5 pointed star], two
    leaves; A-P, in eights; Q, six leaves; r, one leaf; a-s, in
    eights; t, one leaf; A and (*b*), two leaves each; *a* and
    *b*, six leaves each; A-Z and Aa-Ii, in eights; Kk, four
    leaves; Ll and Mm, six leaves each; one leaf; [Illustration:
    small floral graphic], two leaves; A-C, in eights; D, four
    leaves; and A (repeated)-D, in eights; E, five leaves; F and
    G, eight leaves each; H, six leaves; I, two leaves_.

    Volume II: ¶, _two leaves; t, seven leaves; u-z, A-Z,
    Aa-Zz, Aaa-Zzz, and Aaaa-Dddd, in eights; Eeee, nine leaves;
    Ffff-Yyyy, in eights; Zzzz, two leaves; A-M, in fours; N, two
    leaves; ( ), two leaves_.




WILLIAM BALDWIN

(fl. 1547),

THOMAS SACKVILLE,

FIRST EARL OF DORSET

(1536-1608), AND OTHERS


7. ¶ A Myrrour For | Magiſtrates. | Wherein maye be ſeen by |
example of other, with howe gre- | uous plages vices are
puniſhed.... [Five lines, Quotation] Anno 1563. | ¶ Imprinted at
London in Fleteſtrete | nere to Saynct Dunſtans Churche | by
Thomas Marſhe.

    The Epistle "To the nobilitye and all other in office" is
    signed by William Baldwin, who was at one time a corrector
    of the press to Edward Whitechurch, and later something of
    a printer himself. He printed with his own hands, using
    Whitechurch's types and the Garland border, his work entitled
    ¶ _The Canticles or Balades of Salomon phraſelyke declared
    in Englyſh Metres. Imprinted at London by William Baldwin,
    ſeruant with Edwarde Whitechurche._ It was he who edited and
    saw this work through the press. He says of it:

    "The wurke was begun and parte of it prynted in Queene Maries
    tyme, but hyndered by the Lorde Chauncellour that then was,
    nevertheles, through the meanes of my lord Stafford, the fyrst
    parte was licenced, and imprynted the fyrſt yeare of the
    raygne of this our moſt noble and vertuous Queene, and
    dedicate then to your honours with this Preface. Since whych
    time, although I have bene called to an other trade of lyfe,
    yet my good Lorde Stafforde hath not ceaſſed to call upon
    me, to publyſhe ſo much as I had gott[~e] at other mens
    hands, ſo that through his Lordſhyppes earneſt meanes,
    I have nowe alſo ſet furth an other parte, conteynyng as
    little of myne owne, as the fyrst part doth of other mens,"
    and he expressed the hope that if these prove acceptable,
    encouragement may be given to "wurthy wittes to enterpryſe
    and performe the reſt."

    After the abortive attempt of Wayland to print the book, under
    the title _A memorial of suche Princes, as since the tyme
    of King Richarde the seconde, haue beene unfortunate in the
    Realme of England. In ædibus Johannis Waylandi: Londini_
    [1555?], the first part referred to was printed by Marshe
    in 1559. It contained nineteen legends (although twenty are
    mentioned in the table of contents), fourteen of which were
    by Baldwin, and the others by Ferrers, Churchyard, Phaer, and
    Skelton. Of these helpers, Baldwin says in the Epistle: "Whan
    I firſt tooke it in hand, I had the helpe of many graunted,
    & offred of ſum, but of few perfourmed, skarſe of any:
    So that wher I entended to haue contriued it to Quene Maries
    time, I haue ben faine to end it much ſooner: yet ſo, that
    it may ſtande for a patarne, till the reſt be ready:
    which with Gods Grace--(if I may haue anye helpe) ſhall be
    ſhortly."

    The idea of the work is usually said to have originated with
    Sackville, who, following Lydgate's _Fall of Princes_, planned
    it as a review of the illustrious and unfortunate characters
    in English history from the Conquest to the end of the
    fourteenth century. He is supposed to have turned the work
    over to Baldwin and the others, after writing an "Induction,"
    and one legend, the life of Henry Stafford, Duke of
    Buckingham; but no good reason is given for the omission of
    these poems from the volume when it came to be printed in
    1559. Baldwin's reason, already quoted, seems likely enough,
    and Lord Stafford's urgent entreaty, referred to, no doubt had
    the effect of causing both poems to be added to the edition
    issued now, where they appear as _The Seconde Parte_ of the
    volume of 1559. The title-pages of the two editions are alike,
    except for the date and the imprint; this in the earlier
    edition reads: _Londini, In ædibus Thomæ Marſhe_. No
    reference is made to the additional part except in the
    Epistle. The new part has a separate index.

    This new part contains only one poem by Baldwin; the others,
    besides Sackville's two, are by Dolman, Francis Segar,
    Churchyard, Ferrers, and Cavyl, eight in all. Besides the
    poems, there is "A proſe to the Reader, continued betwene
    the tragedies from the beginning of the booke to the ende,"
    just as in the first part.

    To the Earl of Dorset's legend "The complaynt of Henrye duke
    of Buckingham," is prefixed "The Induction," of which Baldwin
    speaks in the prose following _Howe the Lord Hastynges was
    betrayed_, as follows: "but fyrſt you shal heare his preface
    or Induction. Hath he made a preface ([backwards P?R] one)
    what meaneth he thereby, ſeeing none hath uſed the like
    order. I wyl tell you the cauſe thereof ([backwards P?R] I)
    which is thys: After that he underſtoode that some of the
    counſayle would not ſuffer the booke to be printed in
    ſuche order as we had agreed and determined, he propoſed
    with himſelfe to have gotten at my handes, al the tragedies
    that were before the duke of Buckinghams, Which he would have
    preſerued in one volume. And from that time backeward
    even to the time of William the conquerour, he determined to
    continue and perfect all the ſtory himſelfe, in ſuch
    order as Lydgate (folowing Bocchas) had already uſed.
    And therefore to make a meete induction into the matter, he
    deuiſed this poeſye:"

    The woodcut border of four pieces with heads of Venus and
    Mars at the top had been used by John Byddell in Taverner's
    translation of the _Bible_ in 1539, by James Nicholson of
    Southwark, in Coverdale's _New Testament_ of 1538, and by
    Marsh for the edition of the _Mirror_ in 1559. There are a
    few ornamental initial letters at the beginning of the book,
    notably one at the beginning of the Epistle, a large P, with
    figures of children. This belongs to a series of a children's
    alphabet attributed to Dürer, and first used by Cervicornus, a
    printer of Cologne.

      Quarto. The second edition. Black letter.

      COLLATION: ¶ _and A, four leaves each; B-N, in eights; O-U,
      in fours; X-Z and Aa-Bb, in eights; Cc, four leaves_.




HENRY HOWARD,

EARL OF SURREY

(1517?-1547), AND OTHERS


8. ¶ Songes And Sonettes | written by the right honorable | Lord Henry
Haward late | Earle of Surrey, and | others. | Apud Richardum Tottell.
| 1567. | Cum priuilegio. (Colophon) ¶ Imprinted At Lon- | Don In
Fletestrete within Temple barre at the | ſigne of the hand and
ſtarre, by | Richard Tottell, | Anno. 1567. | Cum priuilegio.

    Richard Tottel was licensed to print law-books, and his
    publications of that nature exhibit his best work; but this
    book, though not attractive in appearance, was his most
    popular venture. It was called "Tottel's miscellany," and it
    is fitting that his name should always be connected with it as
    a testimony to his energy and intelligence in producing a
    work so greatly to the "honor of the English tongue." We
    learn something of his energy in his desire to establish a
    paper-mill in England to compete with the French paper,
    then in general use; and his intelligence is evinced in the
    following extract from his address "To the reader":

    "That to haue wel written in verſe, yea and in ſmal
    parcelles, deſerueth greate praiſe, the woorkes of diuers
    Latins, Italians, and other, do proue ſufficiently, that our
    tong is able in that kinde to do as praiſe woorthelye as the
    reſte, the honorable ſtile of the Earle of Surreye, and
    the weightineſſe of the deepe wytted Syr Thomas Wyat
    the elders verſe, withe ſeueral graces in ſundrie good
    English writers, doe ſhewe abundantlye. It reſteth
    now (gentle Reader) that thou thinke it not euill done to
    publiſh to the honour of the Engliſhe tongue and for
    profit of the ſtudious of English eloquence, thoſe woorkes
    which the ungentle horders up of ſuche treaſure haue
    hertofore enuied thee."

    His confidence in the gentle reader was not misplaced, and he
    had the satisfaction of issuing six editions between 1557
    and 1574. The first was printed at The Hand and Star, June 5,
    1557, and is represented by one copy which is in the Bodleian
    Library; the British Museum and the Library of Trinity
    College, Cambridge, each owns a copy of a second edition,
    dated July 31, 1557; one copy exists of a third edition dated
    1559; and there is a fourth edition dated 1565. The present
    edition agrees in its contents with the second, and is said to
    be the most correct of all.

    This volume contains two hundred and eighty sonnets, of which
    the first forty-one (including one by an unknown author) are
    by Lord Howard. "S. T. VVyate the elder" is signed to the
    next group of ninety-six; and a collection of one hundred and
    thirty-three by "Vncertain auctours," follows. The collection
    ends with ten "Songs written by N. G." (Nicholas Grimald).
    Grimald had contributed forty to the first edition, which were
    cut down to the present number for the second edition.

      Octavo.  The fifth edition.  Roman.

      COLLATION: _A-P, in eights_.




THOMAS NORTON

(1532-1584)

AND

THOMAS SACKVILLE,

FIRST EARL OF DORSET

(1536-1608)


9. ¶The Tragidie of Ferrex | and Porrex, | ſet forth without
addition or alte- | ration but altogether as the ſame was ſhewed |
on ſtage before the Queenes Maieſtie, | about nine yeares paſt,
vz. the | xviij. day of Ianuarie. 1561. | by the gentlemen of the |
Inner Temple. Seen and allowed. &c. | Imprinted at London by | Iohn
Daye, dwelling ouer | Alderſgate.

    This play, drawn from Geoffrey of Monmouth's _History of
    Britain_, and telling the story of King Gorboduc's efforts to
    divide his realm between his sons Ferrex and Porrex, was
    the first tragedy written in English. Before this authorized
    edition, one unauthorized by the writers, though regularly
    licensed by the Government, had appeared in an octavo
    volume of thirty-six leaves, printed in black letter, with a
    title-page which reads as follows:


    _The | tragedie of Gorboduc, | where of three Actes were
    wrytten by | Thomas Nortone, and the two laste by | Thomas
    Sackuyle. | Sette forthe as the same was shewed before the
    | Qvenes most excellent Maiestie, in her highnes | Court of
    Whitehall, the XViii day of January | Anno Domini, 1561. By
    the Gentlemen of Thynner Temple in London. | Imprynted at
    London | in Flete strete, at the Signe of the Faucon by
    William Griffith; and are | to be sold at his shop in Saincte
    | Dunstones Churchyarde in | the West of London. | Anno. 1565.
    Septemb. 22._

    Day, in his introductory note to the present volume, entitled
    "The P to the Reader," explains very satisfactorily the reason
    for the new edition, but lets us only infer why he dropped the
    authors' names from the title-page. He says:

    "Where this Tragedie was for furniture of part of the grand
    Chriſtmaſſe in the Inner Temple firſt written about
    nine yeares agoe by the right honourable Thomas now Lorde
    Buckherſt, and by T. Norton, and after ſhewed before her
    Maieſtie, and never intended by the authors therof to be
    publiſhed: yet one W. G. getting a copie therof at
    ſome youngmans hand that lacked a little money and much
    diſcretion, in the last great plage. an. 1565. about V.
    yeares paſt, while the ſaid Lord was out of England, and
    T. Norton farre out of London, and neither of them both made
    priuie, put it forth exceedingly corrupted."

    Then, the worthy printer goes on to say in a very allegorical
    vein, that being so dishonored, her parents, the authors,
    very much displeased, gave her into his hands to be sent forth
    honorably; and he hopes she will be well received, else he
    will wish that she had tarried at home with him "for ſhe did
    neuer put me to more charge, but this one poore black gowne
    linèd with white that I haue now geuen her to goe abroad among
    you withall."

      Quarto.  The first authorized edition.  Roman.

      COLLATION: _A-H3, in fours_.




JOHN LYLY

(1553?-1606)


10. Euphues. | The Anatomy | of Wit. | [10 lines] By Iohn Lylie,
Maiſter of Art. | Corrected and augmented. | At London | Printed
for Gabriell Cawood, | dwelling in Paules Church-yard. [Colophon]
¶Imprinted at London by | Thomas Eaſt, for Gabrill Cawood, |
dwelling in Paules Church- | yard 1581.

    The work was licensed "under the hande of the bishopp of
    London" December 2, 1578, and was printed for Cawood by Thomas
    Eate, or East, the stationer, without a date, but probably
    in 1578. Many editions of the famous book have been issued;
    fifteen are known, dated between 1579 and 1636, but confusion
    exists chiefly over the first three.

    Mr. C. Warwick Bond in his recent edition of _The Complete
    Works of John Lyly_, Oxford, 1902, brings forward evidence to
    prove that two undated copies of _Euphues_, one belonging
    to the British Museum and the other to Trinity College,
    Cambridge, are all that remain of the first edition, whose
    date of issue he sets at about Christmas time, 1578. A unique
    Trinity College copy without a date, he thinks was issued
    about midsummer of the next year; the famous Malone and Morley
    copies of 1579, he considers belong to a third edition, issued
    at Christmas; the edition dated 1580 would be fourth and the
    copy from which our facsimile was taken would belong to a
    fifth edition. Mr. Bond founds his supposition as to the
    seasons when the volumes appeared upon the following very
    interesting preface:

      "TO THE GENTLEMEN READERS.

    "I Was driuen into a quandarie Gentlemen," says Lyly, "whether
    I might ſend this my Pamphlet to the Printer or to the
    pedler, I thought it too bad for the preſſe, & to good
    for the packe.... We commonly ſee the booke that at Eaſter
    lyeth bounde on the Stacioners ſtall, at Chriſtmaſſe
    to be broken in the Haberdaſhers ſhop, which ſith it is
    the order of proceeding, I am content this Summer to haue my
    dooinges read for a toye, that in Winter they may be readye
    for traſh.... Gentlemen vſe bookes as Gentlewomen handle
    theyr flowres, who in the morning ſticke th[~e] in their
    heads, and at night strawe them at their heeles. Cheries
    be fulſome when they be through ripe, becauſe they be
    plentie, and bookes be ſtale when they be printed in that
    they be common. In my minde Printers & Tailers are chiefely
    bound to pray for Gentlemen, the one hath ſo much
    fantaſies to print, the other ſuch diuers faſhions to
    make, that the preſſing yron of the one is neuer out of
    the fyre, nor the printing preſſe of the other any tyme
    lieth ſtill...."

    The address "To my verie good friends the Gentlemen Scholers
    of Oxford" first appeared with the second edition, to which
    Lyly made other additions, beside thoroughly revising the
    text.

    The title-page is bordered with a band of type-metal
    ornaments. Among the initial letters are several of a series,
    each letter of which represents a child at play. A large
    tail-piece is repeated several times, and East's mark of a
    black horse with a white crescent on his shoulder, and the
    motto _Mieulx vault mourir en vertu que vivre en Honcte_,
    is here used for the first time. Some copies dated 1581 have
    Rowland Hall's mark but no printer's name.

    Mr. Henry R. Plomer says of the book in an interesting article
    on our printer: "The preliminary matter is printed in a very
    regular fount of Roman, the text in his ordinary fount of
    Black Letter, and the whole book is distinguished for its
    clear, regular, and clean appearance."

    On July 24, 1579, the stationer Cawood entered for license a
    second part of _Euphues_, which he had promised at the end of
    this volume in the following words:

    "I Haue finiſhed the firſt part of Euphues whome now I
    lefte readye to croſſe the Seas to Englande, if the winde
    send him a ſhorte cutte you ſhall in the ſeconde part
    heare what newes he bringeth and I hope to haue him retourned
    within one Summer...."

    The book appeared the next year with the title: ¶_Euphues and
    his England. | Containing | his voyages and adventures, myxed
    with | ſundry pretie diſcourſes of honeſt Loue ... ¶
    By Iohn Lyly, Maiſter | of Arte. | Commend it, or amend it.
    | By Imprinted at London for Gabriell Cawood, dwelling in |
    Paules Church-yard._ | 1580.

    Edward Blount, the stationer, who published Shakespeare's
    folio works, tells us in a preface to Lyly's _Sixe Court
    Comedies_, which he collected and William Stansby printed in
    1632, of the sensation _Euphues_ created when it appeared.
    "Our Nation," he wrote, "are in his (i.e. Lyly's) debt, for a
    new Engliſh which hee taught them. Euphues and his England
    began firſt, that language: All our Ladies were then his
    Scollers; And that Beautie in court, which could not Parley
    Euphueiſme, was as little regarded, as ſhee which, now
    there, ſpeakes not French."

      Quarto. Black letter and Roman. The fifth edition.

      COLLATION: _A-Z, in fours_.




SIR PHILIP SIDNEY

(1554-1586)


11. The | Countesse | Of Pembrokes | Arcadia, | Written By Sir
Philippe | Sidnei. | [Coat-of-arms of the Sidney family] London |
Printed for William Ponſonbie. | Anno Domini, 1590.

    The _Arcadia_ was begun in 1580, and when finished, probably
    before 1583, was circulated in manuscript copies amongst the
    author's friends. That he did not wish to have it printed is
    evident from his affectionate dedication to his sister, where
    he says:

    "HEre now haue you (moſt deare, and moſt worthy to be
    moſt deare Lady) this idle worke of mine: which I fear (like
    the Spiders webbe) will be thought fitter to be ſwept away,
    than worn to any other purpoſe. For my part, in very trueth
    (as the cruell fathers among the Greekes, were woont to doo
    to the babes they would not foſter) I could well find in my
    harte, to caſt out in ſome deſert of forgetfulnes this
    child, which I am loath to father. But you deſired me to
    doo it, and your deſire, to my hart is an abſolute
    commandement. Now, it is done onelie for you, onely to you: if
    you keepe it to yourſelfe, or to ſuch friendes, who will
    weigh errors in the ballaunce of good will, I hope, for the
    fathers ſake, it will be pardoned, perchance made much of,
    though in itſelfe it haue deformities. For indeede, for
    ſeuerer eyes it is not, being but a trifle, and that
    triflinglie handled. Your deare ſelfe can best witnes the
    maner, being done in looſe ſheetes of paper, moſt of it
    in your preſence, the reſt, by ſheetes ſent vnto
    you, as faſt as they were done.... But his chiefe ſafetie
    ſhal be the not walking abroad; & his chiefe protection, the
    bearing the liuerye of your name; which (if much good will do
    not deceaue me) is worthy to be a ſanctuary for a greater
    offender."

    And again later, when he lay dying, reflecting, as he did,
    that all things in his former life had "been vain, vain,
    vain," he requested that the _Arcadia_ should be burned.
    But he counted without the public, who in the person of a
    publisher took steps to make it common property the very year
    of Sidney's death. We have this from a letter written to
    Sir Francis Walsingham, Sidney's father-in-law, by Sir Foulk
    Greville, first Lord Brooke, who in his self-written epitaph
    styled himself "servant to Queen Elizabeth, councillor to King
    James, and friend to Sir Philip Sidney":

    "S^r, this day, one ponsonby, a booke-bynder in poles
    church-yard, came to me and told me that ther was one in hand
    to print S^r Philip Sydney's old arcadia, asking me yf it were
    done with your honors consent, or any other of his frendes?
    I told him, to my knowledge, no: then he aduysed me to give
    warninge of it, either to the archbishope or doctor Cosen, who
    haue, as he says, a copy to peruse to that end.

    "S^r, I am loth to renew his memory unto you, but yeat in this
    I must presume; for I haue sent my lady, your daughter, at her
    request, a correction of that old one, don 4 or 5 years sinse,
    which he left in trust with me; wherof there is no more copies,
    and fitter to be reprinted than the first which is so common:
    notwithstanding, even that to how and why; so as in many
    respects, espetially the care of printing of it; so as to be
    don with more deliberation."

    Ponsonby obtained a license to print the book, under the hand
    of the Archbishop of Canterbury, August 23, 1588, but not with
    the full consent and sympathy of the family, owing, we will
    hope, to a sentiment of proper respect for the poet's
    wishes. There was so much dissatisfaction with Ponsonby's
    "adventuring" that Collier thinks the book may have been
    called in or suppressed, a fact which would account for its
    great rarity. The hesitancy, however, seems to have been
    overcome in course of time, for the Countess herself edited
    the work for a later edition of Ponsonby's publishing.

    No mark or name of a printer is given in our copy, and
    Collier, when he gave it as his opinion that Richard Field did
    the work, seemed to have been unaware of the existence of the
    variation in the imprint, which occurs in the copy belonging
    to Trinity College Library, Cambridge, _London, Iohn Windet
    for william Ponsonbie_. Probably several had a hand in the
    printing. Only a close examination of the few existing copies
    could show whether or not they were all issued at the same
    time. We shall never know by name the "overseer of the print,"
    who assumed the responsibility of arranging the poem, as is
    told in a note on the verso of the title-page:

    "The diuiſion and ſumming up of the Chapters was not of
    Sir Philip Sidneis dooing, but aduentured by the ouerſeer
    of the print, for the more eaſe of the Readers. He therfore
    ſubmits himſelfe to their judgement, and if his labour
    anſwere not the worthines of the booke, deſireth pardon
    for it. As alſo if any defect be found in the Eclogues,
    which although they were of Sir Phillip Sidneis writing, yet
    were not peruſed by him, but left till the worke had bene
    finiſhed, that then choiſe ſhould haue bene made, which
    ſhould haue bene taken, and in what manner brought in.
    At this time they haue bene choſen and diſposed as the
    ouer-ſeer thought beſt."

    Whoever the overseer may have been, whether in the employment
    of Ponsonby, Windet, or Field, and however unfortunate the
    result of his literary judgment, he produced a book which for
    beauty may take its place with the best of the period. The
    Roman type and excellent press-work distinguish it amongst
    the mass of inferior productions. Large ornamental initial
    letters, more or less related, are used at the beginning of
    all the Books, while Book I begins with an especially fine
    allegorical woodcut initial representing a crowned Tudor rose,
    Justice with her foot on Medusa's head, and Peace. Head- and
    tail-pieces, some of type metal and some woodcuts, are used at
    the beginning of the Books to give added effect. At the end
    of the sixteenth chapter of Book III is a panel made of
    type-metal ornaments, intended to hold the lines referred to
    in the words: "Vpon which, Baſilius himself cauſed this
    Epitaph to be written." These, however, owing to the printer's
    oversight, were never added.

    In setting up the title-page, it may be that Ponsonby followed
    Sidney's hint, and so sought "the chief protection" of the
    name of the Countess, and, not content with the name alone,
    added the coat-of-arms of the Sidney family.

      Quarto.  Roman.

      COLLATION: _A-Zz, in eights_.




EDMUND SPENSER

(1552?-1599)


12. The Faerie | Queene. | Diſpoſed into twelue books, |
Faſhioning | XII. Morall vertues. | [Printer's mark] London |
Printed for William Ponſonbie. | 1590.

    On December 1, 1589, "Maſter Ponſonbye. Entered for his
    Copye, a booke intytuled _the fayrye Queene dyspoſed into
    xij. bookes. &c._ Aucthoryzed vnder thandes of the Archbishop
    of Canterbery, and bothe the wardens ... vj^{d}."

    Spenser's name not being mentioned and not being printed on
    the title-page, it would almost seem as if he had wished his
    book to be anonymous; but that was probably not the case,
    because the dedication on the verso of the title, "To the Most
    Mightie And Magnificent Empresse Elizabeth ..." is signed by
    "Her moſt humble Seruant, Ed. Spenſer." The "Letter of the
    Authors Expounding his whole intention in the Courſe of the
    worke.... To the Right Noble, and Valorous Sir Walter Raleigh
    ..." is also signed "Ed. Spenſer," and the last two of his
    poems addressed to various personages are signed "E. S."

    It will be observed that the license to print the book, as
    well as the title-page, refers to the whole work, only three
    books of which, treating of the virtues Holiness, Temperance,
    and Chastity, had been completed by the author at this time.

    Ponsonby may be regarded as a fortunate man to have had the
    handling of the works of such authors as Greene, Sidney, and
    Spenser. If his attempts to exploit the first great English
    prose romance were not always successful, his relations with
    Spenser were more satisfactory, and this work finding "a
    favorable passage," no less than ten other of the poet's
    productions were issued over his imprint.

    The printer's name does not appear, but the device on the
    title-page is the mark of John Wolfe, son of Reyner Wolfe, a
    printer to the City of London, and one of the busiest members
    of the Stationers' Company. It was he who printed _The
    Shepheard's Calendar_, for John Harrison the younger, in
    1586. His use of the Florentine lily is probably not without
    significance. The first Italian book printed in England
    (_Petruccio Ubaldino La vita di Carlo Magno Imperadore_,
    1581), came from his press, as well as numerous translations
    of books in that tongue; and it is easy to believe that he may
    have received his idea for a mark of a fleur-de-lis "seeding,"
    as Herbert calls it, from the Florentine lily of an Italian
    printer seen in some of the Italian books so numerous in
    England at this time.

    A frame of printer's ornaments surrounds a verse at the
    beginning of each chapter, and there is a rather clumsy
    woodcut, representing Saint George and the Dragon, at the end
    of the first Book, but these are the chief ornaments in the
    volume. This book, like the _Arcadia_, is in the Roman type,
    and of remarkably good press-work.

    _The Second | Part Of The | Faerie Queene. | Containing |
    The Fourth, | Fifth, | And Sixth Bookes. | By Ed. Spenſer
    | [Printer's mark] Imprented at London for VVilliam |
    Ponſonby._ 1596. was licensed January 20, 1595-6, and was
    published with a second edition of the first part, which
    it was meant to accompany. The remaining six books never
    appeared.

    The device on the title-page of the second volume is that of
    Thomas Vautrollier, a foreigner settled in London, whose stock
    passed, at his death, to his son-in-law, Richard Field. It
    seems clear that Field printed the volume (Vautrollier did
    no work after 1588), although Herbert ascribes it to the
    master-printer Thomas Creed.

    In some early copies of the first volume there are blank
    spaces on page 332, which had been left by the printer to be
    filled later with Welsh words and then forgotten. Other copies
    have this omission corrected.

      Quarto.  Roman and Italic.

      COLLATION: _A-Qq4, in eights_.




FRANCIS BACON, BARON VERULAM

(1561-1626)


13. Eſſaies. | Religious Me- | ditations. | Places of
perſwaſion | and diſſwaſion. | Seene and allowed. | London
| Printed for Humfrey Hooper | and are to bee ſolde at the blacke
Beare in Chaun- | cery lane. 1598. [Colophon] Imprinted at London by
John Windet for Humfrey Hooper. 1598.

    This edition is thought by some to be rarer than the first,
    which was published by Hooper, in octavo, in the previous
    year. Some differences occur in the spelling, the table
    of contents here precedes "The Epistle Dedicatorie," the
    _Meditationes Sacræ_ are done into English, and the ornaments
    used are quite different. Only ten Essays were included
    in these two issues, whereas the edition of 1612 has
    thirty-eight, and that of 1625, fifty-eight.

    Hooper, of whose publications there are very few examples
    existing, is thought by Roberts to have been a young publisher
    whom Bacon wished to help. John Windet was the successor to
    John Wolfe as printer to the City of London; many books came
    from his press, but few of them of note.

    Perhaps the most interesting peculiarity of the book is the
    word _essay_, in the sense of a composition of moderate length
    on a particular subject. With this work, the word makes its
    first appearance on the title-page of an English book. The
    first two books of Montaigne's _Essais_ had appeared in 1580,
    and Bacon was no doubt familiar with them as a new style of
    writing, since his brother, to whom he addressed this volume,
    was a friend of Montaigne. He says in his volume of _Essays_
    dedicated to Prince Henry: "For Senacaes Epistles ... are but
    Essaies--that is dispersed Meditations ... Essays. The word is
    late, but the thing is auncient."

    Lord Bacon's reasons for printing his book, expressed in the
    signed preface which accompanied both editions, is interesting
    as showing that he was alive to the piracies of the
    book-sellers, and that he knew how to meet the difficulty in a
    sensible manner.

    "To M. Anthony Bacon his deare brother.

    Louing & beloued Brother, I doe nowe like ſome that haue an
    Orcharde ill neighbored, that gather their fruit before it is
    ripe, to preuent ſtealing. Theſe fragments of my conceites
    were going to print: To labour the ſtaie of them had bin
    troubleſome, and ſubiect to interpretation; to let them
    paſſe had beene to adu[=e]ture the wrong they might receyue
    by ontrue Coppies, or by ſome garniſhment, which it might
    pleaſe any that ſhould ſet them forth to beſtowe oppon
    them. Therefore I helde it beſt diſcretion to publiſh
    them myſelfe as they paſſed long agoe from my pen
    without any further diſgrace, then the weakneſſe of the
    Author...."

      Duodecimo.  The second edition.

      COLLATION: _A-E4, in twelves_.




RICHARD HAKLUYT

(1552?-1616)


14. The | Principal Navi- | Gations, Voiages, | Traffiques And Disco-
| ueries of the Engliſh Nation, made by Sea | or ouer-land, to the
remote and fartheſt di- | ſtant quarters of the Earth, at any
time within | the compaſſe of theſe 1500. yeeres: Deuided |
into three ſeuerall Volumes, according to the | poſitions of
the Regions, whereunto | they were directed. | [Thirteen lines] And
laſtly, the memorable defeate of the Spaniſh huge | Armada, Anno
1588. and the famous victorie | atchieued at the citie of Cadiz,
1596. | are described. | By Richard Hakluyt Maſter of | Artes, and
ſometime Student of Chriſt- | Church in Oxford. | [Illustration:
Printer's ornament] Imprinted at London by George | Bishop, Ralph
Newberie | and Robert Barker. | 1598. [-1600].

    The year 1589 had seen the publication of a small folio volume
    entitled:

    _The Principall | Navigations, Voia- | ges, And Discoveries
    Of The | Engliſh nation, made by Sea or ouer Land, |
    [Twenty-seven lines] By Richard Hakluyt Maſter of Artes,
    and Student ſometime | of Chriſt-church in Oxford. |
    [Printer's ornament] Imprinted at London by George Bishop |
    and Ralph Newberie, Deputies to | christopher Barker, Printer
    to the Queenes moſt excellent Maieſtie._ | 1589.

    The book presents a handsome appearance in the matter of type
    and ornament: the archer head-band appears, and there are
    two large pictorial initials at the beginning signed A. It
    contains also "one of the beſt generall mappes of the world
    onely, untill the comming out of a very large and most exact
    terreſtrial Globe, collected and reformed according to
    the neweſt, ſecretest, and lateſt diſcoueries
    ... compoſed by M. Emmerie Mollineux of Lambeth, a rare
    gentleman in his profeſſion...." This map was a close copy
    of one engraved by Francis Hogenberg for Ortelius's _Theatrum
    Orbis Terrarum_, published first in Antwerp in 1570. Like the
    original it is called _Typus Orbis Terrarum_, but Hogenberg's
    name is erased, and no other appears in its stead.

    This volume is usually called the first edition of the
    amplified work in three volumes, here facsimiled, which
    Hakluyt began to issue nine years later. _The British
    Librarian_ of William Oldys, that "oddest mortal that ever
    wrote," gives a full synopsis of the contents of the latter
    work, "this elaborate and excellent _Collection_, which
    redounds as much to the Glory of the _Engliſh_ Nation, as
    any Book that ever was publiſhed in it." He says:

    "Tho' the firſt Volume of this _Collection_ does frequently
    appear, by the Date, in the Title Page to be printed in 1599.
    the Reader is not thence to conclude the ſaid Volume was
    then reprinted, but only the Title Page, as upon collating the
    Books we have obſerved; and further, that in the ſaid last
    printed Title Page, there is no mention made of the _Cadiz_
    Voyage; to omit which, might be one Reaſon of reprinting
    that Page: for it being one of the moſt proſperous and
    honorable Enterprizes that ever the Earl of Eſſex was
    ingaged in, and he falling into the Queen's unpardonable
    Displeaſure at this time, our Author, Mr. Hakluyt, might
    probably receive Command or Direction, even from one of the
    Patrons to whom theſe Voyages are dedicated, who was of the
    contrary Faction, not only to ſupreſs all Memorial of that
    Action in the Front of this Book, but even cancel the whole
    _Narrative_ thereof at the _End_ of it, in all the Copies
    (far the greateſt Part of the Impreſſion) which remained
    unpubliſhed. And in that caſtrated Manner the Volume has
    deſcended to Poſterity; not but if the Caſtration was
    intended to have been concealed from us, the laſt Leaf of
    the Preface would have been reprinted alſo, with the
    like Omiſſion of what is there mentioned concerning the
    Inſertion of this Voyage. But at laſt, about the middle of
    the late King's Reign, an uncaſtrated copy did ariſe, and
    the said Voyage, was reprinted from it; whereby many imperfect
    Books have been made complete."

    The cancellation "in the Front" refers to the title-page.
    In the new page of the castrated edition the clause "And
    laſtly, the memorable defeate of the Spaniſh huge Armada,
    Anno 1588. and the famous victorie acheiued at the citie of
    Cadiz, 1596." is made to read: "As alſo the memorable defeat
    of the Spaniſh huge Armada, Anno 1588."; and the date is
    changed to 1599. But, as Oldys remarks, through oversight or
    indifference the reference in the preface still remains to
    show that the edition is doctored, and not a new one. It
    reads: "An excellent diſcourſe whereof, as likewiſe of
    the honourable expedition vnder two of the moſt noble and
    valiant peeres of this Realme, I meane, the renoumed Erle of
    Eſſex, and the right honorable the lord Charles Howard,
    lord high Admirall of England, made 1596, vnto the ſtrong
    citie of Cadiz, I haue set downe a double epiphonema to
    conclude this my firſt volume withall...." The reference
    also remains in "A Catalogue of the Voyages," "39 The
    honourable voyage to Cadiz, Anno 1596. [p.] 607." and at
    page 606 the catchword "A briefe" still bears witness to the
    curtailment of "A briefe and true report of the Honourable
    voyage vnto Cadiz, 1596." The original leaves ended on page
    619, with a large woodcut representing two winged figures
    supporting a crown and rose. They have been twice reprinted,
    but both reprints are easily distinguishable from the early
    work.

    The second volume was issued by the same printers in 1599, and
    the third in 1600. Hakluyt is characterized on the title-page
    of the first volume, as on that of the first edition, as
    "Master of Artes, and sometime Student of Christ-Church in
    Oxford," but in the second and third volumes he is called
    "Preacher, and sometime student of Christ-Church in Oxford."
    He had been made rector of Wetheringsett in Suffolk in 1590.

    In its general make-up, the new work resembles the old one.
    The archer head-bands have not been used, and only one of the
    pictorial initials signed [symbol: A; or "SA" monogram],--that
    at the beginning of the Dedication,--is retained in volumes
    one and two. These pictorial initials belong to an alphabet
    illustrating stories from Greek mythology. Mr. Pollard, in a
    chapter on _Pictorial and Heraldic Initials_, states that the
    first appearance of any of the set known to him occurs in a
    proclamation printed by Berthelet, and dated 1546. He finds
    that a similar monogram was used by Anton Sylvius, who worked
    for Plantin from 1550 to 1573, but he is doubtful about
    ascribing these initials to that artist.

    The first and third volumes have the "The" of the title in a
    long panel (made of type-metal ornament in the first case, and
    a woodcut cartouche in the last one); the printer's ornaments
    on the title-pages of the second and third volumes are alike,
    and are the same as that in the first edition. "A Table
    Alphabetical," printed at the end of the first edition, was
    not undertaken for the second; but a new, engraved map of the
    world, unsigned and without a title, is found in some copies
    of the third volume. It was used also in two states.

    This map is exceedingly rare, and interest attaches to it
    for two reasons. It is the first map of the world engraved
    in England, on Wright's (Mercator) projection, having been
    published the year after Wright had explained the principles
    of the projection in his _Certain Errors in Navigation_. A
    legend in a cartouche on the engraving says: "Thou hast here
    gentle reader a true hydrographical description of ſo much
    of the world as hath beene hetherto diſcouered, and is comme
    to our knowledge: which we have in ſuch ſort performed,
    y^t all places herein ſet downe, haue the ſame poſitions
    and diſtances that they haue in the globe...." The second
    source of interest is this: the map is, without much doubt,
    the one Shakespeare referred to in _Twelfth Night_ when he
    made _Maria_ say of _Malvolio_, "he does ſmile his face into
    more lynes then is in the new Mappe, with the augmentation of
    the Indies."

    A curious error has existed with regard to the map. The
    reference in the 1589 volume, already quoted, has been taken
    to mean that Hakluyt intended to issue a map by Molineux with
    that work, but, that map not being ready in time, he used the
    one from Ortelius. What more natural than that the new map in
    the 1598 edition should be supposed to be Molineux's, now at
    length finished? This was the conclusion jumped at, and the
    plate is usually called "Molineux's map." As a matter of fact,
    Hakluyt did not refer to Molineux as a map-maker, but as a
    globe-maker. He was a friend of that rare gentleman, and he
    knew that the mathematician was at work on a large terrestrial
    globe embodying all the very latest geographical information
    in the most exact way, according to Mercator's projection. He
    used the Ortelius map in his book only until the globe should
    be ready, when it could be easily adapted to the plane surface
    of a map by the engraver.

    The globe, measuring two and a half feet in diameter, was
    issued in 1592, and is now preserved in the Library of the
    Middle Temple.

      Folio.  Black letter.

      COLLATION: Volume I, *, _six leaves; **, six leaves; A-Fff{4},
      in sixes_.

      Volume II, *, _eight leaves; A-Ccb, in sixes; Aaa-Rrrb, in sixes_.

      Volume III, _(A), eight leaves; A-I, in sixes; K, eight leaves;
      L-Cccc, in sixes_.




GEORGE CHAPMAN

(1559-1634)


15. The | Whole Works | Of | Homer; | Prince Of Poetts | In his
Iliads, and | Odyſses. | Translated according to the Greeke, | By
| Geo: Chapman. | De Ili: et Odiſſ. | Omnia ab, his: et in his
ſunt omnia | ſive beati | Te decor eloquij, | ſeu rer[~u] pondera
| tangunt. Angel: Pol: | At London printed for Nathaniell Butter.
| William Hole ſculp:

    Though Butter was the publisher of Dekker's _Belman of
    London_, and, with John Busby, of Shakespeare's _Lear_, he is
    chiefly to be remembered for two things, for his success as a
    compiler and publisher of pamphlets of news,--a success which
    entitles him to the place of father of the London press--and
    for his connection with Chapman.

    In 1609 (?) Samuel Macham brought out, in small folio form,
    _Homer, Prince of Poetts, in Twelve Bookes of his Iliads_,
    embellished with an engraved title-page by William Hole, who
    was one of the earliest English engravers on copper-plates.
    Inflated with his subject, the artist crowded the title into
    a small central panel the better to present his conception of
    Vulcan, Apollo, Achilles, Hector, and Homer, in a composition
    which, if topheavy, was more dignified and better drawn than
    many of the borders ascribed to him.

    Under date of April 8, 1611, we find in the Stationers'
    Register that Butter "Entered for his Copy by consente of
    Samuell Masham, A Booke called Homers Iliads in English
    contayning 24 bookes." With his right to print, he also
    received the right to use the Hole frontispiece, which he had
    reëngraved on a larger scale for the new book. The date of
    issue is not given, but it could not have been later than
    November 6, 1612, the date of the death of the Prince of
    Wales, to whom the book is dedicated, and it was probably
    published soon after the date of copyright. The printer's name
    is also lacking; but reasons exist for thinking that more than
    one worked on the book, and that there were several issues.
    There are copies whose signatures agree with those of the
    volumes of our issue, but these are printed with different
    type, on poorer paper, and the initial letters and other
    ornaments are of a much cruder sort.

    After Chapman had published his translation of the Iliad, he
    turned his attention to the Odyssey; and, as in the case of
    the Iliad, he went to press with half of it first, Butter
    being the publisher. The volume ends with the words "Finis
    duodecimi libri Hom. Odyſſ. Opus nouem dierum," and begins
    with one of the most charming and perfect title-pages of the
    period, the greater pity therefore that it is unsigned.
    Its composition shows the poet in the midst of a company of
    laurel-crowned spirits, whose ethereal forms are expressed
    in stipple, with legends which read: "Solus ſapit hic <DW25>,
    Reliqui vero," and "Umbræ mouentur." Above, the title is
    supported by two cupids, and below are seated figures of
    Athena, and Ulysses with his dog. The whole plate was very
    delicately drawn.

    The remaining twelve books having been finished, we find
    Butter entering the whole twenty-four for copyright, November
    2, 1614; and, although the volume is not dated, it was
    probably issued soon afterward. The title reads: _Homer's
    Odysses. Tranſlated according to y^e Greeke. By George
    Chapman At Miki q^d viuo detraxerit. Inuida Turba Post obitum
    duplici foenore reddet Honos. Imprinted at London by Rich:
    Field, for Nathaniell Butter._

    The same engraved title-page was used, but its fine lines had
    now grown fainter, the stippled shades seeming to justify the
    statement in the inscription. The dedication to the Earl of
    Somerset, as it appeared with the first twelve books, was
    somewhat altered in the opening lines, necessitating the
    resetting of the first page and the consequent change of the
    head-band and initial letter; but the rest of the first
    half is precisely the same as in the first issue. The words
    "Finis," etc., were dropped from the end, in some copies, and
    a blank leaf marks the division of the first half from the
    last.

    The present book is made up of the complete Iliad, and the
    complete Odyssey, sewn together. The enterprising Butter
    made the engraved title of the Iliads answer for the general
    title-page of this book also, only, of course, changing the
    wording in the central panel. Some copies have the engraved
    title of the Odyssey, but more lack it. Its omission was
    probably due to its having become too faint from continued use
    to be of service. Butter added one or two new features to some
    copies of the volume, and among them a fine large portrait
    of Chapman, which he printed in a very unusual place, on
    the verso of the title-page. It represents the head of the
    translator, surrounded by clouds, and bears on the circular
    frame the inscriptions: _Haec est laurigeri facies diuina
    Georgi_; _Hic Ph[oe]bi Decus est_; _Ph[oe]binumqz Deus_;
    _Georgius Chapmanus Homeri Metaphrastes_. _Æta: LVII.
    M.DC.XVI; Conscium Evasi Diem._ The date of the inscription
    is usually given as the date of issue of the book. Below the
    frame are ten lines beginning with two quotations, one in
    Latin, and one in English, and followed by this interesting
    statement: _Eruditorum Poetarum huius Æui, facile Principi,
    Dno Georgio Chapman; Homero (velit nolit Inuidia) Rediuiuo.
    I.M. Tessellam hanc_ Χαριϛήριον [Greek: Charistêrion] _DD._
    It would be a gratifying thing to know the name of the friend
    who thus added so much to the embellishment and interest of the
    book. Could it have been John Marston?

    The engraving is ascribed to Hole, though without any very
    good reason, except that he had made the title-page of the
    Iliad, some four years earlier. It seems hardly probable that
    his awkward hand could have drawn the title for the Odyssey,
    and, while the same holds true of the engraver of the
    portrait, a comparison of the three plates perhaps would show
    that Butter employed more than one engraver.

    Besides the portrait, our publisher added after the
    title-page, on a separate leaf, an engraved dedication "To the
    Imortall Memorie, of the Incomparable Heroe, Henrye Prince
    of Wales," who died in 1612. Two columns labelled "Ilias"
    and "Odyssæa," bound with a band inscribed "Musar: Hercul:
    Colum:," have below them lines ending:

      "... Thow, dead. then; I
      Liue deade, for giuing thee Eternitie

                    "Ad Famam.

      "To all Tymes future, This Tymes Marck extend;
      Homer, No Patrone founde; Nor Chapman, friend:
              "Ignotus nimis omnibus;
              Sat notus, moritur ſibi:"

    This affecting tribute precedes the other dedication to the
    same prince, issued with the Iliad when it first appeared.
    Such constancy to the memory of a prince, now some years dead,
    and from whom no favors could be expected, argues well for
    Chapman's affections; but, on the other hand, one might see
    in it a reason for believing that the work was issued before
    1616.

      Folio.

      COLLATION: _Title-page and dedication, 2 ll.; *2,*3, 2 ll.;
      A4-A6, A, 5 ll.; B-Z, in sixes; Aa-Ff, in sixes; Gg, 7 ll.;
      A3-O, in sixes; R, 7 ll.; S-Z, in sixes; Aa-Hh, in sixes;
      Ii, 7 ll._




THE HOLY BIBLE


16. The | Holy | Bible, [Two lines] ¶ Newly tranſlated out of | the
Originall Tongues: and with | the former Tranſlations diligently
| compared and reuiſed by his | Maieſties ſpeciall Com- |
mandement. | ¶ Appointed to be read in Churches. | ¶ Imprinted | at
London by Robert | Barker, Printer to the | Kings moſt excellent |
Maieſtie. | Anno Dom. 1611.

    Few books present greater difficulties to the bibliographer
    than this, the first "Authorized" or King James Version of the
    Bible. Many copies bearing the same date, and seemingly alike,
    have distinct differences in the text, in the ornamental head-
    and tail-pieces, and in the initial letters. But the most
    striking difference lies in two forms of the title-page. One
    of these, a copper-plate engraving, signed _C. Boel fecit in
    Richmont_, represents an architectural framework having large
    figures of Moses and Aaron in niches on either side of the
    border and seated figures of St. Luke and St. John, with
    their emblems, at the bottom: above are seated figures of St.
    Matthew and St. Mark, and St. Peter and St. Paul holding the
    Agnus Dei, while behind them are various saints and martyrs.
    The title reads:

    _The | Holy Bible, | Conteyning the Old Teſtament, | And The
    New. | Newly Tranſlated out of the Originall | tongues:
    & with the former Tranſlations diligently compared and
    reuiſed by his | Maiesties ſpeciall C[~o]mandement. |
    Appointed to be read in Churches | Imprinted at London by
    Robert | Barker, Printer to the Kings moſt Excellent
    Maiestie. Anno Dom. 1611._

    The style of Boel's work is quite like that of the Sadelers,
    to whose school he belonged, and it resembles in its general
    effect some of the title-pages made by those artists for
    Plantin's famous Antwerp press.

    The other title-page is seen in the facsimile. It is printed
    with a woodcut border which represents above, the Evangelists
    Matthew and Mark, the Adonai, Lamb, and Dove in cartouches,
    while below are found St. Luke and St. John, the Lamb on the
    altar, and the cherub's head, Barker's ornament. The tents and
    shields of the Twelve Tribes are represented in twelve round
    panels on the left side, and the Twelve Apostles, similarly
    framed, on the right. The signatures RL [monogram
    reverse-R&L] and CS [monogram over semi-circle] are seen
    at the bottom of the title panel. This border, like the great
    primer black letter of the text, had been previously used
    by Christopher Barker, in an edition of the "Bishops Bible,"
    published in 1585, and by Robert in 1602; afterward, in an
    edition of the New Testament (Royal Version) published
    in 1617, and also in other works. While more finished in
    execution, the design is similar in idea to one often used
    by Barker, notably in a Bible printed in 1593, and bears some
    resemblance to a border found in Plantin's "Great Bible."

    The copper-plate title is sometimes found with what is called
    the first issue of the work, sometimes with the second, and
    sometimes with the editions of 1613 and 1617. It has been
    suggested that it was intended to be used with the woodcut
    border always found with the New Testament in both issues, and
    usually ascribed to the second, although "there is no ground
    for supposing that it was always issued with it." That Boel
    took the motive of the tents and shields of the Tribes for
    a minor detail in his border, is a point worthy of notice
    because this fact might, with some reason, be used to prove
    that inasmuch as his engraving was made some time after the
    unknown wood-engraver's border, it could hardly have appeared
    with the first issue.

    We quote the following from W. I. Loftie's _A Century of
    Bibles_:

    "Mr. Fry has compared together 70 copies of the Bible of 1611.
    By observing how many of them were exactly alike he was able
    to determine their order of publication. Twenty-three copies
    were found to present the same peculiarities. Two only varied
    from the 25 and from each other, in 8 leaves, 2 in one and 6
    in the other. Of the remaining 45, 40 were mixed with leaves
    from other editions, but 38 contained leaves of the same
    edition. Mr. Fry's conclusions were as follows:--One issue is
    unmixed except 2 copies in 25: the other is made up (1)
    with reprints, (2) with parts of the first issue, (3) with
    preliminary leaves from 3 other editions: he therefore infers
    that the two issues were distinct and that the issue which
    presented the fewest instances of admixture was the first. His
    conclusions seem unassailable; it is therefore assumed to be
    proved in this list, that the issue of which he examined 25
    copies so nearly alike, is the first, and is entitled to the
    honour of being called the _Editio Princeps_ of the version."

    The chief differences in the collation of what is called the
    second issue with the first are these: "The fifth leaf is
    Sig. B. in the preliminary matter: Kalendar C, C2, C3, and
    followers. In the first page of the Dedication OE is printed
    for OF and in the eighth line CHKIST for CHRIST. In the 'Names
    and order of the Bookes' there are three lines printed in red:
    I Chronicles, is misprinted I Corinthians, and II Chronicles,
    II Corinthians. The chief errors of the first issue are
    corrected, but the repetition in Ezra iii. 5, remains. Exodus
    ix. 13, Let my people goe that they may ſerve thee, _for_
    serve me. S. Matthew xxvi. 36, Then commeth Judas with them
    unto a place called Gethſemane, _for_ Then cometh
    Jeſus. The initial P. in Psalm 112, contains a woodcut of
    Walsingham's crest."

    Robert Barker's name calls for more than passing notice, since
    he it was who, more than any one else after the forty-seven
    translators, was responsible for the production of the
    Authorized Version. On January 3, 1599, the court of
    assistants of the Stationers' Company recognized the letter
    patent of Queen Elizabeth granting Robert Barker the reversion
    for life, after his father's death, of the office of Queen's
    Printer, with the right of printing English Bibles, Books of
    Common Prayer, statutes and proclamations. Christopher Barker,
    the father, who was also Queen's Printer, made an interesting
    report in December, 1582, on the printing patents which had
    been granted from 1558-1582, and in it he speaks of his own
    rights. Mr. Edward Arber, in quoting the report, calls it a
    masterly summary, whose importance and authority as a graphic
    history of English printing, it would be hardly possible
    to exaggerate. In "A note of the offices and other speciall
    licenses for printing, graunted by her maiestie to diuerse
    persons; with a coniecture of the valuation" he says: "Myne
    owne office of her Maiesties Printer of the English tongue
    gyven to Master Wilkes, (and which he had bought) is abbridged
    of the cheefest comodities belonging to the office, as shall
    hereafter appeare in the Patentes of Master Seres and Master
    Daye: but as it is I haue the printing of the olde and newe
    testament, the statutes of the Realme, Proclamations, and the
    booke of common prayer by name, and in generall wordes, all
    matters for the Churche."

    If the monopoly of printing the Bible brought its gains it
    also brought its risks. Christopher Barker in his report goes
    on to speak of this:

    "The whole bible together requireth so great a somme of money
    to be employed, in the imprinting thereof; as Master Jugge
    kept the Realme twelve yere withoute, before he Durst
    adventure to print one impression: but I, considering the
    great somme I paide to Master Wilkes, Did (as some haue termed
    it since) gyve a Desperate adventure to imprint fouer sundry
    impressions for all ages, wherein I employed to the value of
    three thousande pounde in the term of one yere and a halfe, or
    thereaboute: in which tyme if I had died, my wife and children
    had ben vtterlie vndone, and many of my frendes greatlie
    hindered by disbursing round sommes of money for me, by
    suertiship and other meanes...."

    Robert was not without a like experience. The King, it is
    claimed, never paid a penny towards the great work. Indeed,
    William Ball, writing in 1651, says: "I conceive the sole
    printing of the bible, and testament, with power of restraint
    in others, to be of right the propriety of one Matthew Barker,
    citizen and stationer of London, in regard that his father
    paid for the emended or corrected translation of the bible,
    3,500 l.: by reason whereof the translated copy did of right
    belong to him and his assignes."

    Whether the great expense connected with its production ruined
    him, or whether, as Mr. Plomer suggests, he had been living
    beyond his means, Barker's last days were involved in
    financial difficulties, and he died in the King's Bench
    prison.

    Some of the ornament in the book, particularly that used with
    the coat-of-arms of the King, the genealogical tables, the
    map, and some few head-bands and initial letters, again recall
    the work done for Plantin, and lead us to think that that
    great printer's books had not been without their influence
    upon the Barkers. The Tudor rose, the thistle, harp and
    fleur-de-lis are combined in different ways in initials and
    head-bands; the head-band of the archers, which was afterward
    used in the folio edition of Shakespeare's works, and is found
    in many other books, appears; and a large number of unrelated
    and commonplace initials and type-metal head-bands bring to
    mind the fact that Barker had come into the possession of
    material formerly belonging to John Day and Henry Bynneman.

      Folio.  Black letter.  Double columns.

      COLLATION: _A, six leaves; B, two leaves; C, one leaf; A2-A6;
      D, four leaves; A-C, in sixes; two leaves without signatures;
      A-Ccccc6, in sixes; A-Aa6, in sixes_.




BENJAMIN JONSON

(1573?-1637)


17. The | Workes | Of | Beniamin Jonson | --neque me ut miretur turba
| laboro: Contentus paucis lectoribus. | Imprinted at | London by |
Will Stansby | An^o D. 1616.

    This book, especially as we see it in the copies printed on
    large paper, is a handsome specimen of typography. It reflects
    great credit upon its printer, Stansby, who was an apprentice
    and then successor to John Windet, and himself a master
    printer. Such work entitles him to a front rank among the
    printers of the reign of James I.

    Jonson is said to have prepared the plays for the press,
    himself, and one or two matters of editing, which seem
    unusually careful when compared with other folio collections,
    certainly appear to show the author's hand. At the end of each
    play, for instance, is a statement telling when it was
    first acted, and by whom, whether the king's or the queen's
    servants. The names of the actors are also given, as well
    as the "allowance". The volume embraces nine plays, and
    _Epigrammes_, _The Forest_, _Entertaynements_, _Panegyre_,
    _Maſques_ and _Barriers_. There is no introductory note by
    the printer, and we are not told how Stansby came into the
    right to print those plays which had been previously issued by
    other printers or publishers.

    In some copies all of the plays have separate printed titles,
    while in others there are one, two, or more wood-cut borders
    showing a lion and a unicorn, a lily, rose and thistle, and a
    grape-vine twined around columns at the side.

    All of the works not included in the first were intended for
    a second volume, which, however, did not appear until after
    Jonson's death, in 1640, when it was printed for Richard
    Meighen, the bookseller, by Bernard Alsop and Thomas Fawcet.
    The title reads: _The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The second
    Volume Containing These Playes, Viz._ _1 Bartholomew Fayre.
    2 The Staple of Newes. 3 The Divell is an Asse_.... This title,
    it will be seen, mentions only three plays, which are thought
    to have been issued somewhat earlier than 1640, perhaps as
    a supplement to the first volume. The book, as it is usually
    bound, however, contains three more plays and a fragment of a
    fourth.

    There are variations in the imprint of the first volume,
    some reading, _London, Printed by William Stansby_, and again
    others, _London printed by W. Stansby, and are to be ſould
    by Rich: Meighen_. The imprints of the large paper copies in
    the British Museum and Huth libraries both read like that
    of the copy facsimiled. The large paper copies, it should be
    noted, are on whiter and finer paper of an entirely different
    water-mark. The copies with Meighen's name show traces of the
    erasure of our form; a fact leading to the supposition that
    they are later in issue. This matter is complicated, however,
    by certain striking variations in the text itself. The last
    two pages of Meighen's copies, containing _The Golden Age_,
    show a transposition of parts affecting the whole literary
    value of the ending of the masque.

    Mr. Walter Wilson Greg, in his _List of English Plays_, 1900,
    gives the Stansby-Meighen copies the place of the first
    issue, calling the Stansby copies a reissue, with the imprint
    reëngraved.

    It seems reasonable to suppose, in view of the fact that he
    was the seller of the second volume also, that Meighen became
    connected with Stansby after the first copies of the first
    volume were published. The appearance of his name in the
    imprint of Volume I. would mark the beginning of such
    a partnership; and this partnership would naturally be
    continuous, and not interrupted, as it would appear to be
    if copies bearing Stansby's name alone came after the
    Stansby-Meighen imprint, and before the 1640 volume.

    "Guliel Hole fecit" is signed to the elaborate title-page
    engraved on copper. This monumental structure, with
    its representations of Tragicom[oe]dia, Satyr, Pastor,
    Trag[oe]dia, Com[oe]dia, Theatrum, Plaustrum, and Visorium,
    shows such a considerable knowledge of Roman antiquities that
    we are inclined to think that Jonson himself may have had
    something to do with the making of it. A similar thought
    arises in looking at the pages engraved by Hole for Chapman's
    Homer, and one would like to know how far that author, steeped
    in his Classics, influenced the engraver. It may be a fair
    speculation, how far Jonson and Chapman may have influenced
    the development of book illustration.

    It is a point worthy of notice that the execution of the
    figures in this engraving is decidedly inferior to that of the
    Chapman title.

    Gerard Honthorst's portrait of Jonson, engraved by Robert
    Vaughan, whose frontispieces and portraits are found in many
    books of the period, is inserted in this copy. The engraving
    was probably issued, in its first state, as a separate print.
    In a second state it was prefixed to the second edition of
    the first volume, _Printed by Richard Biſhop, and are to be
    ſold by Andrew Crooke_, in 1640.

    The famous lines,

      "O could there be an art found out that might
      Produce his shape soe lively as to Write,"

    follow eight lines of Latin, beneath the oval frame.

      Folio.

      COLLATION: _Portrait and title-page, 2 leaves; A-Qqqq4, in sixes_.




ROBERT BURTON

(1577-1640)


18. The | Anatomy Of | Melancholy, | [Twelve lines]. By | Democritus
Iunior. | With a Satyricall Preface, conducing to | the following
Diſcourſe. | [Quotation] At Oxford, | Printed by Iohn Lichfield
and Iames | Short, for Henry Cripps. | Anno Dom. 1621.

    In the preface, the author tells why he used the pseudonym
    "Democritus Junior." Democritus, he says, as described by
    Hippocrates and Diogenes Laertius, was "a little wearyiſh
    olde man, very melancholy by nature, averſe from company in
    his latter times, and much giuen to ſolitarineſſe," who
    undertook to find the seat of melancholy. "_Democritus
    Iunior_ is therefore bold to imitate, and becauſe he left it
    unperfect, to proſecute and finiſh, in this Treatiſe."
    In "The Concluſion of the Author to the Reader," three
    leaves at the end of the volume, signed "Robert Burton," and
    dated "From my Studie in Chriſt Church, Oxon, Decemb 5.
    1620," he says:

    "The laſt Section ſhall be mine, to cut the ſtrings of
    _Democritus_ viſor, to vnmaſke and ſhew him as he is ...
    _Democritus_ began as a Prologue to this Trage-comedie, but
    why doth the Author end, and act the Epilogue in his owne
    name? I intended at firſt to haue concealed my ſelfe,
    but _ſecunde cogitationes_ &c. for ſome reaſons I haue
    altered mine intent, and am willing to ſubſcribe...."

    Later editions, and there were eight during Burton's lifetime,
    omit the conclusion, and show other alterations. The success
    of the book, as may be seen from this large number of
    editions, was great. Wood says that Cripps, the bookseller,
    made a fortune out of the sale of it, yet he received only a
    half share of the profits; the other half, belonging to the
    author, was made over by him in his will to members of the
    college and to various Oxford friends. "If anie bookes be
    lefte lett my executors dispose of them, with all such bookes
    as are written with my owne handes, and half my _Melancholy_
    copie, for Crips hath the other halfe."

    In course of time the _Anatomy_ was almost forgotten, and
    Lowndes tells us it owes its revival to Dr. Johnson, who
    observed that it "was the only book that ever took him out of
    bed two hours sooner than he wished to rise."

    Lichfield and Short were university printers whose press will
    be chiefly remembered in connection with the production of
    this masterpiece. The book is ornamented with a few type-metal
    head- and tail-pieces, and a large initial and a woodcut
    head-band at the beginning.

      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _a-f4, in eights; A-Ddd4, in eights_.




WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

(1564-1616)


19. M^r. William | Shakespeares | Comedies, | Histories, & |
Tragedies. | Publiſhed according to the True Originall Copies. |
[Portrait] London | Printed by Iſaac Iaggard, and Ed. Blount. 1623.

    The bibliographical history of this most famous book has been
    written so completely by Mr. Sidney Lee that little remains to
    be said. The following notes aim only at recounting the facts
    suggested by a reading of the title-page.

    _Venus and Adonis_, printed in 1593, and _Lucrece_, printed in
    1594, were the only works of Shakespeare published during his
    lifetime with his consent and coöperation; but sixteen of
    his plays were printed in quarto size, by various publishers,
    without his permission.

    The plays here collected, in folio form, are thirty-six in
    number, and include sixteen hitherto unpublished,--all the
    plays, in fact, except _Pericles_. John Heming and Henry
    Condell, friends and fellow-actors of the dramatist, were
    professedly responsible for the edition, as appears in their
    dedication to the Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery:

    "... that what delight is in them, may be euer your L.L. the
    reputation his, & the faults ours, if any be committed, by
    a payre ſo carefull to ſhew their gratitude both to the
    liuing, and the dead...." But the chief part of the real
    editorship is thought to have devolved upon the publisher,
    Edward Blount of The Bear, Paul's Churchyard, one of the firm
    pecuniarily responsible for the enterprise. His name and that
    of Isaac Jaggard, the printer, appear upon the title-page, as
    the licensed printers, but in the colophon we read that the
    book was "printed at the charges" of William Jaggard, printer
    to the City of London, and father to Isaac, Ed. Blount, "I.
    Smithweeke," or Smethwick, bookseller under the Dial, in St.
    Dunstan's Churchyard, and William Aspley, bookseller of The
    Parrots, Paul's Churchyard.

    The "true originall copies" were probably found in the sixteen
    unauthorized quarto volumes, previously printed, the playhouse
    or prompt-copies, and in transcripts of plays in private
    hands. Heming and Condell touch on this matter in their
    address "To the great Variety of Readers": "It had bene a
    thing, we confeſſe, worthie to haue bene wiſhed, that
    the Author himſelfe had liu'd to haue ſet forth, and
    ouerſeen his owne writings; But ſince it hath bin ordain'd
    otherwiſe, and he by death departed from that right, we pray
    you do not envie his Friends, the office of their care, and
    paine, to haue collected & publiſh'd them; and ſo to
    haue publiſh'd them, as where (before) you were abus'd with
    diuerſe ſtolne, and ſurreptitious copies, maimed,
    and deformed by the frauds and ſtealthes of iniurious
    impoſtors, that expoſed them; even thoſe are now offer'd
    to your view cur'd, and perfect of their limbes; and all the
    reſt, abſolute in their numbers as he conceiued th[~e]."

    The edition, as published, is thought to have numbered five
    hundred copies. About two hundred are now known, but of these
    less than twenty are in perfect condition. The price of the
    volume when issued was one pound, and the highest price so far
    paid is seventeen hundred and twenty pounds.

    The book is not a fine specimen of typography; it contains
    numerous errors of all kinds, and the printer's ornaments are
    all such as are frequently met with in books issued before and
    after this date. This is especially and strikingly true of the
    large head-band of the archers which we have already noticed
    in the Bible of 1611, and of the large tail-piece used after
    twenty-five of the plays. The other head-pieces and initial
    letters are of commonplace character, and show much wear. The
    portrait, too, by Martin Droeshout, a young Flemish artist,

      "Wherein the Grauer had a ſtrife
      With Nature, to out-doo the life:"

    as Jonson assures us in his famous verses "To the Reader," is,
    as might be expected, hard and stiff, but it was undoubtedly
    done from a painting that has more claims to be considered
    "from the life" than any other. With all its technical faults,
    it "is intrinsically the most valuable volume in the whole
    range of English literature."

      Folio.

      COLLATION: _One leaf without signature; A, eight leaves; A-Z,
      Aa-Cc2, in sixes; a, two leaves; Aa3-Aa6, b-g, in sixes; gg,
      eight leaves; h-x, in sixes_; ¶, ¶¶, _in sixes_; ¶¶¶, _one leaf;
      aa-ff, in sixes; gg, two leaves; gg-zz, aaa-bbb, in sixes_.




JOHN WEBSTER

(1580?-1625?)


20. The | Tragedy | Of The Dutchesse | Of Malfy. | As it was
Preſented priuatly, at the Black- | Friers; and publiquely at the
Globe, By the | Kings Maieſties Seruants. | The perfect and exact
Coppy, with diuerſe | things Printed, that the length of the Play
would | not beare in the Preſentment. | VVritten by John Webſter.
| [Quotation] | London: | Printed by Nicholas Okes, for Iohn |
Waterson, and are to be ſold at the | ſigne of the Crowne, in
Paules | Church-yard, 1623.

    The play was first acted about 1612.

    A list of the actors' names is given on the verso of the
    title-page, and among them stands out that of Richard Burbage,
    who created the part of the _Duke_. The part of the _Duchess_
    was played by a boy named R. Sharpe.

    It is the only play of Webster's presented on the modern
    stage. Miss Glyn played in it in 1851, and Miss May Rorke in
    1892.

    The first edition is called by Dyce, the most correct of the
    quartos.

      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _A-N, in fours.  Without pagination._




PHILIP MASSINGER

(1583-1640)


21. A New Way To Pay | Old Debts | A Comoedie | As it hath beene often
acted at the Ph[oe]- | nix in Drury-Lane, by the Queenes | Maieſties
ſeruants. | The Author. | Philip Massinger. | [Printer's mark]
London, | Printed by E. P. for Henry Seyle, dwelling in S. | Pauls
Churchyard, at the ſigne of the | Tygers head. Anno. M.DC. | XXXIII.

    This comedy retained its popularity longer than any other of
    Massinger's plays, and has often been revived upon the modern
    stage.

    "E. P." was Elizabeth Purslowe, the widow of George Purslowe,
    who this year began to carry on "at the east end of Christ
    church" the business followed there by her husband since 1614.
    The printer's mark is the one used by the famous family of
    French printers, the Estiennes.

    Seile, whose labors covered a period of twenty years, was one
    of the many publishers of Massinger's books.

      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _A-M2, in fours. Without pagination._




JOHN FORD

(1586-1639)


22. The | Broken | Heart. | A Tragedy. | Acted | By the Kings
Majeſties Seruants | at the priuate Houſe in the | Black-Friers. |
Fide Honor. | [Printer's ornament] London: | Printed by I. B. for Hugh
Beeston, and are to | be ſold at his Shop, neere the Caſtle in |
Corne-hill 1633.

    The words "Fide Honor" are an anagram of Ford's name. Entered
    on the Stationers' Register March 28, 1633.

      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _A, three leaves; B-K, in fours.  Without pagination._




CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE

(1564-1593)


23. The Famous | Tragedy | Of | The Rich Ievv | Of Malta. | As It Was
Playd | Before The King And | Queene, In His Majesties | Theatre at
White-Hall, by her Majeſties | Servants at the Cock-pit. | Written
by Christopher Marlo. | [Printer's ornament] London; | Printed by I.
B. for Nicholas Vavaſour, and are to be ſold | at his Shop in the
Inner-Temple, neere the | Church. 1633.

    Marlowe probably wrote the play not earlier than 1588, because
    the line in the opening speech of _Machevill_, "And now the
    Guize is dead," refers to the Duc de Guise, the organizer of
    the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew, who died in that year.
    The tragedy was acted many times before it was entered in the
    Stationers' Register by the two publishers, Nicholas Ling and
    Thomas Millington, in 1594; but for some reason it was not
    printed even then. When finally issued in the form shown here,
    it was under the editorship of Thomas Heywood, the dramatist,
    who explains his connection with the work in his dedication to
    Thomas Hammon:

    "This Play, compoſed by ſo worthy an Authour as Mr. Marlo;
    and the part of the Jew preſented by ſo vnimitable an
    Actor as Mr. Allin, being in this later Age commended to the
    Stage: As I vſher'd it into the Court, and preſented it
    to the Cock-pit, with theſe Prologues and Epilogues here
    inſerted, ſo now being newly brought to the preſſe I
    was loth it ſhould be publiſhed without the ornament of an
    epistle...."

      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _A-K2, in fours.  Without pagination._




GEORGE HERBERT

(1593-1643)


24. The | Temple. | [Four lines] By M^r. George Herbert. | [Quotation]
Cambridge | Printed by Thom. Buck, | and Roger Daniel, printers | to
the Univerſitie. | 1633.

    Izaak Walton wrote the well-known account of the circumstances
    connected with the printing of _The Temple_. He tells how
    Herbert, upon his death-bed, received a visit from a Mr.
    Edmond Duncon, and how he confided to him the manuscript to be
    delivered to Nicholas Ferrar of Little Gidding. These are his
    words:

    "... Having said this, he did, with so sweet a humility
    as seemed to exalt him, bow down to Mr. Duncon, and with
    a thoughtful and contented look, say to him, 'Sir, I pray
    deliver this little book to my dear brother Farrer [Ferrar],
    and tell him he shall find in it a picture of the many
    spiritual conflicts that have passed betwixt God and my soul
    ... desire him to read it; and then, if he can think it may
    turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul, let it be
    made publick; if not, let him burn it, for I and it are less
    than the least of God's mercies.' Thus meanly did this humble
    man think of this excellent book, which now bears the name of
    _The Temple_, or _Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations_...."

    The small volume was entered for license soon after the poet's
    death, but was at first refused by the Vice-Chancellor. Izaak
    Walton is again our informant of the circumstance:

    "And this ought to be noted, that when Mr. Farrer sent
    this book to Cambridge to be licensed for the press, the
    Vice-Chancellor would by no means allow the two so much-noted
    verses,

      'Religion stands a tiptoe in our land,
      Ready to pass to American strand,'

    to be printed; and Mr. Farrer would by no means allow the
    book to be printed and want them. But after some time and
    some arguments for and against their being made publick, the
    Vice-Chancellor said, 'I knew Mr. Herbert well, and know that
    he had many heavenly speculations, and was a divine poet; but
    I hope the world will not take him to be an inspired prophet,
    and therefore I license the whole book.' So that it came to be
    printed without the diminution or addition of a syllable since
    it was delivered into the hands of Mr. Duncon, save only that
    Mr. Farrer hath added that excellent preface that is printed
    before it."

    There were two editions of the book in the same year, and
    beside these, two copies are known, like the first edition in
    every particular, except the title-page, which is not dated,
    and reads as follows:

    _The | Temple. | Sacred poems | And | Private Eja- |
    culations. | By M^r. George Herbert, late Oratour of the
    Univerſitie | at Cambridge. | Psal. 29. | In his Temple doth
    every | man speak of his honour. | Cambridge: | Printed by
    Thomas Buck | and Roger Daniel_: | ¶ _And are to be ſold by
    Francis | Green, ſtationer in | Cambridge._

    Grosart thinks that the undated copies were limited to a very
    few, issued as gifts to intimate friends.

    Thomas Buck appears to have held the office of printer to the
    University from 1625 for upward of forty years. During that
    period he had several partners besides Daniel, with all of
    whom he quarrelled. Daniel was appointed on July 24, 1632, and
    the next year, or the year when Herbert's book was published,
    entered into an agreement by which he received one-third of
    the profits of the office, while Buck received two-thirds.

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: ¶, _four leaves; A-I2, in twelves_.




JOHN DONNE

(1573-1631)


25. Poems, | By J. D. | With | Elegies | On The Authors | Death. |
London.| Printed by M. F. for Iohn Marriot, | and are to be ſold at
his ſhop in St. Dunſtans | Churchyard in Fleet-ſtreet. 1633.

    An entry in the Registers of the Stationers' Company shows the
    book to have been regularly licensed, though somewhat delayed
    owing to the doubts of the censor concerning the Satires and
    certain of the Elegies.

      "_13^o Septembris 1632_

    "John Marriott. Entred for his Copy vnder the handes of Sir
    Henry Herbert and both the Wardens a booke of verses and Poems
    (the five satires, the first, second, Tenth, Eleaventh and
    Thirteenth Elegies being excepted) and these before excepted
    to be his, when he bringes lawfull authority ... vj^d.

      "written by Doctor John Dunn."

    But in 1637, after two editions had been published, the poet's
    son, who had a somewhat unsavory reputation, addressed a
    petition to the Archbishop of Canterbury stating that it had
    been put forth "withoute anie leaue or Authoritie," and, as
    a result, the Archbishop issued the following order, December
    16, 1637.

    "I require ye Parties whom this Petition concernes not to
    meddle any farther with ye Printing or Selling of any ye
    pretended workes of ye late Deane of St. Paules, saue onely
    such as shall be licensed by publike authority, and approued
    by the Petitioner, as they will answere ye contrary to theyr
    perill. And this I desire Mr. Deane of ye Arches to take
    care."

    In view of this discussion, Marriot's note in "The Printer
    To The Understanders," which is not found in all copies, and
    which, since it is printed on two extra leaves, was evidently
    an afterthought for late issues, takes on an added interest.
    It would be difficult to say whether his apologies touching on
    all these matters were actuated by the noble spirit in which
    he claims he printed the book, or to ward off anticipated
    criticism. One is almost tempted to try and read between the
    lines when he exclaims:

    "If you looke for an Epiſtle, as you haue before ordinary
    publications, I am ſory that I muſt deceive you; but you
    will not lay it to my charge, when you shall conſider that
    this is not ordinary ..., you may imagine (if it pleaſe
    you) that I could endeare it unto you, by ſaying, that
    importunity drew it on, that had it not beene preſented
    here, it would haue come to us beyond the Seas (which perhaps
    is true enough,) that my charge and paines in procuring of
    it hath beene ſuch, and ſuch. I could adde hereunto a
    promiſe of more correctneſſe, or enlargement in the next
    Edition, if you ſhall in the meane time content you with
    this....

    "If any man (thinking I ſpeake this to enflame him for the
    vent of the Impreſſion) be of another opinion, I ſhall
    as willingly ſpare his money as his judgement. I cannot
    looſe ſo much by him as hee will by himſelfe. For I
    ſhall ſatiſfie my ſelfe with the conſcience of well
    doing, in making ſo much good common.

    "Howſoeuer it may appeare to you, it ſhall ſuffice me
    to enforme you that it hath the beſt warrant that can bee,
    publique authority and private friends."

    The younger Donne's petition is supported by the appearance of
    the book itself, which was edited in a very careless fashion,
    without any attempt at order or relation. But, on the other
    hand, as Mr. Edmund Gosse has pointed out, Marriott and his
    edition really do seem to have had the support of the best
    men among Donne's disciples and friends: King, Hyde, Thomas
    Browne, Richard Corbet, Henry Valentine, Izaak Walton, Thomas
    Carew, Jasper Mayne, Richard Brathwaite and Endymion Porter,
    all of whom, beside several others, combined to write the
    Elegies mentioned on the title-page.

    The printer, "M. F.," was Miles Flesher, or Fletcher,
    successor to George Eld, and one of the twenty master printers
    who worked during this most troublous period, following the
    famous act of July 11, 1637. He also printed for Marriott
    the second edition of 1635 in octavo, and the third of 1639,
    which, in the matter of contents, is practically the same as
    the second.

    Marriott's first reference in the lines of the "Hexaſtichon
    Bibliopolæ" which follows "The Printer To The Understanders,"

      "I See in his laſt preach'd, and printed booke,
      His Picture in a ſheete; in Pauls I looke,
      And ſee his Statue in a ſheete of ſtone,
      And ſure his body in the graue hath one:
      Thoſe ſheetes preſent him dead, theſe if you buy,
      You haue him living to Eternity,"

    refers to the portrait engraved by Martin Droeshout, issued
    with _Death's Duell_, in 1632. The whole verse seems to be an
    apology for the lack of a portrait in this volume. Donne was
    abundantly figured afterward. The _Poems_, printed in 1635,
    and again in 1639, contained his portrait at the age of
    eighteen, engraved by Marshall; Merian engraved him at the age
    of forty-two, for the _Sermons_ of 1640; and Lombart produced
    the beautiful head for the _Letters_ of 1651.

      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _Title, one leaf; A-Z, Aa-Zz, and Aaa-Fff3, in fours_.




SIR THOMAS BROWNE

(1605-1682)


26. Religio, | Medici. | Printed for Andrew Crooke. 1642. Will:
Marſhall. ſcu.

    This is thought to be the earlier of two anonymous editions
    published in the same year, and without the author's sanction,
    as we learn from the third edition published in the following
    year, entitled _A true and full coppy of that which was moſt
    | imperfectly and Surreptitiously printed before | under the
    name of: Religio Medici._ In the preface Browne says over his
    signature: "... I have at preſent repreſented into the
    world a ful and intended copy of that Peece which was moſt
    imperfectly and surreptitiouſly publiſhed before." He
    repeats the complaint of surreptitious publication in a letter
    to Sir Kenelm Digby, in which he begs the latter to delay
    the publication of his "Animadversions upon ... the Religio
    Medici" which "the liberty of these times committed to the
    Press."

    The chief points of difference between the two surreptitious
    editions have been pointed out by Mr. W. A. Greenhill in his
    facsimile edition of the book, printed in 1883. The form of
    some of the capital letters is occasionally different; the
    issue which he calls A, and to which our copy belongs, has pp.
    190, the other, B, 159; A has 25 lines to a page--B, 26; and
    the lines in A are shorter than those in B. After comparing
    these with the authorized version, Mr. Greenhill says:

    "It will appear from the above collection of various readings
    that the alterations made by the Author in the authorized
    edition consisted chiefly in the correction of positive
    blunders, made (as we know from an examination of the existing
    MSS.) quite as often by the copyist as by the printer. But he
    also took the opportunity of modifying various positive and
    strongly worded propositions by the substitution of less
    dogmatic expressions, or the insertion of the qualifying
    words, _I think_, _as some will have it, in some sense, upon
    some grounds_, and the like." "Upon the whole," Mr. Greenhill
    thinks Browne "had good reason to complain bitterly that
    the book was published, not only without his knowledge and
    consent, but also in a "depraved and 'imperfect' form."

    The curious coincidence that all three editions, spurious and
    authorized, were issued by the same publisher, who used
    the engraved title-page by William Marshall for each, only
    changing the imprint, gave rise to the hypothesis that, if Sir
    Thomas did not authorize, he did not prevent the publication
    of the early editions. In fact, Dr. Johnson (though he
    professes to acquit him) favored the view "that Browne
    procured the anonymous publication of the treatise in order
    to try its success with the public before openly acknowledging
    the authorship."

    The effect of the work certainly justified any fears the
    author may have had. It excited much controversy and was
    placed in the _Index Expurgatorius_ of the Roman Church. But
    from the publisher's point of view, it was a great success.
    Eleven editions appeared during Browne's lifetime, it was
    reprinted over and over again, and it provoked over thirty
    imitations of its scope or title. It was translated into
    Latin, Dutch, French and German.

    The emblematic fancy of Marshall has represented on the
    engraved title-page of this volume, a hand from the clouds
    catching a man to hinder his falling from a rock into the
    sea. The picture bears the legend "à coelo salus," which was
    afterward erased, not, we will hope, because of lack of faith
    in the sentiment expressed. The title was also rubbed out.

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _Engraved title, one leaf; A-M, in eights_.




EDMUND WALLER

(1606-1687)


27. The | Workes | Of | Edmond VValler | Eſquire, | [Four lines]
Imprimatur | Na. Brent. Decem. 30. 1644. | London, | Printed for
Thomas Walkley | 1645.

    The "Workes" of this poet "nursed in parliaments" consist of
    poems and speeches. The book was probably issued early in the
    year, having, as we see from the title-page, been licensed
    in December, 1644. There are copies identical in every other
    respect, that show a block of printer's ornament instead
    of the "Imprimatur," and still others with quite a new
    title-page, which reads: _Poems,| &c. | Written By | Mr. Ed.
    Waller | of Beckonſfield, Eſquire; lately a | Member of
    the Honourable | House of Commons. | All the Lyrick Poems in
    this Booke | were ſet by Mr. Henry Lavves Gent. | of the
    Kings Chappell, and one of his | Majeſties Private Muſick.
    | Printed and Publiſhed according to Order. | London, |
    Printed by T. W. for Humphrey Moſley, at the | Princes Armes
    in Pauls Church- | yard._ 1645.

    New poems have been added to this last issue, and "The Table"
    of contents has been inserted between the poems and speeches.
    There is also an Epistle "To my Lady," and "An advertiſement
    to the Reader" wherein we read:

    "This parcell of exquiſit poems, have paſſ'd up and
    downe through many hands amongſt perſons of the beſt
    quallity, in looſe imperfect Manuſcripts, and there
    is lately obtruded to the world an adulterate Copy,
    surruptitiouſly and illegally imprinted, to the derogation
    of the Author, and the abuſe of the Buyer. But in this
    booke they apeare in their pure originalls and true genuine
    colours."

    We may with reasonableness see in the first variation a
    publisher's trick to make his book appear to have had a quick
    sale; while the second might indicate a transfer of the unsold
    sheets from Walkley to Moseley, who for some reason, perhaps
    an agreement arrived at with the poet, considered himself to
    be the authorized publisher.

    Later in the same year, Moseley issued a reprint, which
    omitted the Speeches, and a new edition in octavo with a
    title-page which now reads:

    _Poems, &c. | Written By | Mr. Ed. Waller | [Three lines] And
    Printed by a Copy of | his own hand-writing. | [Four lines]
    Printed and Publiſhed according to Order. | London, |
    Printed by J. N. for Hu. Moſley, at the Princes | Armes in
    Pauls Church-yard, | 1645_.

    The volume has been entirely reprinted.

    The Speeches appear again, but the rest of the contents remain
    as before. Mr. Beverly Chew, in an article on "The First
    Edition of Waller's Poems," says: "It is this edition that
    is generally called the 'first authorized edition,' but it
    is quite evident that all of the editions of this year stand
    about on the same level so far as the author is concerned."
    Not until the edition of 1664 do we read on the title-page,
    "Never till now Corrected and Published with the approbation
    of the Author."

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _Title, one leaf, B-H, in eights_.




FRANCIS BEAUMONT

(1584-1616)

AND

JOHN FLETCHER

(1579-1625)


28. Comedies | And | Tragedies | Written by | Francis Beaumont | And
| Iohn Fletcher | Gentlemen. | Never printed before, | And now
publiſhed by the Authours | Originall Copies. | [Quotation] London,
| Printed for Humphrey Robinſon, at the three Pidgeons, and for |
Humphrey Moſeley at the Princes Armes in S^t Pauls | Church-yard.
1647.

    These two dramatists, between whom "there was a wonderfull
    consimility of phancy," and who shared everything in common,
    were inseparably connected in their writings. No collected
    edition of their plays appeared before this posthumous one,
    which is dedicated to Philip, Earl of Pembroke, by ten
    actors, and is introduced to the reader by James Shirley, the
    dramatist, who speaks of the volume as "without flattery the
    greatest Monument of the Scene that Time and Humanity
    have produced." This, too, notwithstanding the fact that
    Shakespeare's _Works_ had appeared twenty-four years before.

    This edition appears to have been due to Moseley's enterprise.
    He tells us in a frank address called "The Stationer to the
    Readers":

    "'T were vaine to mention the Chargeableneſſe of this
    VVork; for thoſe who own'd the Manuſcripts, too well
    knew their value to make a cheap eſtimate of any of theſe
    Pieces, and though another joyn'd with me in the Purchaſe
    and Printing, yet the _Care & Pains_ were wholly mine...."

    Commenting upon the fact stated on the title-page that the
    plays had not been printed before, he says: "You have here a
    New Booke; I can ſpeake it clearely; for of all this large
    Uolume of Comedies and Tragedies, not one, till now, was ever
    printed before...." "And as here's nothing but what is genuine
    and Theirs, ſo you will find here are no Omiſſions; you
    have not onely All I could get, but all that you muſt ever
    expect. For (beſides thoſe which were formerly printed)
    there is not any Piece written by theſe Authours, either
    Joyntly or Severally, but what are now publiſhed to the
    VVorld in this Volume. One only Play I muſt except (for
    I meane to deale openly) 'tis a Comedy called the
    _VVilde-gooſe-Chase_, which hath beene long lost...."

    Nothing which throws light upon the history of printing at
    this time is more interesting than the Postscript added at the
    end of the commendatory verses by Waller, Lovelace, Herrick,
    Ben Jonson and others, and immediately after a poem by Moseley
    himself ending, "If this Booke faile, 'tis time to quit the
    Trade."...

    "... After the _Comedies_ and _Tragedies_ were wrought off,
    we were forced (for expedition) to ſend the _Gentlemens_
    Verſes to ſeverall Printers, which was the occaſion of
    their different Character; but the _Worke_ it ſelfe is one
    continued Letter, which (though very legible) is none of
    the biggeſt, becauſe (as much as poſſible) we would
    leſſen the Bulke of the Volume."

    This matter of size seems to have been the cause of no little
    solicitude and care. Speaking of adding more plays to the
    volume, he says:

    "And indeed it would have rendred the Booke ſo Voluminous,
    that _Ladies_ and _Gentlewomen_ would have found it ſcarce
    manageable, who in Workes of this nature muſt firſt be
    remembred."

    There are thirty-six plays in the collection: as the stationer
    tells us in the preface to the reader quoted above, all those
    previously printed in quarto are included, except the _Wild
    Goose Chase_, which had been lost. It is added at the end of
    the volume with a separate title-page dated 1652.

    The following epigram by Sir Aston Cockain, addressed to the
    publishers, the two Humphreys, is not without interest in this
    connection as showing that the difficulties arising from the
    joint authorship were early sources of perplexity:

      "In the large book of Plays you late did print
      (In Beaumonts and in Fletchers name) why in't
      Did you not juſtice? give to each his due?
      For Beaumont (of thoſe many) writ in few:
      And Maſſinger in other few; the Main
      Being ſole Iſſues of ſweet Fletchers brain.
      But how come I (you ask) ſo much to know?
      Fletchers chief boſome-friend inform'd me ſo.

          ...    ...    ...    ...    ...

      For Beaumont's works, & Fletchers ſhould come forth
      With all the right belonging to their worth."

    Moseley, in his address as stationer, says of the portrait of
    Fletcher by William Marshall, which bears the inscriptions,
    "Poetarum Ingeniosissimus Ioannes Fletcherus Anglus Episcopi
    Lond: Fili." "Obijt 1625 Ætat 49": "This figure of Mr.
    Fletcher was cut by ſeveral Originall Pieces, which his
    friends lent me; but withall they tell me, that his unimitable
    Soule did ſhine through his countenance in ſuch _Ayre_ and
    _Spirit_, that the Painters confeſſed it, was not eaſie
    to expreſſe him." The nine lines of verse beneath the
    portrait are by Sir John Birkenhead. The portrait is found
    in two states, distinguishable by the size of the letters in
    Birkenhead's name. Although he was very ambitious to get a
    portrait of Master Beaumont, his search proved unavailing.

    There are a few woodcut head-bands, varied with others made of
    type metal, in the front part of the book, but the last part
    is severely plain.

      Folio. The first collected edition.

      COLLATION: _Portrait; A, four leaves; a-c, in fours; d-g, in
      twos; B-L2, in fours; Aa-Ss, in fours; Aaa-Xxx, in fours;
      4A-4I, in fours; 5A-5X, in fours; 6A-6K, in fours; 6L, six leaves;
      7A-7G, in fours; 8A-8C, in fours; *Dddddddd, two leaves;
      8D-8F, in fours._




ROBERT HERRICK

(1591-1674)


29. Hesperides: | Or, | The Works | Both | Humane & Divine | Of |
Robert Herrick Eſq. [Quotation, Printer's mark] London, | Printed
for John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, | and are to be ſold at
the Crown and Marygold | in Saint Pauls Church-yard. 1648.

    A volume entitled "The seuerall Poems written by Master Robert
    Herrick" was entered by Master Crooke for license April 29,
    1640, but was not published. The _Hesperides_ was the first
    work of the poet to be printed, except some occasional
    contributions to collections of poems. It is dedicated in
    a metrical epistle to the most illustrious and most hopeful
    Charles, Prince of Wales, afterward Charles II.

    The book is divided into two parts, the second having a
    separate title-page which reads: _His | Noble Numbers: | Or,
    | His Pious Pieces, | Wherein (amongſt other things) |
    he ſings the Birth of his Christ: | and ſighs for his
    Saviours ſuffe- | ring on the Croſſe.| [Quotation]
    London. | Printed for John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield,
    1647. |_

    This part was not issued, as far as is known, except with the
    Hesperides to which the author evidently intended it to be
    affixed, if we may judge by the lines toward the end of the
    first part: "Part of the work remains; one part is past."

    The year of publication had seen Herrick dispossessed of his
    living at Dean Prior by the predominant Puritan party, and
    it has been suggested that he was glad to take this means
    of gaining an income. His use of the form, "Robert Herrick,
    Esquire," was, it is thought, a wise move on the part of
    the publishers, since a book by the "Reverend," or "Robert
    Herrick, Vicker" would have been less likely to meet with
    favor.

    Neither Williams nor Eglesfield was a bookseller of
    importance, and the printer is entirely unknown. He may
    have withheld his name for fear of the judgment suggested by
    Herrick at the head of his column of Errata:

      "For theſe Tranſgreſsions which thou here doſt ſee,
      Condemne the Printer, Reader, and not me;
      Who gave him forth good Grain, though he miſtook
      The Seed; ſo ſow'd theſe Tares throughout my Book."

    Copies vary in the imprint, some reading _London, Printed for
    John Williams and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be ſold
    by Tho. Hunt, Bookſeller in Exon, 1648_; and several
    differences of spelling, capitalization and punctuation also
    occur. These variations have given rise to a discussion that
    aims to determine the sequence of issues; but thus far it
    serves only to prove that constant editorial tinkering took
    place at the press-side.

    William Marshall, whose prolific graver (Strutt says he
    used only that tool) produced portraits, frontispieces,
    title-pages, and other decorations of a certain charm, even
    if dry and cramped in style, had in Herrick a subject of more
    than usual difficulty. As if conscious of his shortcomings
    he attempts to make atonement by the emblematic flattery
    of Pegasus winging his flight from Parnassus, the Spring of
    Helicon, loves and flowers, which he adds to lines signed _I.
    H. C._ and _W. M._

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _Four leaves (without signatures): B-Z and Aa-Cc, in
      eights, Aa-Ee, in eights._




JEREMY TAYLOR

(1613-1667)


30. The Rule | And | Exercises | Of | Holy Living. | [Eleven lines]
London, | Printed for Francis Aſh, Book- | Seller in Worceſter. |
MDCL. [Colophon] London, | Printed by R. Norton. | MDCL.

    The remarkably well-designed title-page engraved by Robert
    Vaughan, which precedes the printed title, bears the imprint,
    _London printed for R: Royſton | in Ivye lane_. 1650. and
    some copies have the following imprint on the title-page:
    _London, | Printed for Richard Royſton at the | Angel in
    Ivie-Lane. | MDCL._ Royston was the royal bookseller, and
    publisher of _Eikon Basilike_, which ran through fifty
    editions in the single year 1649. Taylor's work was also a
    popular venture, and reached a fourteenth edition in 1686.

    This edition contains "Prayers for our Rulers," which recalls
    the fact that these were stirring times when the book was
    published. Charles had been beheaded in January of the
    previous year, and Cromwell won his victory at Worcester,
    where Ash had his shop, in the year following. It was not
    without some worldly wisdom of living, then, that our author
    used the above heading, and later, when times were changed,
    altered it so as to make it read, "For the King."

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _Frontispiece; ¶, twelve leaves; A-S4, in twelves._




IZAAK WALTON

(1593-1683)


31. The | Compleat Angler | [Six lines, Quotation.] London, Printed
by T. Maxey for Rich. Marriot, in | S. Dunſtans Church-yard
Fleetſtreet, 1653.

    In the _Perfect Diurnall_, as well as in other broad-sheets,
    the following advertisement appeared from Monday, May 9, to
    Monday, May 16, 1653:

    "The Compleat Angler or the Contemplative Man's Recreation,
    being a Diſcourſe of Fish and Fishing, not unworthy the
    peruſal of moſt Anglers, of 18 pence price. Written by
    Iz. Wa. Alſo the known Play of the Spaniſh Gipſee, never
    till now publiſhed. Both printed for Richard Marriot, to
    be ſold at his ſhop in St. Dunſtans Church-yard, Fleet
    Street." Walton could hardly have expected his work to be
    anonymous when his very distinctive initials appeared so
    plainly in the advertisement. And even though they are not
    printed on the title-page of the book, they are signed to the
    dedication to his most honoured friend, Mr. John Offley of
    Madeley Manor, and at the end of the address "To the Reader of
    this Discourse: but eſpecially To the honeſt Angler."
    The name was added to the title in the fifth or 1676 edition,
    called _The Universal Angler._

    Contemplative men did indeed find the work not unworthy their
    perusal, and Marriot, who seems to have been fortunate in the
    books he published, alone issued five editions during the life
    of the author. Between then and now we may count no less than
    one hundred and thirty different imprints. At Sotheby's, in
    1895, a copy of this eighteen-pence book sold for four hundred
    and fifteen pounds, an earnest of its rarity and of the
    eagerness with which it is sought.

    Concerning the engraved cartouche with the first part of the
    title, on the title-page, and the six illustrations of fish
    engraved in the text, the author says "To the Reader of this
    Discourse": "And let me adde this, that he that likes not the
    diſcourſe ſhould like the pictures of the _Trout_ and
    other fiſh, which I may commend, becauſe they concern not
    myſelf." No name is given to show whose work they may be;
    they are sometimes ascribed to Pierre Lombart, a Frenchman
    resident in London, and employed by book-publishers to
    illustrate their books. But on the other hand we must
    not forget that Vaughan and Faithorne were both making
    illustrations for books at this time. There is reason for
    calling attention to the belief, formerly current, that the
    engravings were done on plates of silver, a notion which, as
    Thomas Westwood remarks, is sufficiently disproved by their
    repeated use in no less than five editions of _The Compleat
    Angler_, and the same number of Venable's _Experienc'd
    Angler_.

    Henry Lawes, the musician, and the author of several works,
    wrote the music to "The Anglers' Song For two Voyces,
    Treble and Baſſe," which occupies pages 216 and 217.
    The right-hand page is printed upside down for the greater
    convenience of the singers, who could thus stand facing one
    another. Lawes used a similar arrangement in his _Select Ayres
    and Dialogues_, published the same year as the _Angler_.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _A-R3, in eights._




SAMUEL BUTLER

(1612-1680)


32. Hudibras. | The First Part, | Written in the time of the late
Wars. | [Device] London, | Printed by J. G. for Richard Marriot, under
Saint | Dunstan's Church in Fleetſtreet. 1663.

    Although "written in the time of the late Wars," _Hudibras_
    was not licensed to be printed until November 11, 1662, two
    years after the reëstablishment of the monarchy, when a satire
    on Puritanism could no longer give offense to the ruling
    party. On the contrary, the satisfaction which it gave to
    the King and court had much to do with the great success it
    achieved. Butler himself records the royal favor:

      "He never ate, nor drank, nor slept,
      But 'Hudibras' still near him kept;
      Nor would he go to church or so,
      But 'Hudibras' must with him go."

    Marriot, the successful publisher of Walton's _Angler_
    and some of Donne's books, issued the first part in three
    different forms, large octavo, like our copy, small octavo,
    and duodecimo; the last two sizes being sold for a lower price
    than the former, to meet the popular demand for the work.
    Besides these there is another edition, in three issues of the
    same date, which has no name of printer or publisher in
    the imprint, although, like Marriot's copies, it bears the
    license, "Imprimatur. Jo: Berkenhead, Novemb. 11, 1662." If
    it were not for this imprimatur, the following notice, which
    appeared in the _Public Intelligencer_ for December 23, 1662,
    would make it seem certain that the nameless edition was
    really spurious:

    "There is stolen abroad a most false imperfect copy of a
    poem called _Hudibras_, without name either of printer or
    bookseller, as fit for so lame and spurious an impression. The
    true and perfect edition printed by the author's original, is
    sold by Richard Marriot under St. Dunstan's church in Fleet
    Street; that other nameless is a cheat, and will not abuse
    the buyer as well as the author, whose poem deserves to have
    fallen into better hands." But the presence of the regular
    license brings us to the very probable theory that Marriot may
    have issued both editions; the first without his name because
    he was unwilling to allow it to appear until the fortune of
    the book seemed certain.

    Singularly enough, Marriot did not issue _The Second Part. By
    the Authour of the Firſt_, which came out the next year in
    two sizes, octavo and small octavo, _Printed by T. R. for John
    Martyn, and James Alleſtry, at the Bell in St. Pauls Church
    Yard_. Ten years later we find the volume being issued by
    Martyn and also by Herringman.

    _The Third and laſt_ | _Part_. | _Written by the Author_ |
    _Of The | First and Second Parts_. | _London_, | _Printed for
    Simon Miller, at the Sign of the Star_ | _at the Weſt End of
    St. Pauls, 1678._ was only published in one size, the octavo.
    We get an idea of the great interest the book created, when,
    after a lapse of so many years, this last part ran into a
    second edition in a twelvemonth.*

    Mr. Pepys is our authority for the cost of the spurious book.
    He says, in his Diary on Christmas Day, 1662: "Hither come Mr.
    Battersby; and we falling into a discourse of a new book of
    drollery in verse, called Hudebras, I would needs go find it
    out, and met with it at the Temple: it cost 2s. 6d. But when
    I came to read it, it is so silly an abuse of the Presbyter
    Knight going to the warrs, that I am ashamed of it; and by and
    by, meeting at Mr. Townsend's at dinner, I sold it to him for
    18d." He afterward tried to read the second part, so we learn
    from his notes dated November 28, 1663; but which issue he
    used we shall never know. He says:

    "... To Paul's Church Yarde, and there looked upon the second
    part of Hudibras, which I buy not, but borrow to read, to
    see if he be as good as the first, which the world do cry so
    mightily up, though it hath not a good liking in me...."

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _Title; A-R, in eights_.


        * It should be noted that some copies of the
        volume have the record of the license and some have none.




JOHN MILTON

(1608-1674)


33. Paradiſe loft. | A | Poem | Written in | Ten Books | By John
Milton. | Licenſed and Entred according | to Order. | London |
Printed, and are to be ſold by Peter Parker | under Creed
Church neer Aldgate; And by | Robert Boulter at the Turks Head in
Biſhopſgate-ſtreet; | And Matthias Walker, under St. Dunſtons
Church | in Fleet-ſtreet, 1667.

    Milton began his great epic in 1658, and is said to have
    finished it in 1663. It was licensed after some delay,
    occasioned by the hesitation of the deputy of the Archbishop
    of Canterbury over the lines:

      "As when the Sun, new ris'n
      Looks through the Horizontal Misty Air
      Shorn of his Beams, or from behind the Moon
      In dim Eclips, disastrous twilight sheds
      On half the Nations, and with fear of change
      Perplexes Monarchs."

    He may, as Professor Masson has pointed out, have had
    difficulty in finding a publisher able and willing to venture
    upon the printing of a work by one "whose attacks on the
    Church and defenses of the execution of Charles I. were still
    fresh in the memory of all, and some of whose pamphlets had
    been publicly burnt by the hangman after the Restoration."
    Few probably of those whose shops had centered around Paul's
    Churchyard, the very heart of the book-trade, could have done
    so, for they were, if not ruined, certainly inconvenienced
    by the loss of their stock and shops in the Great Fire of the
    year before. It is small wonder that Simmons, to whom, through
    some agency or other, the poet did come, drove a hard bargain
    when the agreement for the copyright was entered into,
    April 27, 1667. The original of this agreement came into the
    possession of the Tonsons, the proprietors of the copyright,
    and was finally presented to the British Museum by Samuel
    Rogers, who acquired it from Pickering the publisher. "Milton
    was to receive 5 l. down, and 5 l. more upon the sale of each
    of the first three editions. The editions were to be accounted
    as ended when thirteen hundred copies of each were sold 'to
    particular reading customers,' and were not to exceed fifteen
    hundred copies apiece. Milton received the second 5 l. in
    April, 1669, that is 15 l. in all. His widow in 1680 settled
    all claims upon Simmons for 8 l. and Simmons became proprietor
    of the copyright, then understood to be perpetuated."

    The book made its appearance at an unfortunate time. London
    had barely recovered from the Plague of 1665 (during which
    eighty printers had died, wherein is seen another reason for
    the difficulty in finding a publisher), and the great district
    devastated by the Fire was still only partly rebuilt. It was
    not surprising that the 1200 copies which are thought to have
    made the first edition did not have a brisk sale; these were
    not exhausted for at least eighteen months, and a second
    impression was not put out for four years.

    The copies of the first printing may be divided into several
    classes, according to the title-pages they bear. These all
    differ from one another in several more or less important
    particulars, but the text of the work is identical in all
    cases, except for a few typographical errors. Two titles,
    supposed to be the earliest, were _Licenſed and Entred
    according | to Order_, and have the imprint:

    _London | Printed, and are to be ſold by Peter Parker |
    under Creed Church neer Aldgate; And by | Robert Boulter at
    the Turks Head in Biſhopſgate-ſtreet; | And Matthias
    Walker, under St. Dunſtons Church | in Fleet-ſtreet,
    1667._

    On these the poem is seen to be by "John Milton," and the only
    difference between them lies in the type used for Milton's
    name, one being of a smaller size than the other. A third
    title-page, having a similar imprint but dated 1668, has
    "The Author J. M." A fourth has "The Author John Milton," the
    license has given place to a group of _fleurs-de-lis_, and the
    imprint reads:

    _London, | Printed by S. Simmons, and to be ſold by S.
    Thomſon at | the Biſhopſ-Head in Duck-lane, H. Mortlack,
    at the | White Hart in Weſtminſter Hall, M. Walker under
    | St. Dunſtans Church in Fleet-ſtreet, and R. Boulter at |
    the Turks-Head in Biſhopſgate ſtreet, 1668._

    Two new title-pages were used in 1669, differing only in the
    type. The imprint reads:

    _London, | Printed by S. Simmons, and are to be ſold by | T.
    Helder at the Angel in Little Brittain. | 1669._

    Beside these there are others. Early bibliographers claimed
    that eight or even nine variations existed, but later
    investigation has failed to verify more than six.

    The chief point of interest in all these variations lies in
    the fact that Peter Parker, not Simmons, issued the first
    volumes. As we have pointed out above, the theory has been
    advanced that the owner of the copyright was timid about
    avowing his connection with the poet. A more natural reason
    would seem to be that he was unable to print the book at
    first, through losses, in the Fire perhaps, of presses and
    types. Such a theory would seem to derive weight from the fact
    that the issues of 1668 and 1669 which bear his name do not
    give an address, and it is not until the second edition
    of 1674 that we find him "next door to the Golden Lion in
    Aldersgate-ſtreet."

    The original selling price of the volume was three shillings.
    The prices now vary according to the sequence of the
    title-pages. A copy of the first issue sold in New York in
    1901 for eight hundred and thirty dollars.

    The volume has no introductory matter, but begins at once with
    the lines "Of Mans Firſt Diſobedience"; Simmons added the
    following note to the second edition: "There was no Argument
    at firſt intended to the Book, but for the ſatisfaction of
    many that have deſired it, is procured." The printer adopted
    a very useful custom in numbering the lines of the poem. He
    set the figures down by tens in the margin, within the double
    lines that frame the text.

      Quarto. The first edition with the first title-page.

      COLLATION: _Two leaves without signatures; A-Z, and Aa-Vv2,
      in fours.  Without pagination._




JOHN BUNYAN

(1628-1688)


34. The | Pilgrims Progreſs | [Eleven lines] By John Bunyan. |
Licenſed and Entered according to Order. | London, | Printed for
Nath. Ponder at the Peacock | in the Poultrey near Cornhil, 1678.

    In 1672 Bunyan was released from the gaol, which, possibly
    with a brief interval, had been his "close and uncomfortable"
    home for twelve years; and Ponder, who, for his connection
    with his famous client, was called "Bunyan's Ponder," entered
    the imperishable story, written in "similitudes," at the
    Stationers' Hall, December 22, 1677. The customary fee of
    sixpence being duly paid, early in the following year the
    book was licensed, and soon after published at one shilling
    sixpence.

    Its success was very great: the first year saw a second
    edition, and the year following a third, each with important
    additions.

    Southey stated, in 1830, when he put out a new edition of the
    book, that there was no copy of the first edition known, but
    since then five have been unearthed, two of which are perfect.

    The portrait of Bunyan engraved by Robert White makes our copy
    unique. It shows the author lying asleep over a lion's den,
    while above him Christian is represented on his journey. Until
    1886, when this volume was brought to light, the third edition
    was supposed to be the first to have a picture of the author;
    but now it seems quite certain that other volumes of the first
    edition may, like this, have had the print. In the edition
    of 1679, the label of the city from which the Pilgrim
    was journeying, called "Vanity" here, was changed to
    "Destruction."

    The price paid for this volume, when it was sold at auction in
    1901, was fourteen hundred and seventy-five pounds.

    The second part of the _Pilgrim's Progress_ appeared in 1684.
    It depends more upon reflected than intrinsic merit; but
    copies of the first edition are even rarer than those of the
    first edition of the first part.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _A-Q3, in eights. Portrait._




JOHN DRYDEN

(1631-1700)


35. Absalom | And | Achitophel. | A | Poem. | ... Si Propiùs ſtes |
Te Capiet Magis.... | London, | Printed for J. T. and are to be Sold
by W. Davis in | Amen-Corner, 1681.

    The Earl of Shaftesbury, here typified as Achitophel for his
    share in the conspiracy to place the young Duke of Monmouth,
    Absalom, on the throne, was committed to the Tower in July,
    1681; and this satire appeared in November, just before the
    Grand Jury acquitted him. Notwithstanding the lateness of the
    work, its success was unprecedented. We are told that Samuel
    Johnson's father, a bookseller of Litchfield, said that he
    could not remember a sale of equal rapidity, except that of
    the reports of the Sacheverell trial.

    The author's name does not appear in the book; nor yet in the
    second edition, to which Tonson added two unsigned poems "To
    the unknown author."

    Jacob Tonson, the publisher of the work, was one of the
    notable figures in the annals of book-publishing in England,
    and his name is inseparably connected with some of the most
    important literary ventures of the period: with those of
    Milton, Addison, Steele, Congreve, but above all with those of
    Dryden. Basil Kennett wrote in 1696: "Twill be as impossible
    to think of Virgil without Mr. Dryden, as of either without
    Mr. Tonson." He was so poor when he began business that he
    is said to have borrowed the twenty pounds necessary to the
    purchase of the first play of Dryden's that he published; but,
    thanks to his shrewdness, and to the success of his ventures,
    he died in affluent circumstances, having fully earned the
    title of "prince of booksellers." He was the founder of the
    famous Kit-Cat Club, and in spite of Dryden's ill-tempered
    lines,

      "With leering looks, bull-faced and freckled fair,
      With two left legs, with Judas- hair,
      And frowsy pores that taint the ambient air,"

    he was not unliked by his clients and friends.

    The only decoration in the book consists of a head-band
    preceding the poem, and an initial letter. In some copies the
    head-band is pieced out to the width of the type page with
    small ornaments.

      Folio.

      COLLATION: _Two leaves without signatures;  B-I, in twos._




JOHN LOCKE

(1632-1704)


36. An | Essay | Concerning | Humane Understanding. | In Four Books.
[Quotation, Group of Ornaments] London: | Printed by Eliz. Holt,
for Thomas Baſſet, at the | George in Fleet-ſtreet, near St
Dunſtan's | Church. MDCXC.

    Locke's two previous works had been issued anonymously; but
    this book, while it has no name on the title-page, has the
    author's name signed at the foot of the dedication to Thomas,
    Earl of Pembroke; a dedication of such fulsome compliment that
    even Pope, who called Locke his philosophic master, is said to
    have thought he could never forgive it. In the first edition,
    that appeared early in the year, the dedication is not dated,
    but "Dorset Court, May 24, 1689," appears in all the following
    issues.

    Basset paid thirty pounds for the copyright of the work, and
    later agreed to give six bound copies of every subsequent
    edition, and ten shillings for every sheet of additional
    matter.

    Some copies of the first edition have the imprint: _Printed
    for Tho. Baſſet, and ſold by Edw. Mory | at the Sign
    of the Three Bibles in St. Paul's Church-Yard. MDCXC._ They
    probably belong to an earlier issue: the two _ss_ in _Essay_,
    which were here printed upside down, were set right in
    the title-pages of the issue facsimiled; and the group
    of printer's ornaments, here placed irregularly, were
    straightened in our copy.

    In August, 1692, Locke writes: "I am happy to tell you that
    a new edition of my book is called for, which, in the
    present turmoil of the protestant world, I consider very
    satisfactory." The month of September, 1694 brought the book
    again before the public, and by the year 1800 twenty different
    editions had been published.

    The first edition was full of faults that the second aimed
    to correct. "Beſides what is already mentioned, this
    Second Edition has the Summaries of the several § §. not only
    Printed, as before, in a Table by themſelves, but in the
    Margent too. And at the end there is now an Index added.
    Theſe two, with a great number of ſhort additions,
    amendments, and alterations, are advantages of this Edition,
    which the bookseller hopes will make it ſell. For as to the
    larger additions and alterations, I have obliged him, and he
    has promiſed me to print them by themſelves, ſo that the
    former Edition may not be wholly loſt to thoſe who
    have it, but by the inſerting in their proper places the
    paſſages that will be imprinted alone, to that
    purpoſe, the former Book may be made as little defective as
    poſſible."

    The amendments and alterations were printed on separate slips
    of paper, which were given to purchasers of the first edition
    to be pasted into their copies; certainly an ingenious if
    not altogether satisfactory way of keeping abreast with the
    author's mind. It must have been considered useful, however,
    for the same plan was resorted to with the fourth edition.

    "Our friend Dr. Locke, I am told, has made an addition to his
    excellent 'Essay,' which may be had without purchasing the
    whole book," said the thrifty Evelyn to the careful Pepys,
    who replied: "Dr. Locke has set a useful example to future
    reprinters. I hope it will be followed in books of value." A
    copy of the book in the Bodleian Library, which has its little
    slips all carefully pasted in, has a note on the fly-leaf,
    written by its owner:

    "Here is observable the honesty of the great Mr. Locke in
    printing for the purchasers of this edition the improvements
    made in the second."

      Folio.

      COLLATION: _A, four leaves; [a], two leaves; B-Z, Aa-Zz,
      and Aaa-Ccc, in fours._




WILLIAM CONGREVE

(1670-1729)


37. The | Way of the World, | A | Comedy. | As it is Acted | At The
| Theatre in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, | By | His Majeſty's Servants.
| Written by Mr. Congreve. | [Quotation] London: | Printed for Jacob
Tonſon, within Gray's-Inn-Gate next | Gray's-Inn-Lane. 1700.

    This was the last of Congreve's plays to be performed upon
    the stage. It was presented by Betterton's company, but was
    a failure. "The unkind Reception this excellent comedy met
    with," said Charles Wilson, "was truly the Cauſe of Mr.
    Congreve's juſt Reſentment; and upon which, I have often
    heard him declare, that he had form'd a ſtrong Reſolution
    never more to concern himſelf with Dramatic Writings."

      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _A, three leaves; a, two leaves; B-N2, in fours._




EDWARD HYDE

FIRST EARL OF CLARENDON

(1609-1674)


38. The | History | Of The | Rebellion and Civil Wars | In | England,
| [Five lines] Written by the Right Honourable | Edward Earl of
Clarendon, | [Two lines, Quotations] Volume The First. [Vignette]
Oxford, | Printed at the Theater, An. Dom. MDCCII. [-MDCCIV].

    Begun in April, 1641, and finished during the period of
    Clarendon's exile, which extended from 1667 until his death,
    the _History_ was prepared for printing under the direction of
    Laurence Hyde, Earl of Rochester, who received assistance from
    Dr. Henry Aldrich, Dean of Christ Church, and Thomas Sprat,
    Bishop of Rochester. Rochester wrote the introduction and
    dedications.

    On the verso of the title-page of the first volume we find
    "Imprimatur. Ro. Hander Vice-Can. Oxon. Apr. 29. 1702."; the
    second volume is signed "Guil Delaune Vice-Can, Oxon. Sept.
    15, 1703," and the third, by Delaune, "Octob. 16, 1704."

    There is no dedication to the first volume, which begins at
    once with the preface; but the second and third volumes are
    dedicated to the queen. In the last two volumes a proclamation
    by her Majesty, dated June 24, 1703, states that: "whereas Our
    Truſty and Wellbeloved William Delaune, Doctor in Divinity,
    and Vice-Chancellor of Our Univerſity of Oxford, has humbly
    preſented unto US, in the behalf of the ſaid Univerſity,
    that They have at Great Expence already Publiſhed One Volume
    of the late Earl of Clarendon's Hiſtory, and intend in a
    ſhort time to Publiſh the Second and Third Volumes for
    Compleating the Work; and the ſole Right of the Copy of the
    ſaid Work being Veſted in Our Univerſity of Oxford,
    and They having humbly beſought US to Grant Them Our
    Royal Priviledge and Licence for the ſole Printing and
    Publiſhing the ſame for the Term of Fourteen Years; ... do
    therefore hereby Give and Grant ... the same." This refers
    to the fact that Clarendon, who had been chancellor of the
    University from 1660 until he went into exile, provided in his
    will that the profits from the sale of copies of the _History_
    should belong to the University and should be expended in
    erecting a building for the exclusive use of the Press,
    founded in "1468."

    Previously, and at the time of the printing of the book, the
    work of the University Press was done in the "Theatre," a view
    of which is given at the left of the figure of Minerva, in the
    vignette on the title-page. This was the Sheldonian Theatre,
    built from designs by Christopher Wren, at the expense of
    Archbishop Gilbert Sheldon, who succeeded Lord Clarendon as
    chancellor. It was opened in 1669, and was used for various
    academic purposes, as well as for the home of the Press.
    Clarendon's design was fulfilled in 1713; and the Clarendon
    Building, as it was called, was occupied until it was
    outgrown, and the Clarendon Press, for under this name it was
    now equally well known, was removed once more, in 1830, to its
    present quarters.

    The vignette, with its interesting glimpse of the buildings
    near the Theatre, is signed "delin MBurg. ſculp. Univ. Ox.,"
    in the first two volumes, and "delin MBurghers ſculpt, Univ.
    Ox. 1704," in the third, where the plate also shows other
    signs of having been gone over or reëngraved.* Beside these
    vignettes, the work is ornamented with ambitious copper-plate
    head- and tail-pieces, and initial letters, some unsigned,
    but probably all by Burg. A portrait of Clarendon occurs as
    a frontispiece in each of the three volumes. It is after the
    painting by Sir Peter Lely, and was engraved in 1700 by Robert
    White, a prolific producer of portraits framed with borders
    that, in most cases, were less tasteful than this one, with
    its mace, bag, and coat-of-arms. The inscription reads:
    "Edward Earle of Clarendon, Lord High Chancellor of England,
    and Chancellor of the Univerſity of Oxford. An^o. Dñi 1667."

    The plate for the third volume has been much worked over,
    if not entirely redrawn in a slavish copy. White's name is
    erased, and Burg's appears in its stead. Some copies of all
    three volumes of the first edition are dated 1704; while
    others show a confusion of dates, and the portraits do not
    follow the order here described.

      Folio. Large paper copy.

      COLLATION: _Three volumes. Three portraits._

        * A: P. L. Lamborn used a similar idea for an ornament
        which he engraved for the Cambridge University Press
        about 1761.




THE TATLER

39. The | Lucubrations | Of | Iſaac Bickerſ<DW75> Eſq; | Vol. I.
| [Quotation] London, | Printed: And ſold by John Morphew, near
Stationers-Hall. MDCCX. [-MDCCXI.] Note. The Bookbinder is deſired
to place the Index after [Tatler, No. 114] which ends the Firſt
Volume in Folio.


    The first number of the _Lucubrations_, a folio sheet headed
    with the title _The Tatler_, and ending with the imprint
    _London: Printed for the Author, 1709_, appeared on Tuesday,
    April 12. It was issued thereafter three times a week, on
    Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, "for the convenience of
    the post."

    Public interest having displayed itself in a sufficiently
    emphatic manner, the "Author" evidently felt justified in
    engaging a permanent printer, and the imprint of the fifth
    number reads: "Sold by John Morphew near Stationers-Hall;
    where Advertiſements are taken in."

    The first four numbers were distributed free as a kind of
    advertisement. Then, "Upon the humble Petition of the Running
    Stationers, &c.," they were sold at one penny. But a charge
    of halfpence was added after the twenty-sixth number, "Whereas
    Several Gentlemen have deſir'd this Paper, with a blank
    Leaf to write Buſineſs on, and for the convenience of the
    poſt."

    "Quidquid agunt homines nostri farrago libelli" is the motto
    printed at the head of the first forty numbers, and "Celebrare
    domestica facta" on Nos. 41 and 42, but after that special
    mottoes were used. The single numbers usually bear the name
    of "_Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq,_, aged sixty-four, an old man,
    a philosopher, an humorist, an astrologer and a censor," but
    sometimes other members of his family appear in his stead,
    especially his half-sister Jenny Distaff, and her husband.

    Number 271, dated January 2, 1711, omits Bickerstaff's name,
    and the whole paper, except for some advertisements at the
    end, is given to a letter signed by Steele, in which he says:
    "The Printer having informed me that there are as many of
    theſe Papers printed as will make Four Volumes, I am now
    come to the End of my Ambition in this Matter, and have
    nothing further to ſay to the World, under the Character of
    _Iſaac Bickerſtaff_. This Work has indeed for ſome time
    been diſagreeable to me, and the Purpoſe of it wholly
    loſt by my being ſo long underſtood as the Author....
    All I can now do for the further Gratification of the Town, is
    to give them a faithful Index and Explication of Paſſages
    and Alluſions...." The index, called "A Faithful Index of
    the Dull as well as Ingenious Paſſages in the Tatlers,"
    bears at the end the important note, "[The Price of theſe
    Two Sheets, Three Pence.]" The "Explication of paſſages"
    was made in "The Preface," which, in our copy, is bound after
    the dedications of the second volume. For, as it will thus
    be seen, Steele bethought himself to add further to the
    gratification of the public by printing two title-pages and
    four dedications, on folio sheets, for the benefit of those
    subscribers who might wish to bind their copies.

    The title-page of the second volume is like the first, only
    it is dated 1711; and the foot-note reads: [Symbol: Right
    pointing hand] "Note, The Bookbinder is deſired to place the
    Index after [Tatler No. 271.] which ends the ſecond Volume
    in Folio." The index to the _Tatlers_ of this volume has the
    note: "[The Price of theſe Three Sheets and a Half, Six
    Pence.]" The notes on the dedications, and the fact that while
    the folio sheets made only two volumes, four dedications were
    issued, shows us that the binding of the current sheets was an
    afterthought, and that the quarto edition in four volumes was
    relied upon to keep alive the lucubrations. Thus the quarto
    edition dedications were made to do double service.

    In its present form the first volume is dedicated anonymously
    to Mr. Arthur Maynwaring, while the second has the other three
    dedications. One, to Edward Wortley Montague, signed Isaac
    Bickerstaff, has the note: "The Dedication foregoing belongs
    to the Second Volume of Tatlers in Octavo; which begins with
    N^o 51, and ends with N^o 114". One, to William, Lord Cowper,
    signed Richard Steele, has the note: "The foregoing Dedication
    belongs to the Third Volume of Tatlers in Octavo, which
    begins with N^o. 115, and ends with N^o. 189." The last one,
    dedicated to Charles, Lord Halifax, also signed by Steele,
    has a note which reads: "This Dedication belongs to the Fourth
    Volume of Tatlers in Octavo, which begins with N^o 190, and
    ends with N^o 271."

    Aitken tells us that, "Like other publications of the time,
    the successive numbers of the Tatler were reprinted in Dublin
    and Edinburgh, as they came out. The Dublin issue was in
    quarto form, the Edinburgh paper a folio sheet, rather smaller
    than the original, and with a fresh set of advertisements of
    interest to local readers."

    In No. 102, our editor says of the octavo edition:

    "Whereas I am informed, That there is a ſpurious and very
    incorrect Edition of theſe Papers printed in a ſmall
    Volume; Theſe are to give Notice, That there is in the
    Preſs, and will ſpeedily be publiſhed, a very neat
    Edition, fitted for the Pocket, on extraordinary good Paper,
    a new Brevier Letter, like the Elzevir Editions, and adorned
    with ſeveral Cuts by the beſt Artiſts. To which is
    added, a Preface, Index, and many Notes, for the better
    Explanation of theſe Lucubrations. By the Author. Who has
    reviſed, amended, and made many Additions to the Whole." In
    the last number he says again: "The Third Volume of theſe
    Lucubrations being juſt finiſh'd, on a large Letter in
    Octavo, ſuch as pleaſe to ſubſcribe for it on a Royal
    Paper, to keep up their Sets, are deſired to ſend
    their Names to Charles Lillie, Perfumer, at the Corner of
    Beauford-Buildings, in the Strand, or John Morphew near
    Stationers Hall, where the Firſt and Second Volumes are to
    be deliver'd."

    The price of the corrected work in four quarto volumes, if
    bought of the printer, was £1 per volume on royal paper, and
    ten shillings on medium paper; and it is gratifying to learn
    that the work met with so great a success that there was
    hardly a name eminent at the time which was not subscribed.

    A copy in the British Museum has for a frontispiece a portrait
    of "Isaac Bickerstaff Esq. Engraved and ſold by John Sturt
    in Golden-Lion Court in Alderſgate Street Price Six Pence.
    MDCCX." and signed _B. L ens ſen^r delineavit_.

      Folio.

      COLLATION: _Two volumes. No signatures._ Volume I: _iv pp.
    [114 ll.], iv pp._ Volume II: _viii pp. [271 ll.], vi pp._




THE SPECTATOR


40. Numb. I | The Spectator | Non fumum ex fulgore, ſed ex fumo dare
lucem | Cogitat ut ſpecioſa dehinc miracula promat. Hor. | To be
continued every Day. | Thurſday, March 1. 1711. [At the end] London:
Printed for Sam. Buckley, at the Dolphin in Little Britain; and sold
by A. Baldwin in Warwick-Lane.

    The last _Tatler_ had appeared in the previous January:
    the new paper like its predecessor came out in single folio
    sheets, but, as may be seen above, its editors considered the
    demand sufficient to warrant its daily publication.

    The first fifteen numbers bore the imprint here given, with
    the additional information, after the second number, "where
    Advertisements are taken in." Buckley paid Addison and Steele
    £575, on November 10, 1712, for a half-share in the copyright
    of the paper and in the numbers not yet published. On October
    13, 1714, he transferred this assignment to Jacob Tonson,
    Jr., whose name appears October 2, 1712, in place of that of
    Baldwin's and of "Charles Lillie, Perfumer, at the Corner of
    Beaufort-Buildings in the Strand," who had sold the sheet from
    the sixteenth number, dated March 19, 1711, until that time.

    On December 6, 1712, the following notice by Steele appeared,
    and as it sums up briefly the main points in the _Spectator's_
    successful career, it may be regarded as a text for the
    succeeding notes.

    "I have nothing more to add, but having ſwelled this Work to
    Five hundred and fifty-five Papers, they will be diſpoſed
    into ſeven Volumes, four of which are already publiſh'd,
    and the three others in the Preſs. It will not be demanded
    of me why I now leave off, tho' I muſt own my ſelf obliged
    to give an Account to the Town of my Time hereafter, ſince
    I retire when their Partiality to me is ſo great, that an
    Edition of the former Volumes of Spectators of above Nine
    thouſand each Book is already ſold off, and the Tax on
    each half Sheet has brought into the Stamp-Office one Week
    with another above 20 l. a Week ariſing from this ſingle
    Paper, notwithſtanding it at first reduced it to leſs than
    half the number that was uſually Printed before this Tax was
    laid."

    Volumes 1 and 2, printed in octavo, were bound up, and,
    dedicated to Lord Somers and Lord Halifax, were issued in
    1712; volumes 3 and 4, with dedications to Henry Boyle and the
    Duke of Marlborough, came out the next year; and the remaining
    three, with dedications to the Marquis of Wharton, Earl of
    Sunderland, and Sir Paul Methuen, were also published in
    1713. With the help of Eustace Budgell, Addison issued a
    continuation of the paper in 1714, which, when it made enough
    numbers for a volume, was issued with a dedication to
    Will Honeycomb, in 1715. An edition in duodecimo was also
    published. A few copies on large paper sold at one guinea a
    volume.

    There is some difference of opinion as to the exact number
    of copies circulated, all founded on the facts given in the
    _Spectator_ itself. In No. 10, Addison says that there were
    already 3000 copies distributed every day. "So that if I allow
    Twenty Readers to every Paper, which I look upon as a modeſt
    Computation, I may reckon about Threeſcore thouſand
    Diſciples in London and Weſtminster". On July 23, 1711, he
    wrote: "... my Bookſeller tells me, the Demand for theſe
    my Papers increaſes daily," and on December 31 he repeated,
    "I find that the Demand for my Papers has encreaſed every
    Month ſince their firſt appearance in the World." On the
    1st of August, 1712, St. John's Stamp Act came into force, by
    which a halfpenny stamp was imposed upon all newspapers and
    periodical sheets. This attempt to suppress free expression
    of opinion succeeded to some extent; many of the papers of the
    day ceased to exist. The _Spectator_ continued as before,
    but the price was raised from one penny to twopence. "... A
    payment of over £20. a week for stamp duty represents a daily
    circulation of more than 1,600 copies, or 10,000 a week,
    from the 1st August to the 6th December 1712, and the
    daily circulation before the 1st August would therefore be,
    according to Steele's statement, nearly 4000."

    Two hundred and seventy-four of the 635 papers are attributed
    to Addison, and from 236 to 240 to Steele. Addison usually
    signed his essays with one of the letters of the name Clio,
    and Steele wrote over the initials T. and R. Besides the two
    principal writers, Budgell, Hughes, Parnell, Pope and Tickell
    are thought to have contributed papers, but considerable
    uncertainty exists with regard to their work.

      Folio.

      COLLATION: _In numbers._




DANIEL DEFOE

(1661?-1731)


41. The | Life | And | Strange Surprizing | Adventures | Of | Robinson
Crusoe, | Of York, Mariner: | [Nine lines] Written by Himſelf. |
London: | Printed for W. Taylor at the Ship in Pater-Noſter- | Row.
MDCCXIX.

    The story is told of how Defoe's manuscript was refused by
    many of the London publishers before William Taylor, one of
    the most esteemed and successful of them, accepted it. The
    book came out April 25, and its success was immediate; a
    second edition was called for only seventeen days after the
    first; a third followed twenty-five days later, and a fourth
    on the 8th of August. _The Farther | Adventures | Of Robinson
    Crusoe; | Being the Second and Laſt Part | Of His | Life ...
    To which is added a Map of the World_ ... was issued in August
    of the same year, and was followed on August 6, 1720, by a
    sequel called _Serious Reflections | During | The | Life ...
    of Robinson Crusoe_. Further evidence of the popularity of the
    work is furnished by the piracies, numerous imitations, and
    translations that appeared within a short time after its
    publication.

    Lowndes and others repeat an error of Dibdin's in saying that
    _Robinson Crusoe_ first appeared in the _Original London
    Post, or Heathcot's Intelligence_, from No. 125 to No. 289
    inclusive, the latter dated October 7, 1719. The story
    was _reprinted_ in that paper, "with a care to divert and
    entertain the reader," but _beginning_ October 7, 1719, and
    ending with No. 289, dated October 19, 1720. The unsigned
    folding map was used in this last as well as in the fourth
    edition of the first part. An engraving representing the hero
    of the story is placed sometimes as a frontispiece. It is
    signed, like the map of the island, "Clark & Pine Sc.," and,
    while not remarkable for artistic merit, is certainly notable
    as having been the model of all future conceptions.

    Defoe sold all his property in _Robinson Crusoe_ to Taylor,
    who gained a very large fortune by it and its successors. When
    that worthy man died, only five years after the publication of
    the book, he was reputed to be worth between forty and fifty
    thousand pounds. He added an introduction to _The Serious
    Reflections_, in which he says:

    "The ſucceſs the two former Parts have met with, has been
    known by the Envy it has brought upon the Editor, expreſs'd
    in a thouſand hard Words from the Men of Trade; the Effect
    of that Regret which they entertain'd at their having no Share
    in it: And I muſt do the Author the Justice to ſay that
    not a Dog has wag'd his Tongue at the Work itſelf, nor has a
    Word been ſaid to leſſen the Value of it, but which has
    been the viſible Effect of that Envy at the good Fortune of
    the Bookſeller."

    A guarantee of this good fortune may be seen in the imprint
    of the book, which now reads: "At the Ship and _Black-Swan_
    in Pater-noſter Row," that last-named property having been
    purchased out of the proceeds of its sale. After Taylor's
    death, the business was sold to Thomas Longman, the founder
    of the firm of Longmans, Green & Co., for over three thousand
    pounds.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _3 l., pp. 364. [4 l.] pp. 373. [9 l.], pp. 270,
      84 [2 l.]_




JONATHAN SWIFT

(1667-1745)


42. Travels | Into Several | Remote Nations | Of The | World. | In
Four Parts. | By Lemuel Gulliver, | Firſt a Surgeon, and then a
Cap- | tain of ſeveral Ships. | Vol. I. | London: | Printed for Benj.
Motte, at the | Middle Temple-Gate in Fleet-ſtreet. | MDCCXXVI.

    "I have employed my time, (beside ditching) in finishing,
    correcting, amending, and transcribing my travels in four
    parts complete, newly augmented and intended for the press,
    when the world shall deserve them, or rather when a printer
    shall be found brave enough to venture his ears." This is what
    Swift says in a letter written to Pope, and thus it will be
    seen that there could have been no real doubt among Swift's
    friends as to the authorship of the book, though for very
    obvious reasons it was found desirable to have it published
    anonymously. Even after it was issued, and had proved a
    success, the pretense of ignorance of the author's identity
    was kept up. Pope himself writes, November 16, 1726 (the work
    appeared October 28):

    "I congratulate you first on what you call your cousin's
    wonderful book, which is _publica trita manu_ at present, and
    I prophesy will hereafter be the admiration of all men...."
    "Motte," (the publisher who had been brave enough to risk
    his ears), "received the copy, he tells me, he knew not from
    whence, nor from whom, dropped at his house in the dark, from
    a hackney coach. By computating the time I found it was after
    you left England, so for my part, I suspend my judgement."

    Swift was staying with Pope when the manuscript was so
    mysteriously left at Motte's door by Charles Ford, his
    intermediary, through whom, and Erasmus Lewis, all the
    business was conducted. Writing under the assumed name of
    Sympson, Swift demanded that Motte should give him £200, which
    the publisher agreed to do after six months if the success of
    the book would allow. The whole issue was exhausted within
    a week after its appearance, and a second edition speedily
    followed, making the payment, which we learn was promptly
    effected, an easy matter. We are told that Swift used to leave
    the profits of his writing to the booksellers; but _Gulliver_
    proved the exception to the rule. He says, in 1735, "I never
    got a farthing by anything I writ, except one about eight
    years ago, and that was by Mr. Pope's prudent arrangement for
    me." Motte, like Taylor with _Robinson Crusoe_, grew rich out
    of it; or, as Swift puts it to Knightley Chetwood in a letter
    dated February 14, 1726-7, in which he still keeps up the
    mystery of the authorship, "... in Engl^d I hear it hath made
    a bookseller almost rich enough to be an alderman."

    Of its success, Arbuthnot says, November 8, 1726: "_Gulliver's
    Travels_, I believe, will have as great a run as John Bunyan.
    It is in everybody's hands...." Gay wrote a few days later:
    "The whole impression sold in a week. From the highest to the
    lowest it is universally read, from the cabinet council to the
    nursery." "Here is a book come out," says Lady Mary Wortley
    Montagu, "that all our people of taste run mad about...."

    It speaks well for Motte's sagacity that he should have been
    willing to undertake the publishing of so violent a book at
    all, and we are little surprised that he balked at certain
    passages, and that, to avoid offense, "he got those
    alterations and insertions made" which Swift afterward so
    bitterly resented. In the letter to Knightley Chetwood quoted
    above, Swift said: "In my Judgment I should think it hath been
    mangled in the press, for in some parts it doth not seem of
    a piece, but I shall hear more when I am in England." In a
    letter to Ford written more than six years later, we find him
    still recurring to the matter:

    "Now you may please to remember how much I complained of
    Motte's suffering some friend of his (I suppose it was Mr.
    Tooke, a clergyman, now dead) not onely to blot out some
    things that he thought might give offence, but to insert
    a good deal contrary to the author's manner and style and
    intention. I think you had a Gulliver interleaved and set
    right in those mangled and murdered pages.... To say the truth
    I cannot with patience endure that mingled and mangled manner
    as it came from Motte's hands, and it will be extremely
    difficult for me to correct it by other means, with so ill a
    memory and so bad a state of health." Swift had good reason to
    complain about this matter as he did, personally and through
    Ford, who wrote to Motte blaming him for the printer's gross
    errors. "Besides the whole sting is absent out of several
    passages in order to soften them. Thus the style is debased,
    the humours quite lost, and the matter insipid," cries the
    enraged author. The interleaved copy was forthcoming, and the
    text as corrected was printed in Dublin in 1735.

    The bibliography of the book is perplexing. There seem to have
    been four distinct issues, or, rather, editions, during
    the first year; while copies of the same edition show many
    variations. The edition to which the large paper copies belong
    is usually called the first. In it the four parts are paged
    separately, and the portrait of Gulliver, signed "Sturt et.
    Sheppard. Sc.," is found in two states. One of these states,
    evidently the first, has the inscription, "Captain Lemuel
    Gulliver, of Redriff Ætat. ſuæ 58.," in two lines below
    the oval. The other has the inscription around the oval,
    as follows: "Captain Lemuel Gulliver Of Redriff Ætat. Suæ
    LVIII.," and beneath, where the name was before, a quotation
    from Persius now appears.

    The three other editions have distinct differences of type,
    setting and ornaments. The portrait in all of these is of
    the second state. Two of these editions have the parts paged
    separately, but one has a continuous pagination for each
    volume. One edition was reissued in 1727, with verses by Pope
    prefixed. On the title-page of the first volume it is called
    "second edition," and on that of the second volume, "second
    edition corrected." This edition was probably considered
    by the publisher to be the most correct, and was therefore,
    probably, the last issued in 1726.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _1 l., xvi, 148 pp.;  3 ll.,
      164 pp._ Volume II: _3 ll., 155 pp.;  4 ll., 199 pp._ Portrait,
      four maps.




ALEXANDER POPE

(1688-1744)


43. An | Essay | On | Man | Addreſs'd to a Friend. | Part I. |
[Printer's ornament] London: | Printed for J. Wilford, at the Three
Flower-de-luces, be- | hind the Chapter-Houſe, St. Pauls. | [Price
One Shilling.]

    The friend to whom, under the name of Lælius, the four
    Epistles that make up the _Essay_ were addressed, was Henry
    Saint John, first Viscount Bolingbroke, the object of Pope's
    reverence, and the inspirer of much of his poetry. It seems to
    be agreed that Bolingbroke's philosophical fragments gave the
    "philosophical stamina" to this work also.

    The first part appeared in February, the second, about April,
    1733; they were undated and anonymous, for fear of charges
    against the author's orthodoxy. Pope went to considerable
    lengths to mislead the public in this matter, but, as Dr.
    Crowley says, the applause received "took off all the alarm
    which the writer might have felt at his new experiment in the
    marriage of metaphysics with immortal verse." "The design of
    concealing myself," said our author, "was good, and had its
    full effect. I was thought a divine, a philosopher and what
    not? and my doctrine had a sanction I could not have given to
    it."

    In "Epistle II," as the second part is called on the
    title-page, there is a note "To the Reader" which says:
    "The Author has been induced to publiſh theſe Epiſtles
    ſeparately for two Reaſons; The one, that he might not
    impoſe upon the Publick too much at once of what he thinks
    incorrect; The other, that by this Method he might profit of
    its Judgement on the Parts, in order to make the Whole leſs
    unworthy of it." At the end of "Epistle III," which came out
    the same year, is a note as follows: "N. B. The Reſt of this
    Work will be publiſhed the next Winter." And at the end of
    the fourth Epistle, issued about the middle of January, 1734:
    "Lately Publiſhed the three former Parts of An Essay on Man.
    In Epiſtles to a Friend. Sold by J. Wilford at the Three
    Flower-de-Luces, behind the Chapter-Houſe in St. Paul's
    Church-yard."

    All four parts were issued in octavo and quarto, as well as
    in folio. The quarto edition bears the dates of publication. A
    second edition of the first part, called "Epistle I, corrected
    by the Author," contained a table of contents to the first
    three Epistles. The fourth Epistle was originally issued with
    such a table called, "The Contents, Of the Nature and State of
    Man, with reſpect to Happiness."

    Pope intrusted the publication of the book to John Wilford,
    who was afterward summoned before the House of Lords for
    breach of privilege in publishing, with the bookseller,
    Edmund Curll, the names of the titled correspondents in the
    advertisement to the quasi-unauthorized _Letters_. Pope
    made the change from Bernard Lintot, his usual publisher, to
    Wilford in order to conceal his identity the more completely,
    and to add to the mystery of authorship.

    The volume is handsome in appearance: it is ornamented
    with initial letters, and woodcut and type-metal head- and
    tail-pieces.

      Folio.

      COLLATION: _19 pp., 1 l., 18, 20 pp., 2 ll., 18 pp., 1 l._




JOSEPH BUTLER

BISHOP OF DURHAM

(1692-1752)


44. The | Analogy | Of | Religion, | Natural and Revealed, | [Six
lines] By | Joseph Butler, L.L.D. Rector of | Stanhope, in the
Biſhoprick of Durham. | [Quotation] London: | Printed for James,
John and Paul Knapton, at the | Crown in Ludgate Street. MDCCXXXVI.

    The _Analogy_ ran into edition after edition, and is reprinted
    even now. "Few productions of the human mind," Allibone tells
    us, "have elicited the labours of so many learned commentators
    as have employed their talents in the exposition of Butler's
    Analogy." He gives seventeen editions with commentaries,
    printed before 1858. In recent times no less a name than that
    of Gladstone may be counted among the number.

    The Knaptons were the publishers of Butler's first printed
    volume, _Fifteen Sermons_, 1726.

      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _5 ll., x, 11-320 pp._




THOMAS PERCY

BISHOP OF DROMORE

(1729-1811)


45. Reliques | Of | Ancient English Poetry: | [Five lines] Volume The
First. | [Vignette with the words] _Durat Opus Vatum._ | London: |
Printed for J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall. | MDCCLXV.

    Although his name does not appear upon the title-page, the
    author signed it to the dedication to Elizabeth, Countess
    of Northumberland. He offers the book, he says, with some
    hesitation, yet hopes that the names of so many men of
    learning and character among his patrons and subscribers will
    "ſerve as an amulet to guard him from every unfavourable
    cenſure for having beſtowed any attention on a parcel of
    Old Ballads."

    The book came out in February, after four or five years of
    active preparation. Johnson criticised it, but in the main the
    work was received with the verdict, which has held ever since,
    that it marked an epoch. Dibdin says that when it appeared,
    the critics "roared aloud for a sight of the MS.!" especially
    Joseph Ritson, the antiquary, who denied its existence.
    Dibdin, however, saw the folio, and describes it at some
    length, besides quoting notes in the Bishop's handwriting, one
    of which is of especial interest:

    "Memorandum. _Northumberland House, Nov. 7, 1769._ This very
    curious old Manuscript in its present mutilated state, but
    unbound and sadly torn, I rescued from destruction, and begged
    at the hands of my worthy friend _Humphrey Pitt, Esq._ then
    living at Shiffnal in Shropshire, afterwards of Prior Lee near
    that town; who died very lately at Bath: viz. in Summer,
    1769. I saw it lying dirty on the Floor under a Bureau in ye
    Parlour: being used by the Maids to light the fire. It was
    afterwards sent most unfortunately to an ignorant Bookbinder,
    who pared the margin, when I put it into Boards in order to
    lend it to Dr. Johnson."

    James Dodsley, the printer of our charming volumes, was the
    younger brother of Robert, with whom, as _R. & J. Dodsley_,
    he was for some time a partner, until, in 1759, he became
    the sole proprietor of the house. He lacked the elder
    man's energy, but he carried on an extensive and profitable
    business. He is said to have paid Percy 100 guineas for the
    first edition of the _Reliques_--not a very large sum for such
    a work. Pickford tells us, however, that "as the _Reliques_
    became popular, and as other editions were in request, so did
    the sums paid to Percy increase; and best of all, the book
    attracted the notice of those in a high class, in whose power
    it was to forward and promote the interests of the editor."
    Whatever the basis of his relations with Dodsley, we have his
    own word for it that when the third edition was published he
    "had no share in the property of the impression." Those "in
    a high class" promoted our author from one thing to another,
    until, as Granger had hoped he would do, "he found himself
    sung into a throne," a reward quite as much to his mind, no
    doubt, as anything Dodsley could have arranged.

    It is only fair to say that few authors of the period were
    better served by their publisher than Percy was by his in the
    matter of typography. The ornament used is also especially
    good. A frontispiece to the first volume, surmounted by the
    inscription, "Non Omnis Moriar," and representing a harper
    delighting an audience, is signed by Samuel Wale, who was
    chiefly employed in designing vignettes and illustrations for
    books. He had studied with Francis Hayman, a printer and maker
    of illustrations, who, with N. Blakey, was employed by Messrs.
    Knapton and Dodsley to execute the first series of historical
    prints designed by Englishmen. The plate was engraved by
    Charles Grignion, or Grignon, a pupil of Gravelot and Le Bas,
    who, like Wale, was much employed by publishers. Together they
    illustrated a large number of books; but the charm of their
    work seems to be chiefly due to Grignion. The vignettes, with
    the motto "Durat Opus Vatum" on the title-pages and the head-
    and tail-pieces, though unsigned, were evidently designed and
    engraved by the same hands.

    There are three parts to each volume, and each part begins and
    ends with a copper-plate engraving illustrative of a ballad.
    The head-pieces refer to the first ballad in the book, but the
    tail-pieces have legends showing where the poem is found. On
    page 24 of the second volume, the following note is attached
    to the poem "For the Victory of Agincourt": "This ſong or
    hymn is given meerly as a curioſity, and is printed from a
    MS copy in the Pepys collection, vol. I. folio. It is there
    accompanied with the muſical notes, which are copied in a
    ſmall plate at the end of this volume."

    A table of "Errata" for all three volumes, an "Advertisement,"
    and a note "To the Binder" are found at the end of the first
    volume. The Advertisement reads: "The Editor's diſtance from
    the preſs has occaſioned ſome miſtakes and confuſion
    in the Numbers of the ſeveral Poems, and in the References
    from one Volume to another: the latter will be ſet right by
    the Table of Errata, and the former by the Tables of Contents.
    In the Second Volume, page 129 follows page 112: this was
    merely an overſight in the Printer; nothing is there
    omitted."

    The binder finds this caution addressed to him: "The Binder
    is deſired to take Notice that the marginal Numbers of the
    1ſt and 3^d Volumes are wrong: that the Sheets marked Vol.
    i. are to be bound up as Volume The Third: and that thoſe
    noted Vol. III. as Volume The First." Neither author nor
    printer thought to tell us of the addition of "George
    Barnwell" in eight leaves, at page 224 of Volume III; but
    perhaps the inclusion was decided upon too late for the
    crowding in of another note.

    The notes are interesting, and are quoted here as showing that
    Percy made many changes in the work even after it was ready
    to be sewed, perhaps after some copies had been issued. For
    instance, there seems to be no reason to doubt that he changed
    the order of the volumes after they were all printed, making
    the first last, in order to bring the ballads of "Chevy Chase"
    and the Robin Hood cycle at the beginning. Two volumes of the
    _Reliques_ without imprints, preserved in the Douce collection
    of the Bodleian Library, are interesting in this connection
    since they contain many pieces not in the published edition.
    A note by Furnivall, added to Rev. J. Pickford's Life of Percy
    which prefaced the Hales and Furnivall _Bishop Percy's Folio
    Manuscript_, 1867, gives the omission and changes in detail.
    We quote only the following: "... and the engraving at the end
    of Douce's volume ii., instead of being the published rustic
    sketch, is a coat of arms, with a lion and unicorn at the
    side with the Percy motto 'Esperance en Dieu.' This was wisely
    cancelled, no doubt, as the Countess of Northumberland might
    not then have appreciated the compliment of the grocer's son
    claiming kinship with her."

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _Three volumes_.




WILLIAM COLLINS

(1721-1759)


46. Odes | On Several | Deſcriptive and Allegoric | Subjects. |
By William Collins. | [Quotation, Vignette] London: | Printed for A.
Millar, in the Strand. | M.DCC.XLVII. | (Price One Shilling.)

    Collins and his friend Joseph Warton, the critic, both at the
    time unknown, proposed to issue a volume of poems together:
    "Collins met me in Surrey, at Guildford races, when I wrote
    out for him my odes, and he likewise communicated some of his
    to me; and being both in very high spirits, we took courage,
    and resolved to join our forces, and to publish them
    immediately." The plan, however, fell through and they finally
    published separately, though almost simultaneously. This work,
    though dated 1747, really appeared in December, 1746. Warton's
    _Odes on various Subjects, London, 1746_, reached a second
    edition, but Collins's book was not a success, and it is said
    that, in disgust, he burned the larger part of the unsold
    edition.

    "Each," wrote Gray, "is the half of a considerable man, and
    one the counterpart of the other. The first [i.e. Warton] has
    but little invention, very poetical choice of expression, and
    a good ear. The second [i.e. Collins] a fine fancy, modelled
    upon the antique, a bad ear, great variety of words, and
    images with no choice at all. They both deserve to last some
    years, but will not." Time has set Collins right.

    The vignette on the title-page, representing a pan-pipe and
    harp surrounded by a wreath of fruit, laurel, oak, and palm,
    with heads of Pan and Apollo at the top, is by Gerard (?) Van
    der Gucht. Thin woodcut head-bands at the beginning of some
    of the odes, and a tail-piece after the first one, furnish all
    the ornament for this pathetic volume.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _2 ll., 52 pp._




SAMUEL RICHARDSON

(1689-1761)


47. Clarissa. | Or, The | History | Of A | Young Lady: | [Six lines]
Publiſhed by the Editor of Pamela. | Vol. I. | London: | Printed
for S. Richardſon: | And Sold by A. Millar, over-againſt
Catharine-ſtreet in the Strand: | J. and Ja. Rivington, in St.
Paul's Church-yard: | John Osborn, in Pater-noſter Row; | And by J.
Leake, at Bath. | M.DCC.XLVIII.

    _Pamela_ was written at the suggestion of two booksellers,
    Rivington and Osborne, who published it in four volumes
    in 1741-42; and as it proved a great success its "Editor"
    followed it with _Clarissa_. Only the last five volumes
    appeared in 1748, the first two having come out the previous
    year.

    In connection with the mistaken idea, which has existed, that
    there were eight volumes in the first edition, Mr. Dobson,
    in his life of Richardson, gives us these quotations from the
    author himself:

    "There were in fact, in the first edition, not eight volumes
    but seven. "I take the liberty to join the 4 Vols. you have
    of _Clarissa_, by two more," says Richardson to Hill in an
    unpublished letter of November 7, 1748. "The Whole will make
    Seven; that is, one more to attend these two. Eight crowded
    into Seven by a smaller Type. Ashamed as I am of the
    Prolixity, I thought I owed the Public Eight Vols. in Quantity
    for the Price of Seven"; and he adds a later footnote to
    explain that the 12mo book "was at first published in Seven
    Vols. [and] Afterwards by deferred Restorations made Eight as
    now."" Then Mr. Dobson goes on to add the following:

    "Of the seven volumes constituting the first edition, two were
    issued in November, 1747; two more in April, 1748 (making
    "the 4 Vols. you have," above referred to); and the remaining
    three, which, according to Mr. Urban's advertisement,
    "compleats the whole," in December, 1748."

    The second and succeeding volumes have the line, _And Sold
    by John Osborn, in Pater-noſter-Row_, added to the imprint,
    after Richardson's name.

    Bishop Warburton presented the author with a preface in which
    he pointed out the variety of the characters in the book, and
    commended the moral tendency of the work. This, by the
    way, serves to remind us that he afterward quarrelled with
    Richardson because the novelist ventured to censure Pope's
    sentiment, "Every woman is at heart a rake."

    In a catalogue like this, no name has more interest than that
    of Samuel Richardson, "The Father of the English Novel," and a
    printer and publisher of distinction. At the age of seventeen
    he chose the profession of printer, because he thought that in
    it he would be able to satisfy his craving for reading. After
    a diligent apprenticeship to John Wilde, whose daughter was
    his first wife, he gradually won his way until he became one
    of the leading printers of his time. He issued twenty-six
    volumes of _Journals_ of the House of Commons, though he found
    the position more honorable than lucrative; he was the printer
    of the _Daily Journal_ from 1736 to 1737, and of the _Daily
    Gazetteer_ in 1738; he was chosen printer to an interesting
    _Society for the Encouragement of Learning_, for whom
    he printed and edited their first and only volume, _The
    Negociations of Sir Thomas Roe in his Embassy to the Ottoman
    Porte from the year 1621 to 1628 inclusive_. He also printed,
    among other books, an edition of _Æsop's Fables_, De Foe's
    _Tour through Great Britain_, Young's _Night Thoughts_, and
    the second volume of De Thou's _Historia Sui Temporis_, 1733.
    He became a member of the Stationers' Company in 1689, and its
    master in 1754.

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _Seven volumes._




HENRY FIELDING

(1707-1754)


48. The | History | Of | Tom Jones, | A | Foundling. | In Six Volumes
| By Henry Fielding, Eſq; | [Quotation] London: | Printed for A.
Millar, over-againſt | Catharine-ſtreet in the Strand. | MDCCXLIX.

    The announcement of the appearance of the work in the _General
    Advertizer_ for February 28, 1749, reads as follows:

    "This day is published, in six vols., 12mo, The History of Tom
    Jones, A Foundling.--Mores hominum multorum vidit. By Henry
    Fielding Esq.

    "It being impossible to get sets bound fast enough to answer
    the demand for them, such Gentlemen and Ladies as please may
    have them served in Blue Paper and Boards, at the price of
    16s. a set, of A. Millar, over against Catharine Street, in
    the Strand."

    The sale was really enormous for those days, and Millar, the
    successful publisher, could afford to be generous to Fielding,
    as he had been to others, thus winning for himself the
    position of a patron as well as publisher. Johnson called him
    "the Mæcenas of literature." "I respect Millar, sir;" said he,
    "he has raised the price of literature."

    Horace Walpole gives us an account of the dealing of this
    remarkable man in this case. He says, in a letter to George
    Montagu: "Millar, the bookseller, has done very generously
    by him [Fielding]; finding 'Tom Jones' for which he gave him
    £600. sell so greatly, he has since given him another £100."

    A second edition in four volumes was issued the same year, and
    a third, also in four volumes, the year following. The book
    has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Dutch,
    Russian, and Swedish. It was frequently dramatized, and was
    also turned into a comic opera.

    An original document in the possession of the owner of the
    book from which the facsimile was made shows that the value
    of _Tom Jones_ had not decreased with successive editions, or
    else the various partners, whose well-known names are
    signed to it, would not have thought it worth their while to
    prosecute.

        "Memorandum July, 24. 1770.

    "At the Chapter Coffee-house, it is agreed by the Partners
    in Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones, to prosecute Alexander
    Donaldson, Bookseller in the Strand, for printing the above
    Books, in the Court of Chancery, and do agree to pay our
    respective Shares of the Expence of the Proscecution.

        WILL: STRAHAN
        THO^S. LONGMAN
        W. JOHNSTON
        ROBERT HORSFIELD
        THO: CADELL
        T BECKET
        ROBINſON & ROBERTS
        HAWES, CLARKE & COLLINS
        STANLEY CROWDON
        EDM^D. & CH^S DILLY
        WM. & J. RICHARDſON
        THO^S. LOWNDES
        THOMAS CASLON"


      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _Six volumes._




THOMAS GRAY

(1716-1771)


49. An | Elegy | Wrote In A | Country Church Yard | London: |
Printed for R. Dodsley in Pall-mall; | And ſold by M. Cooper in
Pater-noſter-Row. 1751. | [Price Six-pence.]

    In 1750 Gray finished a poem which he had begun eight years
    before, and it was circulated freely, in manuscript, among his
    delighted friends. One of them, Horace Walpole, received the
    following communication from the author, dated at Cambridge,
    February 11, 1751:

    "As you have brought me into a little sort of distress, you
    must assist me, I believe, to get out of it as well as I can.

    "Yesterday I had the misfortune of receiving a letter from
    certain gentlemen (as their bookseller expresses it), who have
    taken the Magazine of Magazines into their hands. They tell
    me that an _ingenious_ Poem, called reflections in a Country
    Church-yard has been communicated to them, which they
    are printing forthwith; that they are informed that the
    _excellent_ author of it is I by name, and that they beg not
    only his _indulgence_, but the _honour_ of his correspondence.
    As I am not at all disposed to be either so indulgent or so
    correspondent as they desire, I have but one bad way left to
    escape the honour they would inflict upon me; and therefore am
    obliged to desire you would make Dodsley print it immediately
    (which may be done in less than a week's time) from your copy,
    but without my name, in what form is most convenient for him,
    but on his best paper and character; he must correct the
    press himself, and print it without any interval between the
    stanzas, because the sense is in some places continued beyond
    them; and the title must be,--Elegy, written in a Country
    Church-yard. If he would add a line or two to say it came into
    his hands by accident, I should like it better. If you behold
    the Magazine of Magazines in the light that I do, you will not
    refuse to give yourself this trouble on my account, which you
    have taken of your own accord before now. If Dodsley do not do
    this immediately, he may as well let it alone."

    "You have indeed, conducted with great decency my little
    _misfortune_:" (this was written to Walpole on Ash-Wednesday,
    after the book was published): "you have taken a paternal care
    of it, and expressed much more kindness than could have been
    expressed from so near a relation. But we are all frail; and I
    hope to do as much for you another time.

    "Nurse Dodsley has given it a pinch or two in the cradle, that
    (I doubt) it will bear the marks of as long as it lives. But
    no matter: we have ourselves suffered under her hands before
    now; and besides it will only look the more careless and by
    _accident_ as it were. I thank you for your advertisement [the
    preface, signed 'The Editor'], which saves my honour, and in a
    manner _bien flatteuse pour moi_, who should be put to it even
    to make myself a compliment in good English."

    Dodsley's promptness was noteworthy; on February 16 the book
    was issued, having been six days, at most, in the printer's
    hands. The author, even if he had desired, could hardly have
    complained about the ornaments on the title-page, since he had
    given Dodsley a free hand. It would be pleasant to see in
    the woodcuts, with their death's-heads, spades, cross-bones,
    hour-glasses, pickaxes and crowns, an argument for a sense
    of decoration, or even of a sense of humour, rather than the
    evidences of a habit of the use of such things for funeral
    sermons.

    Speaking of Nurse Dodsley's "pinches," the following extract
    from a letter to Walpole, dated March 3, 1751, proves of
    additional interest: "I do not expect any more editions; as
    I have appeared in more magazines than one. The chief errata
    were _sacred_ bower for _secret_; _hidden_ for _kindred_ (in
    spite of dukes and classics); and "_frowning_ as in scorn" for
    _smiling_. I humbly propose, for the benefit of Mr. Dodsley
    and his matrons, that take _awake_ for a verb, that they
    should read _asleep_, and all will be right."

    The two versions of the poem probably appeared on the same
    day.

    _The Magazine of Magazines Compiled from Original Pieces,
    With Extracts from the moſt celebrated Books And Periodical
    Compoſitions Publiſhed in Europe_, was issued by William
    Owen, maker of mineral water, at Homer's Head, near Temple
    Bar. Owen's compositor, having had more time, avoided some
    of the errors of the printers of the book, but he fell into
    others of his own; and he completely frustrated Gray's desire
    to be anonymous. The poem is introduced, amidst a running fire
    of talk, in this way: "Gentlemen, ſaid _Hilario_, give
    me leave to ſooth my own melancholy, and amuſe you in a
    moſt noble manner, with a fine copy of verſes by the
    very ingenious Mr. Gray, of _Peterhouſe_, Cambridge.--They
    are--"Stanza's written in a Country Church-yard.""

    The book proved immensely popular. Gray himself received
    no pecuniary reward from it, having given the copyright
    to Dodsley in accordance with a notion, very common in the
    preceding century but seeming quixotic now, that it was
    beneath a gentleman to receive money from a bookseller, a view
    in which, we are told, Dodsley warmly concurred. Later, Mason,
    Gray's friend, attempted to regain possession of the copyright
    by means of litigation.

    We are indebted to our Author for the following
    bibliographical note: "Publish'd in Feb^{ry}, 1751, by
    Dodsley, & went thro' four editions, in two months; and
    afterwards a fifth, 6th, 7th, & 8th, 9th, & 10th, & 11th;
    printed also in 1753 with Mr. Bentley's Designs, of w^{c}h
    there is a 2d Edition, & again by Dodsley in his _Miscellany_,
    Vol. 7th & in a Scotch Collection call'd the _Union_;
    translated into Latin by Ch^{r} Anstey, Esq., and the Rev^{d}.
    Mr. Roberts, & published in 1762, & again in the same year by
    Rob. Lloyd, M.A."

    Dodsley figures so prominently in the publication of the
    _Elegy_ that we are reminded that he was himself a poet and
    also a dramatist. His epitaph in the churchyard of Durham
    cathedral lays stress on this point:

        "If you have any respect
            for uncommon industry and merit,
            regard this place,
        in which are deposited the remains of
            Mr. Robert Dodsley;
        who, as an Authour, raised himself
      much above what could have been expected
          from one in his rank in life,
        and without a learned education;
        ...    ...    ...    ..."


      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _11 pp._




SAMUEL JOHNSON

(1709-1784)


50. A | Dictionary | Of The | English Language: | [Ten lines] By
Samuel Johnson, A.M. | In Two Volumes | Vol. I. | [Quotation] London,
| Printed by W. Strahan, | For J. and P. Knapton; T. and T. Longman;
C. Hitch and L. Hawes; | A. Millar; and R. and J. Dodsley. | MDCCLV.

    Robert Dodsley first suggested to Johnson that a dictionary of
    the English language would take well with the public; though
    Johnson afterward told Boswell that he had long thought of it
    himself. But it was Dodsley who, in accordance with the
    custom of the time of placing books under the patronage of
    an influential person, suggested the Earl of Chesterfield as
    patron for the work; and Johnson addressed him as such in _The
    Plan Of A Dictionary Of The English Language; Addreſſed to
    the Right Honourable Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield: ...
    London_, 1747, a pamphlet of thirty-four pages.

    This step eventually led to the letter called by Carlyle "the
    far famed blast of doom proclaiming into the ears of Lord
    Chesterfield, and through him to the listening world, that
    patronage should be no more." For the Earl was tardy in
    acknowledging the inscription (his commendatory letters did
    not appear until the November and December issues of _The
    World_, 1754), and did little to encourage the enterprise;
    "Upon which," said the irritated author, "I wrote him a letter
    expressed in civil terms, but such as might show him that I
    did not mind what he said or wrote, and I had done with him."
    It was dated February 7, 1755, and ends with the famous words:
    "Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern upon a
    man struggling for life in the water, and when he has reached
    ground encumbers him with help?"

    Johnson undertook his great work single-handed, expecting
    to finish it in three years; but the labor was enormous, and
    eight years were consumed (the work appeared on February
    20, 1755), though not all of the time was spent upon the
    Dictionary, for he was editor of _The Rambler_, also, at this
    period. In this connection his own words written at the end
    of the Preface are: "I have protracted my work till moſt
    of thoſe whom I wiſhed to pleaſe have ſunk into the
    grave, and ſucceſs and miſcarriage are empty ſounds:
    I therefore diſmiſs it with frigid tranquillity, having
    little to fear or hope from cenſure or from praiſe."

    The _A.M._ after the author's name was procured for him
    at Oxford through the good offices of his friend, the
    poet-laureate, Thomas Warton, since it "was thought desirable
    that these letters should appear on the title-page of the
    dictionary for the credit both of himself and the university."

    The publishers whose names are given in the imprint were joint
    proprietors of the work, having paid Johnson 1575l. for the
    copyright. "The payment included the whole work of preparing
    for the press; and Johnson lost 20l. on one occasion for a
    transcription of some leaves which had been written on both
    sides. He employed six amanuenses, five of whom, as Boswell is
    glad to record, were Scotsmen ... they received 23s. a week,
    which he agreed to raise to 2l. 2s., not, it is to be hoped,
    out of the 1,575l." Boswell would lead us to think that even
    if these extras did come out of Johnson's pocket, he was not
    dissatisfied. "I once said to him, "I am sorry, sir, you did
    not get more for your Dictionary." His answer was "I am
    sorry too. But it was very well. The booksellers are generous
    liberal-minded men.""

    To Andrew Millar fell the responsibility of seeing the book
    through the press; and his patience, we are told, was sorely
    tried by Johnson's dilatoriness. When the last sheet was
    brought to him, he exclaimed: "Thank God I have done with
    him!" This was repeated to Johnson, who said, with a smile: "I
    am glad that he thanks God for anything."

      Folio.

      COLLATION: _Two volumes. Without pagination._




BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

(1706-1790)


51. Poor Richard improved: | Being An | Almanack | And | Ephemeris
| [Eight lines] For The | Year of our Lord 1758: | [Ten lines] By
Richard Saunders, Philom. | Philadelpeia: | Printed and Sold by B.
Franklin; and D. Hall. [1757.]

    Franklin says in his _Autobiography_:

    "In 1732 I first publish'd my Almanack, under the name of
    _Richard Saunders_; it was continu'd by me about twenty-five
    years, commonly call'd _Poor Richard's Almanac_. I endeavor'd
    to make it both entertaining and useful, and it accordingly
    came to be in such demand, that I reap'd considerable profit
    from it, vending annually near ten thousand...." The price
    was five pence. So great was its popularity that it was found
    necessary to issue three editions in the first month. In 1747
    we are told in a note, "This Almanack us'd to contain but 24
    Pages, and now has 36; yet the Price is very little advanc'd,"
    and to fit the new conditions the title was changed to _Poor
    Richard Improved_.

    The _Almanac_, whose title-page is here facsimiled, was the
    last of the series edited by Franklin. A collection of the
    proverbial sentences which had "filled all the little spaces
    that occur'd between the remarkable days in the calendar" in
    former issues, were collected into one speech, supposed to be
    delivered by an old man, named _Father Abraham_, to the
    people at an auction sale. "The bringing all these scatter'd
    counsells thus into a focus enabled them to make a greater
    impression." The discourse was quickly reprinted, and is
    famous now under various titles, _The Speech of Father
    Abraham_; _The Way to Wealth_, and _La science du bonhomme
    Richard_. It has been translated and reprinted oftener "than
    any other work from an American pen." "Seventy editions of
    it," says Mr. Paul L. Ford, "have been printed in English,
    fifty-six in French, eleven in German, and nine in Italian.
    It has been translated into Spanish, Danish, Swedish, Welsh,
    Polish, Gaelic, Russian, Bohemian, Dutch, Catalan, Chinese,
    Modern Greek and Phonetic writing. It has been printed at
    least four hundred times, and is to-day as popular as ever."

    Franklin borrowed for his pseudonym the name of an English
    "philomath" of the seventeenth century, because, as he says,
    he knew "that his name would hardly give it [the _Almanack_]
    currency among readers who still looked upon it as dealing in
    magic, witchcraft and astrology."

    In 1747 or 1748 our author-printer entered into partnership
    with David Hall, who took the sole management of the business
    until 1766, when the firm was dissolved.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _36 pp._




SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE

(1723-1780)


52. Commentaries | On The | Laws | Of | England. | Book The First. |
By | William Blackstone, Esq. | [Three lines] Oxford, | Printed At The
Clarendon Press. | M.DCC.LXV. [--M.DCC.LXIX.]

    The story of the publication of Blackstone's lectures, as
    Professor of Law at Oxford, reminds us of Bacon's "orchard
    ill-neighbored." The author relates the circumstances in his
    preface: "For the truth is, that the preſent publication is
    as much the effect of neceſſity, as it is of choice. The
    notes which were taken by his hearers, haue by ſome of them
    (too partial to his favour) been thought worth reuiſing and
    tranſcribing, and theſe tranſcripts haue been frequently
    lent to others. Hence copies haue been multiplied, in their
    nature imperfect, if not erroneous; ſome of which haue
    fallen into mercenary hands, and become the object of
    clandeſtine ſale. Having therefore ſo much reaſon to
    apprehend a ſurreptitious impreſſion, he choſe rather
    to ſubmit his own errors to the world, than to ſeem
    anſwerable for thoſe of other men."

    The volumes were not all issued at once, but followed one
    another at different times during a period of four years. They
    were printed at the Clarendon Press, which Blackstone, when
    appointed a delegate in 1755, had "found languishing in a lazy
    obscurity," and whose quickening was in no small measure due
    to his "repeated conferences with the most eminent masters, in
    London and other places, with regard to the mechanical part
    of printing," his recommendations, and to his own examples of
    good typography supplied in the _Magna Charta_, published in
    1759, and in this his _magnum opus_.

    The wonderful success of the work is attested by the number
    of its editions. A second was issued in 1768, and six more
    appeared before the author's death. From then until now, it
    has been frequently reprinted. Blackstone is reputed to have
    received from the sale of the _Commentaries_, and from his
    lectures, about £14,000.

      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _Four volumes._




OLIVER GOLDSMITH

(1728-1774)


53. The | Vicar | Of | Wakefield: | A Tale. | Suppoſed to be
written by Himself. | Sperate miſeri, cavete f[oe]lices. | Vol.
I. Salisbury: | Printed by B. Collins, | For F. Newbery, in
Pater-Noſter-Row, London. | MDCCLXVI.

    Boswell, Mrs. Piozzi, Sir John Hawkins and others have given
    slightly different versions of the well-known story of the
    sale of the manuscript of the _Vicar_; but aside from throwing
    light on the character of Goldsmith, none of them have
    helped us to a definite understanding of the transaction. The
    earliest account was written by Mrs. Piozzi in 1786, under the
    title of _Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., during
    the last Twenty Years of his Life_. At pp. 119-120 she says:

    "I have forgotten the year, but it could scarcely I think be
    later than 1765 or 1766, that he [Johnson] was called abruptly
    from our house after dinner, and returning in about three
    hours, ſaid, he had been with an enraged author, whose
    landlady pressed him for payment within doors, while the
    bailiffs beset him without; that he was drinking himself drunk
    with Madeira to drown care, and fretting over a novel which
    when finished was to be his whole fortune; but he could not
    get it done for distraction, nor could he step out of doors to
    offer it to sale. Mr. Johnson therefore set away the bottle,
    and went to the bookseller, recommending the performance, and
    desiring some immediate relief, which when he brought back
    to the writer, he called the woman of the house directly to
    partake of punch, and pass the time in merriment."

    Boswell adds, in his account, that Johnson sold the novel for
    £60. There seems to be no evidence to prove this, nor yet to
    show who bought it. It has generally been supposed that the
    publisher, "F. Newbery," or his uncle, John Newbery, with whom
    he was inseparably connected, was the purchaser, until Mr.
    Charles Welsh made the discovery which he relates in his _A
    Bookseller of the Last Century_. He says:

    "In a book marked 'Account of copies, their cost and value,
    1764,' I find the following entry:--"'Vicar of Wakefield,'
    2 vols. 12mo., 1/3 rd. B. Collins, Salisbury, bought of Dr.
    Goldsmith, the author, October 28, 1762, £21.""

    From this entry of Collins, the Salisbury printer, we may
    conclude that the amount Johnson is said to have received for
    the distressed author (from Newbery, perhaps) was an advance
    on the unfinished story; and that Collins bought his third
    interest some time afterward. In 1785, when Collins sold out
    his interest, Mr. Strahan owned one third, and Carnan and
    Newbery the other third.

    There are several circumstances, besides the date given by
    Collins, which show that the _Vicar_ was sold, in whole or in
    part, at least four years before it was published, and not a
    few months before, as Mrs. Piozzi thought. The occasion for
    the delay has been explained in various ways. One explanation
    is that it was held back until the _Traveller_, which came out
    in 1765, should have increased the author's reputation. It may
    have been, as Johnson told Boswell, that the publishers were
    afraid that the book would not sell. Certainly the results
    would seem to bear them out in any doubts they may have had of
    its financial success. Mr. Welsh says:

    "All the writers who have spoken of the "Vicar of Wakefield"
    have jumped to the conclusion that it brought a golden harvest
    to its publishers.... The first three editions ... resulted in
    a loss and the fourth, which was not issued until eight years
    after the first, started with a balance against it of £2 16s.
    6d., and it was not until the fourth edition had been sold
    that the balance came out on the right side."

    After being three months in the press, the book appeared March
    27, 1766. The advertisement in the _Public Advertiser_ reads:
    "This Day is publiſhed, In two Volumes in Twelves, Price
    6s. bound, or 5s. ſewed, The Vicar of Wakefield, A Tale.
    Supposed to be written by Himself. 'Seperate [ſic] miſere
    cavete f[oe]lices.' Printed for F. Newbery, at the Crown in
    Pater-Noſter Row, of whom may be had, Price 1s. 6d. The
    Traveller, or, a Proſpect of Society, a Poem. By Dr.
    Goldsmith." The author's name was signed to the preface, or
    "Advertisement" of the book, so it was not really anonymous,
    as the title-page and newspaper advertisement would lead us
    to think. If it was not a financial success the tale seems to
    have met with popular favor. The second edition, bearing the
    imprint _London: Printed for F. Newbery, in Pater-Noster-Row,
    MDCCLXVI._, was issued May 31, and the third on August 29.
    Ninety-six editions were issued before 1886, and there are
    translations in every European language.

    This Francis Newbery, as we have said, was nephew and
    successor to John Newbery. The elder man combined a successful
    business in the publishing of books with the sale of quack
    medicines,--not an unusual thing in those days. His list of
    nostrums contained over thirty medicines, among them being
    Dr. James's Fever Powder, Dr. Steer's Oil for Convulsions, Dr.
    Harper's Female Pills, and a certain Cordial Cephalic Snuff.
    His book-selling ventures demand more than passing mention,
    since he really introduced "the regular system of a Juvenile
    Library, and gave children books in a more permanent form than
    the popular chap-books of the period,"--delightful books of
    which more than one writer has spoken with affection. The
    general character of the stories, splendidly bound in flowered
    and gilt Dutch papers, may be gathered from a few of their
    titles: _The History of Little Goody Two Shoes_, _The Renowned
    History of Giles Gingerbread_, and _Blossoms of Morality_.

    Newbery's publishing ventures were not confined to children's
    books, by any means; his name gains additional luster by
    appearing on the title-pages of several of Goldsmith's works.
    Francis was mostly a reflection of his enterprising uncle, but
    his connection with the _Vicar of Wakefield_ will ever cause
    him to be remembered.

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _2 ll., 214 pp._ Volume II:
      _1 l., 223 pp._




LAURENCE STERNE

(1713-1768)


54. A | Sentimental Journey | Through | France And Italy. | By | Mr.
Yorick. | Vol. I. | London: | Printed for T. Becket and P. A. De
Hondt, | in the Strand. MDCCLXVIII.

    The real journey immortalized in the story was made in
    October, 1765; in December, 1767, two volumes were completed,
    and on February 27, the work was published at five shillings
    for the two volumes. On the eighteenth of March, Sterne died.

    Yorick, in _Tristram Shandy_, was represented as an
    Englishman, descended from the Yorick of Shakespeare, "a
    fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy." Sterne also
    used the pseudonym in his _Sermons by Mr. Yorick_, published
    in 1760, so that the authorship of this book was probably
    never in doubt. "The lively, witty, sensitive and heedless
    parson," was, as Sir Walter Scott says, "the well-known
    personification of Sterne himself."

    Fitzgerald tells us in his biography of Sterne, that it was
    the author's first thought to have the volume a stately quarto
    with handsome margins, costing a half-guinea, but that he
    finally decided to use the _Shandy_ size, which had become a
    favorite with the public. The book, which is without ornament,
    except for an engraving on copper of a coat of arms (Sterne's
    book-plate), in the second volume, is a good specimen of the
    best typography of the period. Large paper copies also
    were issued. The first volume begins with a long list of
    "Subscribers," the names starred being down for "Imperial
    Paper."

    Thomas Becket lived to be ninety-three years old, long enough,
    as Charles Knight remarks, to see many revolutions in
    literary taste; long enough, in fact, to see Sterne, his most
    successful author, go out of fashion. He was an assistant to
    Andrew Millar, before he became De Hondt's partner. It was
    he who published the famous anonymous book, _The Pursuits of
    Literature_ by Mathias, which had the distinction of running
    into fourteen editions.

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I, _xx, 203 pp._ Volume II,
      2 _ll., 208 pp._




THE FEDERALIST


55. The | Federalist: | A Collection | Of | Essays, | Written In
Favour Of The | New Constitution, | As Agreed Upon By The Federal
Convention, | September 17, 1787. | In Two Volumes | Vol. I.
| New-York: | Printed And Sold By J. And A. M'Lean, | No. 41,
Hanover-Square. | M,DCC,LXXXVIII.

    "The papers under the title of "Federalist," and signature of
    "Publius," were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison,
    and John Jay, in the latter part of the year 1787 and the
    former part of the year 1788. The immediate object of them
    was, to vindicate and recommend the new Constitution to the
    State of New York, whose ratification of the instrument was
    doubtful, as well as important. The undertaking was proposed
    by A. Hamilton (who had probably consulted Mr. Jay and others)
    to J. M., who agreed to take a part in it. The papers were
    originally addressed to the people of N. York, under the
    signature of a "Citizen of New York." This was changed for
    that of "Publius," the first name of Valerius Publicola. A
    reason for the change was, that one of the writers was not
    a Citizen of that State; another, that the publication had
    diffused itself among most of the other States. The papers
    were first published at New York in a newspaper printed by
    Francis Childs, at the rate, during great part of the time,
    at least, of four numbers a week; and notwithstanding this
    exertion, they were not compleated till a large proportion of
    the States had decided on the Constitution. They were edited
    as soon as possible in two small volumes, the preface to the
    first volume, drawn up by Mr. Hamilton, bearing date N. York,
    March, 1788...." This from Madison in a letter to Mr. Paulding
    at Washington, dated July 24, 1818.

    The first seven papers appeared under the title _The
    F[oe]deralist. No. 1. To the People of the State of New York_,
    in _The Independent Journal_, and many of the succeeding
    numbers first came out in that paper: some were issued in _The
    New York Packet_, two appeared in _The Daily Advertiser_, six
    appeared simultaneously in two or more papers, and nine were
    not published until the whole was collected in book form.

    Mr. Paul Leicester Ford, in his _Bibliotheca Hamiltoniana_,
    gives Jay credit for five numbers; "Madison numbers 10, 14, 37
    to 48 inclusive; numbers 18, 19 and 20 are the joint work of
    Madison and Hamilton; numbers 49 to 58, 62 and 63 are claimed
    by both Madison and Hamilton; the rest of the numbers are by
    Hamilton."

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I, _vi, 227 pp._ Volume II, _vi,
      384 pp._




TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT

(1721-1771)


56. The | Expedition | Of | Humphry Clinker. | By the Author of |
Roderick Random. | In Three Volumes. | Vol. I. | [Quotation] London,
| Printed for W. Johnston, in Ludgate-Street: | and B. Collins, in
Saliſbury. | MDCLXXI.

    _Roderick Random_, Smollett's first book, had appeared in
    1748. The greater part of _Humphry Clinker_ was written in
    the autumn of 1770, when its author was dying. He "had the
    satisfaction of seeing his masterpiece, but not of hearing the
    chorus of praise that greeted it."

    Some copies of the first volume have, as in this instance, an
    error in the date, 1671 being printed for 1771.

    Collins, as we have seen, was associated with Francis Newbery
    in the publication of _The Vicar of Wakefield_, and he was
    also associated with nephew and uncle in the sale of Dr.
    James's Fever Powder, and the manufacture of the celebrated
    _Cordial Cephalic Snuff_. We are fortunate in having his
    orderly and well-kept account books, in one of which is the
    following entry, worthy of a place here, and at length:

      From B. Collins' Publishing Book.

        Account Of Books Printed, And Shares Therein.

        No. 3.  1770 To 1785.

        Humphrey Clinker: A Novel, 3 vols. 12mo.

        Of which I have one moiety, in partnership with Mr. William
        Johnston, London.

      _Dr._                                 | _Cr._
                                            |
      To Dr S. Mollet                       |
      copy money             £210   0   0   |
                                            |
      To Printing and                       |
      Paper  2,000                          |
      No.                     155  15   6   |
                                            |
      9 Sets to the Hall                    |
      and 10 to the                         |
      Author                    6   1  10   |
                                            |
      Advertisements           15  10   0   |
                             ------------   |
                             £387   7   4   |
                                            |
      To Balance for                        | By 2000 Books
      Profit                   92  12   8   | sold at £24
                             ------------   |
                             £480   0   0   | per 100    £480   0   0
                                            |
      My Moiety of Profits, £46, 6s. 4d.,   |
      for which I received Mr.              |
      Johnston's Note, Nov. 19, 1772.       |
      --B. C.                               |


      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _Three volumes._




ADAM SMITH

(1723-1790)


57. An | Inquiry | Into The | Nature and Cauſes | Of The | Wealth Of
Nations. | By Adam Smith, LL.D. and F. R. S. | Formerly Profeſſor
of Moral Philoſophy in the Univerſity of Glasgow. | In Two Volumes
| Vol. I. | London: | Printed for W. Strahan; And T. Cadell, In The
Strand. | MDCCLXXVI.

    It is doubtful if any English book were ever longer in being
    put to press than this one. Mr. John Rae, in his life of
    Smith, says he took twelve years to write it, and that it was
    in contemplation twelve years before that. It was explicitly
    and publicly promised in the concluding paragraph of _The
    Theory of Moral Sentiments_, which appeared in 1759.

    Nothing definite is known of the terms on which the author
    parted with the work to his publishers, but it is thought to
    have been sold outright. It is estimated that Strahan paid
    five hundred pounds for the first edition, and that he
    published later editions at half profit. The selling price of
    the first edition was £1 16s. The edition was exhausted in six
    months, but the number of copies is unknown.

    Beginning as a printer, in which capacity we have already seen
    him in connection with Dr. Johnson's Dictionary, Strahan rose
    rapidly to eminence as a publisher, figuring prominently
    in the ventures of Hume, Gibbon, Robertson, Blackstone,
    and Blair. He introduced into his dealings with his clients
    amenities unknown before. His pecuniary successes, as in this
    case, enabled him to set up the coach which Dr. Johnson said
    was a credit to literature.

      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _6 ll., 510 pp._ Volume II:
    _2 ll., 587 pp._




EDWARD GIBBON

(1737-1794)


58. The | History | Of The | Decline And Fall | Of The | Roman Empire.
| By Edward Gibbon, Eſq; | Volume The First. | [Quotation] London:
| Printed For W. Strahan; And T. Cadell, In The Strand. | MDCCLXXVI.
[--MDCCLXXXVIII]

    We are fortunate in having an account of the publication of
    this work written by Gibbon himself. In June, 1775, he says:

    "The volume of my history, which had been somewhat delayed by
    the novelty and tumult of a first session, was now ready for
    the press. After the perilous adventure had been declined by
    my timid friend Mr. Elmsley, I agreed, on very easy terms,
    with Mr. Thomas Cadell, a respectable bookseller, and Mr.
    William Strahan, an eminent printer; and they undertook the
    care and risk of the publication, which derived more credit
    from the name of the shop than from that of the author. The
    last revisal of the proofs was submitted to my vigilance;
    and many blemishes of style, which had been invisible in
    the manuscript, were discovered and corrected in the
    printed sheet. So moderate were our hopes, that the original
    impression had been stinted to five hundred, till the number
    was doubled by the prophetic taste of Mr. Strahan. During this
    awful interval I was neither elated by the ambition of fame,
    nor depressed by the apprehension of contempt. My diligence
    and accuracy were attested by my own conscience...."

    It was on the 17th of February that the first volume of the
    great work finally "declined into the World," as the author
    expressed it. Its success was immediate. "I am at a loss how
    to describe the success of the work without betraying the
    vanity of the writer. The first impression was exhausted in a
    few days; a second and third edition were scarcely adequate to
    the demand, and the bookseller's property was twice invaded by
    the pyrates of Dublin. My book was on every table, and almost
    on every toilette...."

    The second edition was called for in 1776. On May 20th Gibbon
    writes to J. B. Holroyd:

    "In about a fortnight I again launch into the World in the
    shape of a quarto Volume. The dear Cadell assures me that he
    never remembered so eager and impatient a demand for a second
    Edition." And again in June he writes to the same: "The 1500
    Copies are moving off with decent speed, and the obliging
    Cadell begins to mutter something of a third Edition for next
    year." This third edition did not, however, appear until 1782.

    In June, 1780, we find our author busy revising and correcting
    for the press the second and third volumes of the first
    edition, both of which appeared the next year. Under date of
    April 13, 1781, he writes to his stepmother:

    "The reception of these two volumes has been very unlike that
    of the first, and yet my vanity is so very dextrous, that I
    am not displeased with the difference. The effects of novelty
    could no longer operate, and the public was not surprised by
    the unexpected appearance of a new and unknown author. The
    progress of these two volumes has hitherto been quiet and
    silent. Almost everybody that reads has purchased, but few
    persons (comparatively) have read them; and I find that the
    greatest number, satisfied that they have acquired a valuable
    fund of entertainment, differ the perusal to the summer, the
    country, and a more quiet period. Yet I have reason to think,
    from the opinion of some judges, that my reputation has
    not suffered by this publication. The Clergy (such is the
    advantage of a total loss of character) commend my decency
    and moderation: but the patriots wish to down the work and the
    author."

    The concluding volumes were delayed for various reasons as
    Gibbon said to Lord Sheffield in July, 1786: "A book takes
    more time in making than a pudding." In June, 1787, he says:
    "I am building a great book, which, besides the three stories
    already exposed to the public eye, will have three stories
    more before we reach the roof and battlement," and promises
    that, with the diligence and speed then exerted, he hopes to
    be able to have the work ready for the press in August, or
    perhaps July. In an earlier letter he says:

    "About a month ago I had a voluntary, and not unpleasing
    Epistle from Cadell; he informs me that he is going to print
    a new octavo edition, the former being exhausted, and that the
    public expect with impatience the conclusion of the excellent
    work, whose reputation and sale increases every day, etc. I
    answered him by the return of the post, to inform him of the
    period and extent of my labours, and to express a reasonable
    hope that he would set the same value on the three last as he
    had done on the three former Volumes. Should we conclude in
    this easy manner a transaction as honourable to the author
    and bookseller, my way is clear and open before; in pecuniary
    matters I think I am assured for the rest of my life of never
    troubling my friends, or being troubled myself; a state to
    which I aspire, and which I indeed deserve, if not by my
    management, at least by moderation."

    The publishers had allowed Gibbon two thirds of the profits
    for the first volume, which amounted on the first edition
    to £490. In a letter written in 1788, to his stepmother, he
    refers again to his relations with Cadell: "The public, where
    it costs them nothing, are extravagantly liberal; yet I will
    allow with Dr. Johnson 'that booksellers in this age are not
    the worst patrons of literature.'" Allibone tells us that
    the historian's "profit on the whole is stated to have been
    £6,000, whilst the booksellers netted the handsome sum of
    £60,000."

    The sixth volume was finished June 27, 1787, and was published
    with the fourth and fifth in April, 1788. Gibbon says:

    "The impression of the fourth volume had consumed three
    months; our common interest required that we should move with
    quicker pace, and Mr. Strahan fulfilled his engagement, which
    few printers could sustain, of delivering every week three
    thousand copies of nine sheets. The day of publication was,
    however, delayed, that it might coincide with the fifty-first
    anniversary of my own birthday: the double festival was
    celebrated by a cheerful literary dinner at Mr. Cadell's
    house, and I seemed to blush while they read an elegant
    compliment from Mr. Haley."

    John Hall, historical engraver to George III, and one of the
    engravers of the plates for Alderman Boydell's collection,
    executed the portrait of Gibbon, after Sir Joshua Reynolds,
    which faces the title-page of our first volume. The plate was
    issued separately in 1780, Cadell having "strenuously urged
    the curiosity of the public" as a reason for its immediate
    publication. It was most appropriate to introduce, as he did,
    the vignettes emblematic of Rome.

      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _Six volumes._




RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN

(1751-1816)


59. The | School | For | Scandal. | A | Comedy. | [Quotation] Dublin:
| Printed for J. Ewling.

    The first performance of the play occurred May 8, 1777, at
    the Drury Lane Theatre, which had been opened under Sheridan's
    management the previous year. A publisher immediately offered
    five hundred guineas for a corrected copy of the comedy, and
    Sheridan promised to prepare it for the press; but Mr. W.
    Fraser Rae tells us that when importuned for the revised
    manuscript Sheridan "always replied that he had never been
    able to satisfy himself as to the version which he wished
    to be published, and the comedy, with any of his final
    corrections, has not yet been given to the world."

    The Ewling edition was printed from an acting copy which
    Sheridan had given to his sister, Mrs. LeFanu of Dublin, who,
    for one hundred guineas and free admission to the theater for
    herself and family, had let it go to Mr. Roger of the Theatre
    Royal. A dated edition appeared in Dublin in 1781.

    The omission of the author's name from the title-page recalls
    the foolish statement made by Dr. Watkins on the authority of
    Isaac Reed, "that the play was written by a young lady, the
    daughter of a merchant in Thames Street [whose name and the
    number of whose house are judiciously withheld], that, at
    the beginning of the season when Mr. Sheridan commenced
    his management, the manuscript was put into his hands for
    judgment, soon after which the fair writer, who was then in a
    stage of decline, went to Bristol Hot Wells, where she died."

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _vi, 93 pp., 1 l._




WILLIAM COWPER

(1731-1800)


60. The | Task, | A | Poem, | In Six Books. | By William Cowper, | Of
The Inner Temple, Esq. | Fit ſurculus arbor. | Anonym. | To which
are added, | By The Same Author, | An Epistle to Joseph Hill, Eſq.
Tirocinium, or a | Review of Schools, and the History of John Gilpin.
| London: | Printed For J. Johnson, N^o 72, St. Paul's | Church-Yard:
| 1785.

    In October, 1784, William Cawthorne Unwin,

      "A friend whose worth deserves as warm a lay
        As ever friendship penned,"

    received from Cowper "four quires of verse" with the request
    that it might be read by him and, if approved, conveyed to
    Joseph Johnson, the publisher of Cowper's first volume.

    "If, when you make the offer of my book [_The Task_], to
    Johnson, he should stroke his chin, and look up at the ceiling
    and cry 'Humph!', anticipate him, I beseech you, at once
    by saying 'that you know I should be sorry that he should
    undertake for me to his own disadvantage, or that my volume
    should be in any degree pressed upon him. I make him the offer
    merely because I think he would have reason to complain of
    me if I did not.' But, that punctilio once satisfied, it is a
    matter of indifference to me what publisher sends me forth."
    Johnson, however, accepted.

    "My imagination tells me," says Cowper to Unwin, "(for I know
    you interest yourself in the success of my productions) that
    your heart fluttered when you approached his door, and that it
    felt itself discharged of a burthen when you came out again."

    The "Advertisement," or preface, accounting for _The Task_, is
    worth reprinting. It runs:

    "The hiſtory of the following production is briefly this. A
    lady, fond of blank verſe, demanded a poem of that kind from
    the author, and gave him the SOFA for a ſubject. He obeyed;
    and having much leiſure, connected another ſubject
    with it; and purſuing the train of thought to which his
    ſituation and turn of mind led him, brought forth at length,
    inſtead of the trifle which he at firſt intended, a
    ſerious affair--a Volume."

    The lady, who was Cowper's friend, Lady Austin, was also
    responsible for _John Gilpin_, for it was from her that
    the poet first heard the tale. It is said that he wrote the
    outline that night and sent it to _The Public Advertiser_,
    anonymously, the next morning; but, in fact, it appeared in
    November, 1782. It had a great success in the newspapers, and
    in pamphlet form, and Henderson, the actor, gave it further
    vogue by his recitations.

    "I have not been without thoughts of adding 'John Gilpin' at
    the tail of all," wrote Cowper, while _The Task_ was in press.
    "He has made a good deal of noise in the world; and perhaps it
    may not be amiss to show, that though I write generally with a
    serious intention, I know how to be occasionally merry."

    There was some discussion between the poet and the publisher,
    as to the propriety of putting poems so different in character
    into the same volume. The poet says to Mr. Newton: "I should
    blame nobody, not even my intimate friends, and those who
    have the most favorable opinion of me, were they to charge the
    publication of John Gilpin, at the end of so much solemn and
    serious truth, to the score of the author's vanity; and to
    suspect that, however sober I may be upon proper occasions, I
    have yet that itch of popularity that would not suffer me to
    sink my title to a jest that had been so successful. But
    the case is not such. When I sent the copy of the _Task_ to
    Johnson, I desired, indeed, Mr. Unwin to ask him the question,
    whether or not he would choose to make it a part of the
    volume. This I did merely with a view to promote the sale of
    it. Johnson answered, 'By all means.' Some months afterward,
    he enclosed a note to me in one of my packets, in which he
    expressed a change of mind, alleging, that to print John
    Gilpin would only be to print what had been hackneyed in every
    magazine, in every shop, and at the corner of every street.
    I answered, that I desired to be entirely governed by his
    opinion; and that if he chose to waive it, I should be better
    pleased with the omission. Nothing more passed between us
    on the subject, and I concluded that I should never have the
    immortal honor of being generally known as the author of John
    Gilpin. In the last packet, however, down came John, very
    fairly printed, and equipped for public appearance. The
    business having taken this turn, I concluded that Johnson had
    adopted my original thought, that it might prove advantageous
    to the sale; and as he had had the trouble and expense of
    printing it, I corrected the copy, and let it pass."

    The half-title to _John Gilpin_ in our copy reads: _The
    Diverting | History | Of | John Gilpin, | Shewing How He Went
    Farther Than He | Intended And Came Safe Home Again_.

    The book appeared in June, having now grown into a volume of
    poems, containing, as the title-page shows, four works, paged
    continuously. It cost four shillings, in boards. The volume
    was a great success, and two issues were made in the same
    year. These show several variations, but chiefly in the
    arrangement of the pages. A half-title, found in some copies,
    and thought to belong only to late issues, reads: _Poems,
    By William Cowper, Esq. Vol. II_. Herein we may possibly see
    Johnson's afterthought to make the book a second volume to the
    collection of _Poems_ issued in 1782, and referred to in the
    advertisement on the last page: "Lately publiſhed by the
    ſame Author, in one Volume of this Size. Price 4s. ſewed."
    It would have been a shrewd plan thus to make the successful
    later volume carry the unsuccessful earlier.

    Cowper gave the copyright to Johnson, who afterward, when the
    work proved so successful, would have allowed him to take back
    his gift, but Cowper refused.

    This Johnson was also the publisher of Horne Tooke, Fuseli,
    Bonnycastle, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Miss Edgeworth. He, as
    well as his successor, Rowland Hunter, was a dissenter, and
    the building which he occupied, we are told, was "plain and
    unadorned, befitting the head-quarters of the bookselling of
    Protestant Dissent." Charles Knight, in _Shadows of the
    Old Booksellers_, has a paragraph, which must be quoted in
    connection with the appearance of Johnson's books.

      "With wire-wove hot-pres'd paper's glossy glare,
      Blind all the wise, and make the stupid stare."

    The publisher of Cowper was an exception to his brother
    publishers of that day, who are addressed in these lines.
    Aikin says of him, "It is proper to mention that his true
    regard for the interests of literature rendered him an enemy
    to that typographical luxury which, joined to the necessary
    increase of expense in printing, has so much enhanced the
    price of new books as to be a material obstacle to the
    indulgence of a laudable and reasonable curiosity to the
    reading public."

    It is quite certain that in making the _Task_ he did not sin
    against these principles of philanthropy, even if he sinned
    against many of the rules of good book-making.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _4 ll., 359 pp._




ROBERT BURNS

(1759-1796)


61. Poems, | Chiefly In The | Scottish Dialect, | By | Robert Burns. |
[Quotation] Kilmarnock: | Printed By John Wilson. | M,DCC,LXXXVI.

    One of Burns's warmest friends, Gavin Hamilton, advised him to
    publish his poems in order to get enough money to emigrate
    to Jamaica, where it was hoped he would escape from the
    complications incident upon his love affair with Jean Armour.
    In the preface Burns tells us that none of the poems was
    written with a view to publication, but as a counterpoise to
    the troubles of the world.

    The _Proposals For Publishing By Subscription, Scottish Poems,
    By Robert Burns_, only one copy of which is known, appeared in
    1786, and ran as follows: "The Work to be elegantly printed,
    in one volume octavo. Price, stitched, Three Shillings. As the
    Author has not the most distant mercenary view in publishing,
    as soon as so many subscribers appear as will defray the
    necessary expense, the work will be sent to Press." A stanza
    of a poem by Alan Ramsay was followed by the agreement: "We
    undersubscribers engage to take the above-mentioned work on
    the conditions specified." The book went to press in June, and
    appeared the last day of July. Six hundred and twelve copies
    were printed; three hundred and fifty were taken by the
    author's friends; and, by August 28, all but thirteen had been
    sold. Burns cleared about twenty pounds.

    In October a new edition of a thousand copies was suggested
    by Burns, but the printer refused to proceed unless the author
    would advance twenty-seven pounds, the price of the paper,
    "But this, you know," says the luckless poet to Robert Aiken,
    "is out of my power; so farewell hopes of a second edition
    till I grow richer! an epocha, which, I think, will arrive at
    the payment of the British National Debt."

    Unlike Messrs. Dunlop and Wilson of Glasgow, to whom Burns is
    said, without much authority, to have first offered the poem,
    Wilson, the printer of the little volume, was not a great or
    leading publisher; but he succeeded in making a volume that is
    very charming in appearance, and not without reminders of the
    French press-work of the period.

    A copy of this book sold at the auction of the library of Mr.
    A. C. Lamb of Dundee, in February, 1898, for the sum of five
    hundred and seventy-two pounds, five shillings--"the most
    amazing price ever realized for a modern book."

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _240 pp._




GILBERT WHITE

(1720-1793)


62. The | Natural History | And | Antiquities | Of | Selborne, | [Two
lines] With | Engravings, And An Appendix. | [Quotations] London: |
Printed by T. Bensley; | For B. White And Son, at Horace's Head, Fleet
Street. | M,DCC,LXXXIX.

    "B. White" was Benjamin, next older brother of Gilbert, and
    one of the chief publishers of books relating to natural
    history. His interest in this book, therefore, must have
    been more than usually great, an assumption justified by its
    typographical appearance. It may, perhaps, be truly said
    that, with the possible exceptions of Clarendon's History and
    Percy's _Reliques_, it is the only work in our series having
    special artistic merit.

    Thomas Bensley was one of the first English printers to
    turn his attention to printing as a fine art; and he may be
    reckoned, with Bulmer, chief among the reformers of the
    art. As Dibdin says, in the _Bibliographical Decameron_, he
    "completed the establishment of a _self working_ press,
    which prints on _both sides_ of the sheet by one and the same
    operation--and throws off 900 copies in an hour! This really
    seems magical. It is certainly without precedent." It was, no
    doubt, with intent that Benjamin White gave the printing of
    this book into such hands, and something of the sumptuousness
    which afterward in Macklin's _Bible_ and Hume's _History of
    England_ made Bensley famous may be seen in this work.

    Our chief interest in the volume, as a piece of bookmaking,
    centers in the illustrations, engraved by Peter Mazell and
    Daniel Lerpinière. These comprise a vignette on the title-page
    to _The Natural History_, with a line from White's own poem,
    "The Invitation to Selbourne"; seven plates, one, the large
    folding frontispiece, which is said to contain portraits of
    four of White's friends; and a vignette on the title-page of
    _The Antiquities_. They are all from drawings by a young Swiss
    artist named Samuel Hieronymus Grimm, who settled in London in
    1778, and was much employed in topographical work.

    White's references to him in various letters give us quite
    an insight into the details of making this delightful book.
    Writing to Rev. John White, August 12, 1775, he says:

    "Mr. Grimm, the Swiss, is still in Derbyshire; and is to
    continue there and in Staffordshire 'til the end of the month.
    I have made all the inquiry I can concerning this artist, as
    it much behoves me to do. Mr. Tho. Mulso, and Brother Thomas,
    and Benjamin, and Mr. Lort have been to his lodgings to see
    his performances. They all agree that he is a man of genius;
    but the two former say that he does hardly seem to stick
    enough to nature; and that his trees are grotesque and
    strange. Brother Benjamin seems to approve of him. They all
    allow that he excels in grounds, water, and buildings. Friend
    Curtis recommends a Mr. Mullins, a worker in oil-colours.
    Grimm, it seems, has a way of staining his scapes with light
    water-colours, and seems disposed much in scapes for light
    sketchings; now I want _strong lights and shades_ and good
    trees and foliage."

    The inquiries seem, in the end, to have been satisfactory,
    and by May the fifth of the next year the young man had been
    engaged. An entry in _The Naturalists' Journal_, under date of
    July 8, 1776, records: "Mr. Grimm, my artist, came from London
    to take some of our finest views."

    On August 9, 1776, he says:

    "Mr. Grimm was with me just 28 days; 24 of which he worked
    very hard, and shewed good specimens of his genius, assiduity,
    and modest behaviour, much to my satisfaction. He finished
    for me 12 views. He first of all sketches his scapes with a
    lead-pencil; then he _pens_ them all over, as he calls it,
    with india-ink, rubbing out the superfluous pencil-strokes;
    then he gives a charming shading with a brush dipped in
    indian-ink; and last he throws a light tinge of water-colours
    over the whole. The scapes, many of them at least, looked
    so lovely in their indian-ink shading, that it was with
    difficulty the artist could prevail on me to permit him
    to tinge them; as I feared those colours might puzzle the
    engravers; but he assured me to the contrary."

    In a letter to Mr. Samuel Barker, November 1, 1776, we find:

    "In 24 days Mr. Grimm finished for me 12 drawings; the most
    elegant of which are 1, a view of the village and hanger from
    the short Lithe [the large folding frontispiece]; 2, a view of
    the S. E. end of the hanger and its cottages, taken from
    the upper end of the street; 3, a side view of the _old_
    hermitage, with the hermit standing at the door, [the vignette
    on the title-page]: this piece he is to copy again for Uncle
    Harry; 4, a sweet view of the short Lithe and Dorton from the
    lane beyond Peasecod's house. He took also two views of the
    Church [opposite pp. 315, 323]; two views of my outlet; a view
    of the Temple-Farm [opposite p. 342]; a view of the village
    from the inside of the present hermitage; Hawkley hanger,
    which does not prove very engaging; and a grotesque and
    romantic drawing of the water-fall in the hollow bed of the
    stream in Silkwood's vale to the N. E. of Berriman's house.
    You need not wonder that the drawings you saw by Grimm did
    not please you; for they were 3s. 6d. pieces done for a little
    ready money; so there was no room for softening his trees, &c.
    He is a most elegant colourist; and what is more, the use of
    these fine natural stainings is altogether his own, yet his
    pieces were so engaging in India-ink that it was with regret
    that I submitted to have some of them ...." The plates
    bear the legend, "Published Nov^r. 1. 1788 as the Act directs,
    by B. White & Son."

    The work appeared anonymously at the end of 1788, but it is
    dated the next year. It was sold for one guinea, in boards.
    Fifty copies were printed on large paper, with the plate on
    page 3 in colors. Although it seems to have sold well, it was
    the only edition issued during the author's lifetime. White
    wrote to a friend in 1789: "My book is still asked for
    in Fleet Street. A gent. came the other day, and said he
    understood that there was a Mr. White who had lately
    published two books, a good one and a bad one; the bad one
    was concerning Botany Bay ['_A Voyage to New South Wales_,'
    by John White (no relation), published in 1790], the better
    respecting some parish."

    The index, which White described when he was making it as
    "an occupation full as entertaining as that of darning of
    stockings," was criticised for not being full enough, a
    criticism applicable to every edition issued since the first.

      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _1 l., v., 468 pp., 7 ll. Seven plates._




EDMUND BURKE

(1729-1797)


63. Reflections | On The | Revolution In France, | [Four lines] In A
| Letter | Intended To Have Been Sent To A Gentleman | In Paris. |
By The Right Honorable | Edmund Burke. | London: | Printed For J.
Dodsley, in Pall Mall. | M.DCC.XC.

    It was well known, long before the book appeared, that Burke
    was at work upon this subject. As early as October, 1789,
    he had written a letter expressing his opinion on the
    revolutionary movement in France, and in this volume he
    but gave in permanent form a more elaborate and careful
    presentation of the same subject. Interest in the new volume
    was in no way diminished, but rather increased by the delay;
    and when the little book made its appearance, November 1, in
    a modest unlettered wrapper of gray paper, selling for five
    shillings, it created a profound impression. The King called
    it "a good book, a very good book; every gentleman ought
    to read it," and it ran into eleven editions, or eighteen
    thousand copies, within a twelvemonth.

    Our author and his publishers were well known to each other
    at this time: they had issued his _A Vindication of Natural
    Society_ in 1756; and he had been the conductor and chief
    editor of the historical portion of their _Annual Register_
    for a number of years.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _iv, 356 pp._




THOMAS PAINE

(1737-1809)


64. Rights Of Man: | Being An | Answer To Mr. Burke's Attack | On
The | French Revolution. | By | Thomas Paine, | Secretary For Foreign
Affairs to Congress In The | American War, And | Author Of The Work
Intitled Common Sense. | London: | Printed for J. Johnson, St. Paul's
Church-Yard. | MDCCXCI.

    "Mr. Burke's Attack," as we have seen, appeared in November,
    1790, and Paine immediately replied with the first part of
    his "Answer." Joseph Johnson, who printed Cowper's _Task_,
    and published for Horne Tooke, Fuseli, Bonnycastle and Miss
    Edgeworth, began the work and issued a few copies, but he
    became frightened at the serious outlook and gave it up. It
    was then put into the hands of J. S. Jordan, of No. 166
    Fleet Street, who reissued it March 13, 1791, under the
    superintendence of three of Paine's friends, Paine himself
    having in the meantime gone to Paris. There were a few
    corrections in the spelling of some words, some passages were
    softened, and a preface to the English edition, which Paine
    sent back from Europe, was added to the new edition.

    The success of the book was enormous, and it ran into edition
    after edition. In a letter to Washington, to whom it was
    dedicated, Paine says, under date of July 21, 1791:

    "... I took the liberty of addressing my late work 'Rights of
    Man', to you; but tho' I left it at that time to find its way
    to you, I now request your acceptance of fifty copies as a
    token of remembrance to yourself and my Friends. The work
    has had a run beyond anything that has been published in
    this Country on the subject of Government, and the demand
    continues. In Ireland it has had a much greater. A letter I
    received from Dublin, 10th of May, mentioned that the fourth
    edition was then on sale. I know not what number of copies
    were printed at each edition, except the second, which was ten
    thousand....

    "I have printed sixteen thousand copies; when the whole are
    gone, of which there remain between three and four thousand,
    I shall then make a cheap edition, just sufficient to bring in
    the price of printing and paper as I did by Common Sense."

    The earlier editions of the first part were made uniform
    with Burke's _Reflections_, and sold, so we learn from the
    half-title, for half a crown; the second edition sold for
    three shillings; and the cheap edition, which was _Printed
    For H. D. Symonds, Paternoster Row, M,DCC,XCII._, sold for
    sixpence.

    _The Gazetteer_ for January 25, contained the following
    announcement: "Mr Paine, it is known, is to produce another
    book this season. The composition of this is now past, and it
    was given a few weeks since to two printers, whose presses it
    was to go through as soon as possible. They printed about half
    of it, and then, being alarmed by _some intimations_, refused
    to go further. Some delay has thus occurred, but another
    printer has taken it, and in the course of the next month it
    will appear. Its title is to be a repetition of the former,
    'The Rights of Man,' of which the words 'Part the Second,'
    will show that it is a continuation."

    The title in full, runs as follows: _Rights Of Man. | Part
    | The Second. | Combining | Principle And Practice. | By
    | Thomas Paine, | [Four lines] London: | Printed for J. S.
    Jordan, No. 166, Fleet-Street. | 1792_.

    The volume was the same size as the first part, and contained
    178 pages, selling, as the half-title tells us, for three
    shillings. It was dedicated to Lafayette. This part was also
    issued by Symonds in a cheap edition, uniform with the first
    part, which sold for sixpence.

    The printer alarmed by the "intimations" was Chapman. He had
    offered successively, at different stages of the publication,
    £100, £500, and £1000, for the work, but Paine preferred to
    keep it in his own hands, fearing, perhaps, that this was
    a government attempt to suppress the book. From a financial
    point of view he was wise, since, on July 4, he handed over
    to the Society for Constitutional Information, £1000, which he
    had already received from sales. After Chapman's withdrawal,
    Jordan took up the printing, but with the understanding
    that if questioned he should say that Paine was author and
    publisher, and would personally answer for the work.

    The fears of the printers proved anything but groundless.
    The persecution, by imprisonment or fines, of those who were
    connected with the publishing (printing and selling) of the
    book would "astonish you", as Dr. Currie writes in 1793, "and
    most of these are for offences committed many months ago. The
    printer of the _Manchester Herald_ has had seven different
    indictments preferred against him for paragraphs in his paper;
    and six _different_ indictments for selling or disposing of
    six different copies of Paine--all previous to the _trial_
    of Paine. The man was opulent, supposed worth 20,000 l.; but
    these different actions will ruin him, as they were intended
    to do."

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _1 l., 162 pp._




JAMES BOSWELL

(1740-1795)


65. The | Life | Of | Samuel Johnson, LL.D. | [Twelve lines] In Two
Volumes. | By James Boswell, Esq. | [Quotation] Volume The First.
| London: | Printed by Henry Baldwin, | For Charles Dilly, In the
Poultry. | MDCCXCI.

    Boswell had published, the year before, two specimens of his
    work: _The Celebrated Letter from Samuel Johnson, LL.D.,
    to Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, now first
    published, with notes by James Boswell, Esq._, and _A
    Conversation between His Most Sacred Majesty George III, and
    Samuel Johnson, LL.D., illustrated with observations by
    James Boswell, Esq._ They were probably issued to secure the
    copyright, and sold for half a guinea apiece.

    The whole matter of publication of the _Life_ was a source of
    no small worry to our author. He was plunged, at that time,
    in pecuniary difficulties due to the purchase of an estate for
    £2500, and it seemed as if he might be obliged to accept the
    offer of Robinson, the publisher, of £1000 for the copyright
    of his beloved book. "But it would go to his heart," he said,
    "to accept such a sum, which he considered far too low", and
    he avoided the difficulty by borrowing the money. All of these
    things made him very low-spirited:

    "I am at present," he says, "in such bad spirits that I
    have fear concerning it--that I may get no profit, nay, may
    lose--that the public may be disappointed, and think that I
    have done it poorly--that I may make many enemies, and
    even have quarrels. But perhaps the very reverse of all may
    happen."

    He worked very hard over all the details connected with the
    making of the book. "I am within a short walk of Mr. Malone,
    who revises my 'Life of Johnson' with me. We have not yet
    gone over quite a half of it, but it is at last fairly in the
    press. I intended to have printed it upon what is called an
    _English_ letter, which would have made it look better. I have
    therefore taken a smaller type, called _Pica_, and even upon
    that I am afraid its bulk will be very large." He gave much
    thought to the title-page, and we are told that it was a long
    time before he could be perfectly satisfied. This statement,
    we are compelled to assume, refers to the literary composition
    of the title, rather than to the construction of the page:
    upon the latter he might have worked much longer and still
    have been dissatisfied.

    The work was at last delivered to the world May sixteenth (the
    "Advertisement" is dated April twentieth), and was sold
    for two guineas a copy. So successful was it that by August
    twenty-second, 1200 out of the edition of 1700 copies were
    disposed of, and the whole edition was exhausted before the
    end of the year. A supplement was issued in 1793, at one
    guinea; and a second edition with eight additional sheets
    appeared in July of the same year.

    With all Boswell's fussiness many mistakes crept into the
    printing, and the book abounds in wrong paging, omission of
    pages, and other things "of which," says Fitzgerald, "the
    great exemplar is the first Shakespeare Folio." So bad were
    these errors, indeed, that it was found necessary to issue a
    small quarto volume of forty-two pages to correct them. This
    pamphlet is sometimes bound up with the second edition. It is
    entitled: _The | Principal Corrections and Addition | To The
    First Edition Of | Mr. Boswell's Life | Of | Dr. Johnson. |
    London: | Printed by Henry Baldwin, | For Charles Dilly In The
    Poultry. | MDCCXCIII. | [Price Two Shillings and Sixpence.]_
    "A Chronological Catalogue of the Prose Works of Samuel
    Johnson, L.L.D.," is printed at the end.

    Charles Dilly, the bookseller, was well known in his day.
    Beloe speaks of him as "the queer little man ... characterized
    by a dryness of manner peculiarly his own." He and his elder
    brother, John, were famous not only for their successful
    publishing ventures, but for their dinners as well. Boswell
    speaks of "my worthy booksellers and friends, Messrs. Dilly,
    in the Poultry, at whose hospitable and well covered table I
    have seen a greater number of literary men than at any other,
    except that of Sir Joshua Reynolds."

    The engraved portrait of Doctor Johnson by James Heath, after
    the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1756, which forms the
    frontispiece to the first volume, bears the inscription:
    "Samuel Johnson. From the original Picture in the
    Poſseſsion of James Boswell, Esq. Publiſh'd April 10,
    1791, by C. Dilly." A plate of facsimiles of Dr. Johnson's
    handwriting, and another showing a "Round Robin, addreſsed
    to Samuel Johnson, L.L.D., with FacSimiles of the Signatures,"
    add to the interest of the second volume. Both plates were
    engraved by H. Shepherd.

      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _xii pp., 8 ll., 516 pp._
      Volume II: _1 l., 588 pp. Portrait. Two plates._




WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

(1770-1850)

AND

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

(1772-1834)


66. Lyrical Ballads, | With | A Few Other Poems. | London: | Printed
For J. & A. Arch, Gracechurch-Street. | 1798.

    In Cottle, the Bristol bookseller and poet, Wordsworth and
    Coleridge found a friend whose appreciation of their genius
    took a practical form. As early as 1795 we learn from a letter
    of Coleridge to Thomas Poole that "Cottle has entered into an
    engagement to give me a guinea and a half for every hundred
    lines of poetry I write, which will be perfectly sufficient
    for my maintenance, I only amusing myself on mornings; and all
    my prose works he is eager to purchase." When the two poets
    planned to issue a book in which Coleridge should show
    "the dramatic treatment of supernatural incidents," while
    Wordsworth should try to give the charm of novelty to "things
    of ever[y] day," it was Cottle who bought it. He says: "A
    visit to Mr. Coleridge at Stowey has been the means of my
    introduction to Mr. Wordsworth, who read me many of his
    Lyrical Pieces, when I perceived in them a peculiar but
    decided merit. I advised him to publish them, expressing a
    belief that they would be well received. I further said that
    he should be at no risk; that I would give him the same sum
    which I had given Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey, and that it
    would be a gratifying circumstance to me to usher into the
    world, by becoming the publisher of, the first volumes of
    three such poets as Southey, Coleridge and Wordsworth--a
    distinction that might never again occur to a provincial
    publisher."

    He gave Wordsworth thirty guineas for the copyright, and
    issued the book with the following imprint: _Bristol: Printed
    by Biggs and Cottle, for T. N. Longman, Paternoster Row,
    London, 1798_. But this imprint did not remain upon the
    title-page of the whole edition, for Cottle tells us that the
    sale was so slow, and the severity of most of the reviews so
    great, that its progress to oblivion seemed ordained to be as
    rapid as it was certain. He parted with the largest proportion
    of the five hundred at a loss, to Mr. Arch, a London
    bookseller, who bound up his copies with a new title-page
    bearing his name. The copies of the earlier issue are very
    rare.

    Shortly after the transfer, Cottle retired from business,
    selling all his copyrights to Longman and Rees, far-sighted
    publishers, both of whom were also Bristol men. In the
    transfer the copyright of the _Lyrical Ballads_ was down in
    the bill as worth nothing, whereupon Cottle begged the receipt
    for the thirty guineas, and presented it to Wordsworth.

    The work was entirely anonymous, with nothing to show that it
    was a joint production. Coleridge's poem, _The Nightingale_,
    inserted at the last minute, in place of _Lewti_, makes an
    extra leaf between pages 68 and 69. It is numbered 69 (the
    verso is blank), but no apparent confusion results since
    the original page 69 is not numbered, in accordance with the
    printer's scheme of numbering.

    We catch an interesting glimpse of this poet-publisher in a
    letter of Coleridge's to Robert Southey, written under date of
    July 22, 1801:

    "Poor Joseph! he has scribbled away both head and heart. What
    an affecting essay I could write on that man's character! Had
    he gone in his quiet way on a little pony, looking about him
    with a sheep's-eye cast now and then at a short poem, I do
    verily think from many parts of the "Malvern Hill," that he
    would at last have become a poet better than many who have had
    much fame, but he would be an Epic, and so

      'Victorious o'er the Danes, I Alfred, preach,
      Of my own forces, Chaplain-General.'"


      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _viii, 68 pp., 1 l., 69-210 pp., 1 l._




WASHINGTON IRVING

(1783-1859)


67. A History | Of | New York, | From The Beginning Of The World
To The | End Of The Dutch Dynasty. | [Eight lines] By Diedrich
Knickerbocker. | [Quotation] In Two Volumes. | Vol. I. | Published By
Inskeep & Bradford, New York; | Bradford & Inskeep, Philadelphia;
Wm. M'Il- | Henny, Boston; Coale & Thomas, Baltimore; | And Morford,
Willington, & Co. Charleston. | 1809.

    Early in the year 1809 a notice in the newspapers, headed
    "Distressing," announced the disappearance from his lodgings
    of a "small elderly gentleman" named Knickerbocker; and
    another notice, signed Seth Handaside, landlord of the
    Independent Columbian Hotel, Mulberry Street, reads:

    "Sir:--You have been good enough to publish in your paper a
    paragraph about Mr. Diedrich Knickerbocker, who was missing
    so strangely from his lodgings some time since. Nothing
    satisfactory has been heard of the old gentleman since; but
    a _very curious kind of a written book_ has been found in his
    room in his own handwriting. Now I wish you to notice him, if
    he is still alive, that if he does not return and pay off his
    bill, for board and lodging, I shall have to dispose of his
    Book, to satisfy me for the same."

    On December 6, 1809, the actual publication of the work is
    announced in the _American Citizen_:

      "IS THIS DAY PUBLISHED,
      BY INSKEEP AND BRADFORD--NO. 128 BROADWAY
      A HISTORY OF NEW YORK.

      In 2 vols. duodecimo--price 3 dollars.

    "Containing an account of its discovery and settlement, with
    its internal policy, manners, customs, wars, &c., &c., under
    the Dutch government, furnishing many curious and interesting
    particulars never before published, and which are gathered
    from various manuscripts and other authenticated sources, the
    whole being interspersed with philosophical speculations and
    moral precepts.

    "This work was found in the chamber of Mr. Diedrich
    Knickerbocker, the old gentleman whose sudden and mysterious
    disappearance has been noticed. It is published in order to
    discharge certain debts he has left behind."

    In this way Irving chose to introduce his satire to the world.
    The book was put to press in Philadelphia instead of in New
    York, in order the more easily to preserve its anonymous
    character.

    The pretence that it was a serious history was carried even
    into the dedication "To the New York Historical Society," and
    the work may really be described as a practical joke in book
    form.

    The volumes sold well, and, on the whole, were well received.
    Some members of the old Dutch families of the state saw in
    them a reflection upon their ancestors that they found it hard
    to overlook, and Irving himself describes their indignation
    against him. Mr. Pierre M. Irving tells us that he heard
    his uncle say that the avails of the first edition of _The
    History_ amounted to about three thousand dollars.

    A narrow folded plate, in the first volume, is entitled, "New
    Amsterdam (Now New-York) As it appeared about the year 1640,
    while under the Dutch Government". A legend beneath the
    engraving adds: "Copied from an ancient Etching of the same
    size, Published by Justus Danckers at Amsterdam". The view is
    often missing, being much sought after by print collectors.

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _xxiii, 268 pp._ Volume II:
      _1 l., 258 pp. Folded plate._




GEORGE GORDON BYRON,

SIXTH BARON

(1788-1824)


68. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. | A Romaunt. | By | Lord Byron |
[Quotation] London: | Printed For John Murray, 32, Fleet-Street; |
William Blackwood, Edinburgh; And John Cumming, Dublin. | By Thomas
Davison, White-Friars. | 1812.

    Robert Charles Dallas, a "well-meaning, self-satisfied, dull,
    industrious man," Byron's friend, having read with enthusiasm
    "a new attempt in the Spenserian stanza," which Byron brought
    back from Italy with him, undertook to find a publisher for
    it. William Miller, who afterward sold out to John Murray,
    refused it on the ground that it contained "sceptical
    stanzas," and that it attacked Lord Elgin as a "plunderer." To
    this criticism Byron's reply is characteristic:

      "REDDISH'S HOTEL, July 30th, 1811.

    "SIR: I am perfectly aware of the justice of your remarks,
    and am convinced that, if ever the poem is published, the same
    objections will be made in much stronger terms. But as it was
    intended to be a poem on _Ariosto's plan_, that _is_ to _say_
    on _no plan_ at all, and, as is usual in similar cases, having
    a predilection for the worst passages, I shall retain those
    parts, though I cannot venture to defend them. Under these
    circumstances I regret that you decline the publication, on
    my own account, as I think the book would have done better in
    your hands; the pecuniary part, you know, I have nothing to do
    with. But I can perfectly conceive, and indeed _approve_
    your reasons, and assure you my sensations are not
    _Archiepiscopal_* enough as yet to regard the rejection of
    my Homilies."

    Murray, to whom the manuscript was next carried, was more than
    willing to undertake the publication of the poem. He offered
    six hundred pounds for the copyright of the first two cantos;
    but Byron, refusing to keep the money himself, presented it to
    the needy Dallas. Dallas was the intermediary, at first, as we
    learn from Byron's letter to him dated August 21, 1811: "I
    do not think I shall return to London immediately, and shall
    therefore accept freely what is offered courteously--your
    mediation between me and Murray." Again, in a letter to
    Murray, August 23, 1811, he says: "My friend, Mr. Dallas,
    has placed in your hands a manuscript poem written by me in
    Greece, which he tells me you do not object to publishing."

    The relations between Murray and Byron form one of the most
    interesting chapters in the history of bookselling, redounding
    equally to the credit of each. In a letter to the publisher,
    dated September 5, 1811, the poet says: "The time seems to be
    past when (as Dr. Johnson said) a man was certain to 'hear
    the truth from his bookseller,' for you have paid me so many
    compliments, that if I was not the veriest scribbler on earth,
    I should feel affronted." Murray in one letter asked him to
    "obviate" some expressions concerning Spain and Portugal, "and
    with them, perhaps, some religious feelings which may deprive
    me of some customers amongst the _Orthodox_," but Byron
    refused to change anything, saying: "As for the '_Orthodox_'
    let us hope they will buy, on purpose to abuse--you will
    forgive the one if they do the other."

    The following extracts give us an insight into our author's
    feelings about the appearance and make-up of his book.
    Speaking of its form, he says: "He [Murray] wants to have
    it in a quarto, which is a cursed unsaleable size; but it is
    pestilent long, and one must obey one's publisher." And to
    Murray himself he writes in answer to a very natural question:
    "... The printer may place the notes in his _own way_, or any
    _way_, so that they are not in _my way_. I care nothing about
    types or margins."

    The use of the poet's name on the title-page caused some
    discussion, as we see from a letter to Dallas already quoted:
    "I don't think my name will answer the purpose, and you must
    be aware that my plaguey Satire will bring the north and south
    Grub Street down upon the _Pilgrimage_;--but, nevertheless, if
    Murray makes a point of it, and you coincide with him, I
    will do it daringly; so let it be entitled 'By the author of
    _English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_...." There was another
    reason why he did not want his name to appear: "Has Murray
    shown the work to any one? He may--but I will have no traps
    for applause ... I much wish to avoid identifying _Childe
    Harold's_ character with mine, and that, in sooth, is my
    second objection to my name appearing in the title-page."
    Later, however, as we see, he gave way on this point.

    We are indebted to Smiles, in his memoirs of John Murray, for
    a vivid picture of Byron as a book-maker.

    "He afterwards looked in [at 32, Fleet Street] from time
    to time, while the sheets [of _Childe Harold_] were passing
    through the press, fresh from the fencing rooms of Angelo and
    Jackson. He used to amuse himself by renewing his practice of
    _Carte et Tierce_, with his walking-cane directed against the
    book-shelves, while Murray was reading passages from the poem
    with occasional ejaculations of admiration, on which Byron
    would say, 'You think that a good idea, do you, Murray?'
    Then he would fence and lunge with his walking stick at some
    special book which he had picked out on the shelves before
    him. As Murray afterwards said, 'I was often very glad to get
    rid of him!'"

    The poem, that is, two Cantos of it, was published March 1,
    1812, in an edition of five hundred copies, which were
    all sold in three days. We hear from Elizabeth, Duchess of
    Devonshire, that "the subject of conversation, of curiosity,
    of enthusiasm, almost, one might say, of the moment is not
    Spain, or Portugal, Warriors or Patriots, but Lord Byron!" "He
    returned," she continues, "sorry for the severity of some
    of his lines (in the _English Bards_), and with a new poem,
    _Childe Harold_, which he published. This poem is on every
    table, and himself courted, visited, flattered, and praised
    whenever he appears. He has a pale, sickly, but handsome
    countenance, a bad figure, and, in short, he is really the
    only topic almost of every conversation--the men jealous of
    him, the women of each other."

    Thomas Davison, the printer of the book, was also responsible
    for many of the volumes of Campbell, Moore and Wordsworth,
    but he is known chiefly for his fine edition of Whitaker's
    _History of Richmondshire_, Rogers's _Italy_, and Dugdale's
    _Monasticon Anglicanum_. Timperley speaks of the singular
    beauty and correctness of his works, which brought about him
    a "connection" of the most respectable publishers of the day,
    and he adds: "By improvements which he made in printing
    ink, (a secret of which he had for a long time the exclusive
    possession) and other merits, he acquired great celebrity; and
    few indeed of his competitors, could approach the characters
    of what issued from his press."

    "For equal accuracy and beauty, let the palm be extended to
    Davison and Moyes," cries Mr. Dibdin in _The Bibliographical
    Decameron_. In a note he adds: "Mr. Davison is both an
    excellent and an elegant printer. His _Gil Blas_, published
    by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, and Co. is quite worthy of the
    beautiful engravings with which that edition is adorned: but
    his _Arabian Nights_, by Scott, 1811, in 6 octavo volumes, is,
    to my eye, a more exquisite performance."

    Early in their intercourse Murray had said to Byron: "Could
    I flatter myself that these suggestions were not obtrusive,
    I would hazard another, in an earnest solicitation that your
    lordship would add the two promised Cantos, and complete the
    _Poem_." But the volume containing the third Canto was not
    issued until 1816, when Murray paid £2000 for it. The fourth
    Canto, in a much thicker volume, came out two years afterward,
    and for this £2100 were received by the poet. The second
    volume sold for 5s. 6d., and the last for 12s.

    Byron must have carried his point about the size, for these
    last volumes were issued in octavo.

      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _vi pp., 1 l., 226 pp. Facsimile._

        * Alluding to Gil Blas and the Archbishop of Grenada.




JANE AUSTEN

(1775-1817)


69. Pride | And | Prejudice: | A Novel. | In Three Volumes. | By The
| Author Of "Sense And Sensibility." | Vol. I. | London: | Printed For
T. Egerton, | Military Library, Whitehall. | 1813.

    Egerton published _Sense and Sensibility_ in 1811, while
    _Pride and Prejudice_ (originally named _First Impressions_),
    which had been finished in August, 1797, was first offered by
    Miss Austen's father to Cadell, the famous publisher, in the
    following letter:

    "Sir,--I have in my possession a manuscript novel, comprising
    3 vols., about the length of Miss Burney's 'Evelina.' As I am
    well aware of what consequence it is that a work of this sort
    sh^{d} make its first appearance under a respectable name, I
    apply to you. I shall be much obliged, therefore, if you will
    inform me whether you choose to be concerned in it, what will
    be the expense of publishing it at the author's risk, and
    what you will venture to advance for the property of it, if on
    perusal it is approved of. Should you give any encouragement,
    I will send you the work.

    "Steventon, near Overton, Hants.

    "1^{st}. Nov. 1797."

    Cadell refused the book without reading it, and it was finally
    carried to Egerton, who accepted the story and made it into an
    attractive volume, although Gifford, who afterward read it for
    Murray with a view to publishing _Emma_, tells us that it
    was "--wretchedly printed, and so pointed as to be almost
    unintelligible."

    _Mansfield Park_ and _Emma_, like her two earlier novels, were
    issued anonymously during Miss Austen's lifetime. Though the
    author's name was an open secret, it did not appear in any of
    her books until the year after her death, when her brother,
    Henry Austen, announced it in a short biographical notice
    prefixed to _Northanger Abbey_ and _Persuasion_.

    One hundred and fifty pounds were received from the sale of
    _Sense and Sensibility_, and less then seven hundred pounds
    from the sale of all four books issued before the two novels
    of 1818.

    The work, "my own darling child," as Miss Austen called it,
    appeared in January, and she says of it: "There are a few
    typical errors; and a 'said he,' or a 'said she,' would
    sometimes make the dialogue more immediately clear; but 'I
    do not write for such dull elves' as have not a great deal
    of ingenuity themselves. The second volume is shorter than I
    could wish; but the difference is not so much in reality, as
    in look."

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _Three volumes._




SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

(1772-1834)


70. Christabel: | Kubla Khan, | A Vision; | The Pains Of Sleep. | By
| S. T. Coleridge, Esq. | London: | Printed for John Murray,
Albemarle-Street, | By William Bulmer And Co. Cleveland-Row, | St.
James's. | 1816.

    Coleridge, writing to his wife, April 4, 1803, says: "To-day I
    dine again with Sotheby. He had informed me that ten gentlemen
    who have met me at his house desired him to solicit me to
    finish the 'Christabel,' and to permit them to publish it for
    me; and they engaged that it should be in paper, printing,
    and decorations the most magnificent thing that had hitherto
    appeared. Of course I declined it. The lovely lady shan't come
    to that pass! Many times rather would I have it printed at
    Soulby's on the true ballad paper. However, it was civil, and
    Sotheby is very civil to me."

    It was not until May 8, 1816, that the still unfinished poem
    of _Christabel_ was offered to Murray, who, upon Byron's
    recommendation, so Lamb tells us, agreed to take it, paying
    seventy guineas for it, "until the other poems shall be
    completed, when the copyright shall revert to the author."
    _Christabel_ is in two parts. The "three parts yet to come,"
    and which Coleridge in the Preface said he hoped would be
    finished in the present year, never appeared. _Kubla Khan; Or
    A Vision In A Dream_ is prefaced by a short introduction.
    The seventy guineas Coleridge turned over to a needy friend.
    Murray also gave "£20 for permission to publish the other
    fragment of a poem, _Kubla Khan_, but which the author should
    not be restricted from publishing in any other way that he
    pleased."

    We may not pass over this book, modest as it is in appearance,
    without giving a quotation from the voluble Dibdin on the
    merits of its printer and his press, "The Shakespeare Press."
    "Trivial as the theme may appear," says he, "there are some
    very reasonable folks who would prefer an account of this
    eminent press to the 'History of the Seven Years War:' and I
    frankly own myself to be of that number. Nor is it--with due
    deference be it said to William Bulmer & Co.--from the
    least admiration of the _exterior_ or _interior_ of this
    printing-office that I take up my pen in behalf of it; but
    because it has effectually contributed to the promotion of
    belles-lettres, and national improvement in the matter of
    puncheon and matrix."

    Dibdin might have said more, without exaggeration; some of
    the chief glories of English typography came from the hands of
    William Bulmer & Co., works like the edition of Shakespeare
    of Alderman Boydell; _The Poetical Works of John Milton_, in
    three volumes, with engravings after designs by R. Westall;
    Goldsmith's _Traveller_ and _Deserted Village_, with
    engravings upon wood by Thomas Bewick; Somerville's _Chase_,
    with engravings by John and Thomas Bewick; Forster's edition
    of _The Arabian Nights' Entertainments_ in five volumes, with
    illustrations after Smirke's designs; and last, but not least,
    Dibdin's own _Bibliotheca Spenceriana_. Specimens of printing
    such as these justify Bulmer's claim that great strides had
    been taken toward raising the art from the depths to which it
    had fallen.

    One is tempted to wonder if the ten gentlemen friends of
    Sotheby, smitten by the mania for this new-found mode of
    expression in book-making, could have had it in mind to issue
    _Christabel_ with designs by Bewick, or Westall, or Smirke.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _vii, 64 pp., 2 ll._




SIR WALTER SCOTT

(1771-1832)


71. Ivanhoe; | A Romance. | By "The Author Of Waverley," &c. |
[Quotation] In Three Volumes. | Vol. I. | Edinburgh: | Printed For
Archibald Constable And Co. Edinburgh: | And Hurst, Robinson, And Co.
90, Cheapside, London. | 1820.

    Constable offered "The Author of Waverley" £700 for its
    copyright; but was told that the sum was too little if the
    book succeeded, and too much if it failed. The success of
    the novel, when it appeared, July 7, 1814, was enormous. One
    thousand copies were sold in the first five weeks, and
    six editions were necessary within the year. The whole
    English-reading world waited for another book from the same
    pen. _Ivanhoe_ appeared, December 18, 1819, and Mr. Leslie
    Stephen says that it was "Scott's culminating success in a
    book-selling sense, and marked the highest point both of his
    literary and social prosperity."

    The "Waverley novels" had been issued in duodecimo, but this
    volume marked a change to a new size. The paper was finer than
    hitherto, and the press-work much better. The price, too, was
    raised from eight shillings the volume to ten. These changes
    were made, Lockhart tells us, to assist the impression, which
    it was thought best to create, that _Ivanhoe_ was by a new
    hand; but "when the day of publication approached, [Constable]
    remonstrated against this experiment, and it was accordingly
    abandoned." The sale of the novel, in the early editions,
    amounted to 12,000 copies. Its popularity to-day is as great
    as ever.

    Scott's persistence in keeping up his anonymity is well known.
    In agreements with Constable a clause was introduced making
    the publisher liable to a penalty of £2000 if the author's
    name were revealed.

    A survey of Scott's publishing ventures would hardly be
    complete without a word concerning this publisher with whom
    his fortunes were so inseparably connected. Curwen says: "From
    1790 to 1820 Edinburgh richly deserved the honorable title of
    'Modern Athens.' Her University and her High School, directed
    by men preëminently fitted for their duties ... attracted and
    educated a set of young men, unrivalled, perhaps, in modern
    times for genius and energy, for wit and learning. Nothing,
    then, was wanting to their due encouragement but a liberal
    patron, and this position was speedily occupied by a publisher
    who, in his munificence and venturous spirit, soon outstripped
    his boldest English rival--whose one fault was, in fact,
    that of always being a Mæcenas, never a tradesman." By his
    liberality to writers, Constable transformed the publishing
    business, and practically put it upon a new basis. He made it
    possible for authors to do away with aristocratic patrons, and
    to stand upon their own merits. Scott had good reason to say,
    even after his disastrous participation in Constable and Co.'s
    failure, "Never did there exist so intelligent and so liberal
    an establishment."

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _Three volumes._




JOHN KEATS

(1795-1821)


72. Lamia, | Isabella, | The Eve Of St. Agnes, | And | Other Poems.
| By John Keats, | Author Of Endymion. | London: | Printed For Taylor
And Hessey, | Fleet-Street. | 1820.

    The poems in this volume represent the labor of a little over
    a year and a half--that is, from March, 1818, to October,
    1819,--and were all written after the publication of
    _Endymion_. The book was issued in the beginning of July,
    and was the third, and, as it proved, the last of the poet's
    works. "My book is coming out," said he, "with very low hopes,
    though not spirits, on my part. This shall be my last trial;
    not succeeding, I shall try what I can do in the apothecary
    line." It was not lack of success, however, that led him to
    discontinue the publishing line.

    Among the "other poems" mentioned on the title-page is
    _Hyperion. A Fragment_. The publishers, who seem to have
    cordially appreciated Keats's genius, refer to it in a
    special "Advertisement" placed after the title-page, and dated
    Fleet-Street, June 26, 1820:

    "If any apology be thought necessary for the appearance of the
    unfinished poem of Hyperion, the publishers beg to state
    that they alone are responsible, as it was printed at their
    particular request, and contrary to the wish of the author.
    The poem was intended to have been of equal length with
    Endymion, but the reception given to that work discouraged the
    author from proceeding."

    The volume was issued in light brown paper-covered boards, at
    7s. 6d., and our poet says in a letter to Charles A. Brown:
    "My book has had good success among the literary people, and
    I believe has a moderate sale." And again he writes on this
    subject to Mr. Brown, August, 1820: "The sale of my book is
    very slow, though it has been very highly rated. One of
    the causes, I understand from different quarters, of the
    unpopularity of this new book, is the offence the ladies take
    at me. On thinking that matter over, I am certain that I have
    said nothing in a spirit to displease any woman I would care
    to please; but still there is a tendency to class women in my
    books with roses and sweetmeats,--they never see themselves
    dominant."

    On the verso of the title-page of some copies, and at the
    end of the book, we find _London: Printed by Thomas
    Davison, Whitefriars_, a guarantee for the excellence of the
    typography, the key-note of which is struck in the admirably
    arranged title-page.

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _3 ll., 199 pp._




PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

(1792-1822)


73. Adonais | An Elegy On The Death Of John Keats, | Author Of
Endymion, Hyperion Etc. | By | Percy. B. Shelley | [Quotation] Pisa |
With The Types Of Didot | MDCCCXXI.

    Charles Ollier, the publisher, received the following
    interesting letter from Shelley, dated at Pisa, June 8, 1821:

    "Dear Sir,--You may announce for publication a poem entitled
    "Adonais." It is a lament on the death of poor Keats, with
    some interposed stabs on the assassins of his peace and of
    his fame; and will be preceded by a criticism on "Hyperion,"
    asserting the due claims which that fragment gives him to
    the rank which I have assigned him. My poem is finished, and
    consists of about forty Spenser stanzas. I shall send it you,
    either printed at Pisa, or transcribed in such a manner as
    it shall be difficult for the reviser to leave such errors as
    _assist_ the obscurity of the "Prometheus." But in case I send
    it printed, it will be merely that mistakes may be avoided;
    [so] that I shall only have a few copies struck off in the
    cheapest manner."

    The latter course was finally decided upon. The manuscript was
    sent to the printer at Pisa on June 16, 1821, and the first
    finished copy, in a blue, ornamented paper wrapper, was
    received July 13. This was not slow work, and the more
    remarkable when it is known that there are very few printer's
    errors in the book. This accuracy is due to the great pains
    Shelley took in revising the proofs.

    The volume, and especially the untrimmed copies measuring
    10×7-1/2 inches, are beautiful in appearance. There is a
    certain marked peculiarity in the typography, however, which
    is explained by Mr. Forman in this way: "The frequent dashes,
    which seem to have exactly the value usual with Shelley, are
    all double the usual length, except in two instances. The fact
    is that, in Shelley's bold writing, these dashes _were_ very
    long: the English printers would understand this; but Didot's
    people seem to have followed them literally; and the book
    being boldly printed, this peculiarity would not be likely to
    strike Shelley in revising."

    The name of the press at Pisa is not given; the fact that the
    "Types of Didot" were used does not of course necessarily mean
    that the Didots had an office there, as Mr. Forman would seem
    to imply.

    In the preface Shelley speaks as if he had changed his mind
    about issuing the criticism of _Hyperion_ with this volume, as
    he planned to do in the letter to Ollier. "It is my intention
    to subjoin to the London edition of this poem, a criticism
    upon the claims of its lamented object to be classed among the
    writers of the highest genius who have adorned our age." No
    London edition is known, however.

    The poem was first printed in England in the columns of
    the _Literary Chronicle_ for December 1, 1821, where it was
    appended to a review; but in this form stanzas XIX to XXIV
    were omitted. The earliest separate reprint bears the impress
    _Cambridge: Printed by W. Metcalfe, and sold by Messrs. Gee &
    Bridges, Market-Hill_. MDCCCXXIX.

    Two quotations from an interesting unpublished letter,
    belonging to a member of the Grolier Club, show that Ollier,
    who had been the publisher of most of Shelley's works, had
    copies of the Pisa book for sale, shortly after it was
    issued; the letter is addressed to "Meſs^r. Ollier & Co.,
    Booksellers Vere Street, Bond St., London, Angleterre," and
    reads:

      "Bagni. July 27. 1821

      "DEAR SIR

    "I send you the bill of lading of the box containing Adonais:
    and I send also a copy to yourself by M^r. Gisborne who
    probably will arrive before the Ship.... The work I send you,
    has been seen in print by M^r. Gisborne, & has excited, as it
    must in every one, the deepest interest.

        "Dear Sir, Yours very truly

        "P. B. SHELLEY."


      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _25 pp._




CHARLES LAMB

(1775-1834)


74. Elia. | Essays Which Have Appeared Under That Signature | In The
| London Magazine. | London: | Printed For Taylor And Hessey, |
Fleet-Street. | 1823.

    "Poor Elia," says Lamb in a letter to the publisher, Taylor,
    under date of July 30, 1821, "Poor Elia, the real (for I am
    but a counterfeit), is dead. The fact is, a person of that
    name, an Italian, was a fellow-clerk of mine at the South
    Sea House thirty (not forty) years ago, when the characters
    I described there existed, but had left it like myself many
    years; and I, having a brother now there, and doubting how he
    might relish certain descriptions in it, I clapt down the name
    of Elia to it, which passed off pretty well, for Elia himself
    added the function of an author to that of a scrivener, like
    myself.

    "I went the other day (not having seen him for a year) to
    laugh over with him at my usurpation of his name, and found
    him, alas! no more than a name, for he died of consumption
    eleven months ago, and I knew not of it.

    "So the name has fairly devolved to me, I think, and 'tis all
    he has left me."

    In this way our author himself accounts for the pseudonym,
    which, by the way, he says should be pronounced "Ellia."

    The _London Magazine, London: Printed for Baldwin, Cradock,
    And Joy_, was established in January, 1820; but Taylor and
    Hessey did not become its proprietors until July of the
    following year, when Taylor, who was something of a writer
    himself, especially on monetary subjects, acted as editor,
    with Thomas Hood as sub-editor. John Scott, whom Byron
    described as "a man of very considerable talents and of great
    acquirements," had been called to the editorship when Lamb
    began his essays, and William Hazlitt was on the staff.

    The first of the series appeared in the August number,
    1820, and the papers continued until October, 1822, when,
    twenty-seven having been issued, they, with one other called
    _Valentine's Day_, which had appeared in the _Indicator_ for
    February, 1821, were collected to form this volume.

    When the book was in press Lamb thought to use a dedication,
    which he wrote and sent to Taylor with the following note,
    dated December 7, 1822:

    "Dear Sir--I should like the enclosed Dedication to be
    printed, unless you dislike it. I like it. It is in the olden
    style. But if you object to it, put forth the book as it is;
    only pray don't let the printer mistake the word _curt_ for
    _curst_.

      C. L.

    "On better consideration, pray omit that Dedication. The
    Essays want no Preface: they are _all Preface_. A Preface is
    nothing but a talk with the reader; and they do nothing else.
    Pray omit it.

    "There will be a sort of Preface in the next Magazine, which
    may act as an advertisement, but not proper for the volume.

    "Let Elia come forth bare as he was born."

    The label on the paper-covered boards gives the price of the
    volume as 9s. 6d., a fairish price for the neat, but in no way
    remarkable piece of book-making which Thomas Davison executed
    for the publishers.

    Some copies of the first edition show a variation in the
    imprint: Messrs. Taylor and Hessey having opened a new shop at
    13, Waterloo Place, this address was printed in a line below
    the old one. Occasion was also taken, at this time, to furnish
    the book with a half-title.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _iv, 341 pp._




SAMUEL PEPYS

(1633-1703)


75. Memoirs | Of | Samuel Pepys, Esq. F.R.S. | [Two lines] Comprising
| His Diary | From 1659-1669, | Deciphered By The Rev. John Smith,
A.B. Of St. John's College, Cambridge, | From The Original Short-Hand
MS. In The Pepysian Library, | [Two lines] [Copy of one of Pepys's
book-plates] Edited By | Richard, Lord Braybrooke. | In Two Volumes. |
Vol. I. | London: | Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street. | MDCCCXXV.

    To the information given on the title-page, the noble editor
    adds some further facts in a preface. He says that the six
    volumes, closely written in short-hand by Pepys himself, had
    formed a part of the collection of books and prints bequeathed
    to Magdalen College, where they had remained unexamined (from
    the date of Pepys's death) until the appointment of Lord
    Braybrooke's brother, George Neville, afterwards called
    Grenville, as master of the College. Under Neville's auspices
    they were deciphered by Mr. Smith, whom his lordship had not
    the pleasure of knowing.

    Pepys used short-hand for his notes because he often had
    things to say which he did not think fit for all the world to
    know; and Lord Braybrooke found it "absolutely necessary" to
    "curtail the MS. materially." The complete journal, all that
    it is possible to print, was not issued until 1893.

    Colburn, the publisher, known for his successful ventures, and
    especially for the series called _Colburn's Modern Standard
    Novelists_ and _The Literary Gazette_, containing works by
    Bulwer Lytton, Lady Morgan, Captain Marryat, and others, had
    been so fortunate with an issue of Evelyn's _Diary_ that he
    was led into the present undertaking. With this edition, which
    sold at six pounds six shillings, and with two succeeding
    editions selling at five guineas, he is reputed to have made a
    handsome profit on the twenty-two hundred pounds paid for the
    copyright.

    The large volumes with their broad margins are handsome
    specimens of the excellent typographical work of the Bentleys.
    They are embellished with two illustrations in the text,
    and thirteen engraved plates. A frontispiece portrait of the
    author, after the painting by Kneller, was engraved by T.
    Bragg, and a smaller portrait used as a head-piece to the
    Life is signed _R. W. ſculp_. This last is a copy of one of
    Pepys's book-plates; it has the motto "Mens cujusque is est
    Quisque" above the oval frame, and "Sam. Pepys. Car. Et.
    Iac. Angl. Regib. A. Secretis Admiraliæ" in two lines below.
    Another book-plate used by the Secretary is copied on the
    title-page. Of the remaining portraits, one was engraved by
    John Thomson, while five were the work of R. Cooper, who also
    engraved the "View of the Mole at Tangier" and the "View of
    Mr. Pepys' Library." The other plates, including one showing
    facsimiles of Pepys's short- and long-hand; two of pedigrees,
    and a folded map, are signed "Sid^y. Hall, Bury Str^t.
    Bloomsb^y."

    Some copies of the book on fine paper, with beautiful
    impressions of the plates, are marked in red on the half-title
    page, "Presentation Copies."

      Quarto.

      COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _1 l., xlii, 498, xlix pp._
      Volume II: _2 ll., 348, vii, 311 pp. Seven portraits. Six plates._




JAMES FENIMORE COOPER

(1789-1851)


76. The Last | Of | The Mohicans; | A Narrative Of | 1757. | By The
Author Of "The Pioneers." [Quotation] In Two Volumes. | Vol. I. |
Philadelphia: | H. C. Carey & I. Lea--Chestnut-Street. | 1826.

    _The Pioneers_ was the first of _The Leather Stocking Tales_.
    It appeared in 1823, and was an immediate success; more than
    3500 copies are said to have been sold before noon of the
    day of publication. This was reason enough for following the
    custom of the English novelists of putting on the title-page,
    not the name of the author, but the name of his first success.
    _The Last of the Mohicans_ appeared February 4, 1826, and was
    also a prodigious success.

    The surprising meagerness of bibliographical facts concerning
    Cooper's works is, Professor Lounsbury says in his life of
    the novelist, characteristic of a reticence and dislike of
    publicity which extended to all his dealings. "The size of the
    editions has never been given to the public. The sale of 'The
    Pioneers' on the morning of its publication has already been
    noticed, and there are contemporary newspaper statements to
    the effect that the first edition of 'The Red Rover' consisted
    of five thousand copies, and that this was exhausted in a few
    days. But it was only from incidental references of this kind,
    which can rarely be relied upon absolutely, that we, at this
    late day, are able to give any specific information whatever.

    "He was unquestionably helped in the end, however, by what in
    the beginning threatened to be a serious if not insuperable
    obstacle. He was unable to get any one concerned in the book
    trade to assume the risk of bringing out 'The Spy.' That had
    to be taken by the author himself. In the case of this novel,
    we know positively that Cooper was not only the owner of the
    copyright, but of all the edition; that he gave directions
    as to the terms on which the work was to be furnished to the
    booksellers, while the publishers, Wiley & Halsted, had
    no direct interest in it, and received their reward by a
    commission. It is evident that under this arrangement his
    profits on the sale were far larger than would usually be the
    case. Whether he followed the same method in any of his later
    productions, there seems to be no method of ascertaining.
    Wiley, however, until his death, continued to be his
    publisher. 'The Last of the Mohicans' went into the hands
    of Carey & Lea of Philadelphia, and this firm, under various
    changes of name, continued to bring out the American edition
    of his novels until the year 1844."

    Henry Charles Carey, son of Matthew Carey, was as celebrated
    for his writings on political economy as for his connection
    with this publishing house, which was one of the largest in
    the country.

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _262 pp._ Volume II: _260 pp._




WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR

(1775-1864)


77. Pericles And Aspasia | By | Walter Savage Landor, Esq. | In Two
Volumes. | Vol. I. | London | Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street. |
1836.

    These volumes were issued in three or more styles of binding:
    paper-covered boards, straight-grain dull green cloth, and
    half roan with brown glazed paper boards all with paper
    labels. The publishers' advertisements, two leaves at the end
    of Vol. II. are the same with each style of binding.

    This work was written by Landor during his residence at
    Fiesole, but it was published after his return to England. His
    own choleric temperament and irascible manner unfitted him for
    personal dealings with publishers, as he had found from past
    experiences, and so the arrangements for this publication were
    intrusted to his friend Mr. G. P. R. James, the novelist, who
    sold the manuscript to Saunders and Otley for £100.

    The following unpublished letter of Landor's, belonging to
    a member of the Grolier Club, is interesting as referring to
    this transaction.


    "MY DEAR SIR:

    "When I offered my Pericles to MM. Saunders & Otley I did not
    suppose there was more than enough for one volume, the size of
    the Examination of Shakspeare. They told you it would form two
    volumes of that size. Knowing that I had material for thirty
    pages more, I said that if they would make the first vol: 300
    pp. I would take care that the second should not fall short
    of it more than a dozen pages. Now I have sent them not thirty
    but a hundred--and they tell me to-day that there is not
    remaining, for the second volume, more than 175 pp. I have,
    you perceive, already sent above one third more than what I
    calculated the whole at, when you had the kindness to make the
    agreement for me.

    "In reply to their letter I have said that, if they will give
    me fifty pounds more, I will send one hundred more pages, 50
    within three weeks, 50 more in the three following; and if
    this does not appear equitable to them I leave it entirely to
    you. I shall then have given them 200 pp. for fifty pounds,
    when I offered them only 285 for a hundred. It will be my
    business to take care that the remainder shall fall as
    little short as possible of the preceding. I have furthermore
    stipulated for twenty copies. Many of these will take nothing
    from the profits, as more than a dozen will be given to people
    who certainly would not have bought them, and who are not
    likely to lend them.

    "A friend has offered me some pheasants, which I have desired
    to be sent to you. I hope they will please the young lion with
    their plumage. The first of Feb. I set out for Clifton: an old
    favorite of mine for winter and spring. I have requested MM
    Saunders to favour me with two (I should be glad of three)
    copies of the first volume as my friend Ablett's birthday is
    on the 31 of this month, and mine on the 30, and I have three
    friends to whom it would delight me to give them before I
    leave Wales. With best compliments to Mrs. James, believe me
    ever,

      "Yrs very sincerely

      "W. S. LANDOR

    "LLAMBEDR, Jan. 18 [1836]

    "I have seen the last sheet of Vol. I, but not the short
    Preface sent from London.

    "How can you complain of your English. There is hardly a fault
    to be found in the 3 volumes. I have read them a second time.

      "G. P. R. James, Esq.

      "1 Lloyds Buildings

      "Blackheath

      "London"

    The work appeared during the early part of 1836, and though
    it was received with much praise by his friends, and had many
    favorable reviews, the sale dragged. In October of the same
    year, Landor, in one of his letters to Forster, refers to an
    unfavorable review which appeared in _Blackwood_: "... I am
    not informed how long this Scotchman has been at work about
    me, but my publisher has advised me, that he loses £150. by my
    _Pericles_. So that it is probable the Edinburgh Areopagites
    have condemned me to a fine in my absence; for I never can
    allow any man to be a loser by me, and am trying to economise
    to the amount of this indemnity to Saunders and Otley...."
    The money was in fact paid back, and yet, curiously enough,
    as Forster relates, Landor not only forgot, three years later,
    that he had received a payment for the copyright, but even
    that he himself had sent back the money, and was making
    further remittances to satisfy the supposed loss. This was
    stopped by a statement from Mr. Saunders, to which Landor
    refers in a letter to Forster: "Never, in the course of
    my life, was I so surprised as at the _verification_ of my
    account with Saunders; for such it is. Certain I am that no
    part of the money was ever spent by me, nor can I possibly
    bring to mind either the receiving or the returning of it...."

    The first American edition of _Pericles and Aspasia_, in
    two volumes, was published by Carey, Philadelphia, 1839, the
    second English edition in 1849, and there have been frequent
    editions since, both in England and in America.

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _Two Volumes._ Volume I: _viii, 299 pp._
      Volume II: _viii, 343 pp._




CHARLES DICKENS

(1812-1870)


78. The | Posthumous Papers | Of | The Pickwick Club. | By Charles
Dickens. | With | Forty-three illustrations by R. Seymour and | Phiz.
| London: | Chapman and Hall, 186, Strand. | MDCCCXXXVII.

    An advertisement in the _Times_ for March 26, 1836, reads:

    "THE PICKWICK PAPERS.--On the 31st of March will be published,
    to be continued monthly, price One Shilling, the first number
    of the Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, containing
    a faithful record of the Perambulations, Perils, Travels,
    Adventures, and Sporting Transactions of the Corresponding
    Members. Edited by Boz. Each monthly Part embellished with
    four Illustrations by Seymour. Chapman & Hall, 186 Strand, and
    of all booksellers."

    Robert Seymour, a caricaturist, and the illustrator of such
    works as _The Odd Volume_, _The Looking Glass_, and _Humorous
    Sketches_, had been employed by Chapman and Hall to illustrate
    a comic publication called _The Squib Annual_; and this
    led him to suggest that he should make a series of Cockney
    sporting plates which could be furnished with letter-press.
    Hall applied to Dickens, then an unknown newspaper man, for
    the text, a "something which should be a vehicle for certain
    plates to be executed by Mr. Seymour." Dickens says of this
    proposition: "I objected.... My views being deferred to, I
    thought of Mr. Pickwick, and wrote the first number; from the
    proof-sheets of which Mr. Seymour made his drawing of the
    Club and his happy portrait of its founder. I connected Mr.
    Pickwick with a club, because of the original suggestion; and
    I put in Mr. Winkle expressly for the use of Mr. Seymour."

    The work came out in twenty parts (parts nineteen and twenty
    were bound together), beginning in April, 1836, and ending
    with November, 1837. They were covered in light green paper
    bordered with a design by Seymour, and engraved by John
    Jackson, a pupil of Bewick and Hervey. The title reads, _The
    Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club_ [_Five lines_] _Edited
    by "Boz. With Illustrations...."_

    The publication of the second number was delayed by the
    suicide of Seymour, whose mind gave way from overwork. This
    sad event was announced to the public in a note, and an
    apology was offered for the reduction of the number of plates
    from four to three. "When we state that they comprise Mr.
    Seymour's last efforts, and that on one of them, in particular
    (the embellishment of the Stroller's Tale), he was engaged
    up to a late hour of the night preceding his death, we feel
    confident that the excuse will be deemed a sufficient one."

    The third and succeeding numbers contained two plates each.
    Those in the third part were originally executed by Robert
    Buss, who learned to etch in order to produce them. But he
    gave up the work, and his plates were replaced in later
    issues by others by Hablot K. Browne, or "Phiz," who did the
    remaining plates. The last or double part contained three
    plates and an engraved title-page. With it subscribers
    received also the printed title-page, dedication, preface,
    contents, Directions to the Binder and Table of Errata.

    In the eighteenth number, dated September 29, 1837, the
    following important announcement appears:

    "The subscribers to this work and the trade are respectfully
    informed that Nos. XIX. and XX. (with titles, contents, &c.)
    will be published together on 1^{st} of November; and that the
    complete volume, neatly bound in cloth, price one guinea, will
    be ready for delivery by the 14^{th} of that month, and for
    which country producers are requested to send early orders to
    their respective agents."

    The venture was almost a failure at first, and it was not
    until the appearance of Sam Weller, with the fifth number,
    that the bookbinder, who had prepared four hundred copies of
    the first number, was obliged to increase the supply. From
    this time on, the demand grew until the enormous output of
    forty thousand was reached with the fifteenth number.

    There are differences in the various accounts of the amount
    Dickens was to receive for his work. A letter from the
    publishers to him mentions their terms as nine guineas a
    sheet for each part consisting of a sheet and a half; fifteen
    guineas a number was the sum as stated by Mr. Edward Chapman
    to Mr. Forster; and Dickens himself, in a letter to Miss
    Hogarth, afterwards his wife, says, fourteen pounds a month.
    During publication, he received in checks from the publishers
    £3000. In 1837 Chapman & Hall agreed that after five years he
    should have a share in the copyright, on consideration that
    he write a similar book for which he was to receive £3000,
    besides having the whole copyright after five years. Forster
    thinks the author received, in all, £25,000, while the
    publishers' profits during the three years from 1836 to 1839
    are said to have amounted to £14,000 on the sale of the work
    in numbers alone.

    Chapman & Hall issued the book in volume form in 1837, at
    twenty-one shillings.

    Mr. Frederic G. Kitton says:

    "There are probably not more than a dozen copies of the first
    edition of "Pickwick" in existence. An examination of a number
    of impressions presumably of this edition results in the
    discovery of slight variations both in plates and text. These
    are especially noticeable in the illustrations, for, owing to
    the enormous demand, the plates were re-etched directly they
    showed signs of deterioration in the printing, and "Phiz," in
    reproducing his designs, sometimes altered them slightly. The
    earliest impressions of the work may be distinguished by
    the absence of engraved titles on the plates, and by their
    containing the _original_ etchings by Seymour and Buss, not
    "Phiz's" _replicas_ of them."

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _xiv pp., 1 l., 609 pp. Forty-five plates, including
      engraved title-page._




THOMAS CARLYLE

(1795-1881)


79. Sartor Resartus. | In Three Books. | Reprinted for Friends from
Fraser's Magazine. | [Quotation] London: | James Fraser, 215 Regent
Street. | M.DCCC.XXXIV.

    Carlyle went up to London with _Teufelsdröckh_ in his satchel,
    to find a publisher for it. He put much confidence in the help
    of his friend Francis Jeffrey, the lord advocate, who exerted
    himself chiefly to establish relations between the author and
    John Murray.

    Mrs. Carlyle, at home in Craigenputtoch, received the
    following letter from her husband, August 11, 1831:

    "... After a time by some movements, I got the company
    dispersed, and the Advocate by himself, and began to take
    counsel with him about 'Teufelsdröckh.' He thought Murray, in
    spite of the Radicalism, would be the better publisher; to him
    accordingly he gave me a line, saying that I was a genius and
    would likely become eminent;... I directly set off with this
    to Albemarle Street; found Murray out; returned afterwards
    and found him in, gave an outline of the book, at which the
    Arimaspian smiled, stated also that I had nothing else to
    do here but the getting of it published, and was above all
    anxious that his decision should be given soon...."

    On the 22d he wrote again:

    "On Saturday morning I set out for Albemarle Street. Murray,
    as usual, was not in; but an answer lay for me--my poor
    'Teufelsdröckh,' wrapped in new paper, with a letter stuck
    under the packthread. I took it with a silent fury, and walked
    off. The letter said he regretted exceedingly, etc.; all his
    literary friends were out of town; he himself occupied with a
    sick family in the country; that he had conceived the finest
    hope, etc. In short, that 'Teufelsdröckh' had never been
    looked into; but that if I would let him keep it for a month,
    he would _then_ be able to say a word, and by God's blessing a
    favorable one.

    "I walked on through Regent Street and looked in upon James
    Fraser, the bookseller. We got to talk about 'Teufelsdröckh,'
    when, after much hithering and thithering about the black
    state of trade, &c., it turned out that honest James would
    publish the book for me on this principle: if I would give
    _him_ a sum not exceeding 150 l. sterling! 'I think you had
    better wait a little,' said an Edinburgh advocate to me since,
    when he heard of this proposal. 'Yes,' I answered, 'it is
    my purpose to wait to the end of eternity for it.' 'But the
    public will not buy books.' 'The public has done the wisest
    thing it could, and ought never more to buy what they call
    books.'

    "Spurning at destiny, yet in the mildest terms taking leave of
    Fraser, I strode through the street carrying 'Teufelsdröckh'
    openly in my hand.... Having rested a little, I set out again
    to the Longmans, to hear what they had to say."

    The Longmans, "honest, rugged, punctual-looking people," said
    little to the point, however, and then, through Lord Jeffrey's
    efforts in his behalf, Murray offered as follows: "The short
    of it is this: Murray will print an edition (750 copies) of
    Dreck on the half-profit system (that is, I getting _nothing_,
    but also giving nothing); after which the sole copyright of
    the book is to be mine...."

    Carlyle then tried Colburn & Bentley, but with his mind made
    up "unless they say about 100 l. I will prefer Murray." These
    negotiations came to nothing, and back he went to Murray,
    whose offer "is not so bad: 750 copies for the task of
    publishing poor Dreck, and the rest of him _our own_." The
    terms were accepted, the manuscript was sent to the printer,
    and a page set up, when Murray repented his bargain, which had
    never pleased him, and, having heard that Carlyle had carried
    his MS. elsewhere, he seized the opportunity to send the
    author a note saying that since he had, unbeknown to him,
    carried his book to "the greatest publishers in London, who
    had declined to engage in it," he must ask to have it read by
    some literary friend, before he could in justice to himself
    engage in the printing of it. The upshot was that the
    manuscript was returned to its author.

    "The printing of 'Teufelsdröckh,'" Carlyle says to his wife,
    "which I announced as commencing, and even sent you a specimen
    of, has altogether stopped, and Murray's bargain with me has
    burst into air. The man behaved like a pig, and was speared,
    but perhaps without art; Jack and I at least laughed that
    night _à gorge déployée_ at the answer I wrote his base
    _glare_ of a letter: he has written again in much politer
    style, and I shall answer him, as McLeod advised my
    grandfather's people, 'sharp but mannerly.' The truth of the
    matter is now clear enough; Dreck cannot be disposed of
    in London at this time. Whether he lie in my trunk or in a
    bookseller's coffer seems partly indifferent. Neither, on the
    whole, do I know whether it is not better that we have stopped
    for the present. Money I was to have none; author's vanity
    embarked on that bottom I have almost none; nay, some time
    or other that the book can be _so_ disposed of it is certain
    enough."

    Nearly two years later, in 1833, the unlucky Dreck was
    published "piecemeal," in ten parts of ten pages each, in
    _Fraser's Magazine_, beginning with November and running
    until August, 1834. With the shrewdness of his tribe, Fraser,
    fearing failure, paid only twelve guineas a sheet for the
    work, though he had been paying its author twenty guineas
    a sheet, five guineas more than he paid to any other
    contributor. It turned out, however, that he was wise, for the
    great essay was not a success, even in the magazine.

    "'Magazine Fraser' writes that 'Teufelsdröckh' excites the
    most unqualified disapprobation--_à la bonne heure_," said
    Carlyle; and again: "--Literature still all a mystery; nothing
    'paying;' 'Teufelsdröckh' beyond measure unpopular; an oldest
    subscriber came into him and said, 'If there is any more of
    that d----d stuff, I will,' &c., &c.; on the other hand an
    order from America (Boston or Philadelphia) to send a copy of
    the magazine '_so long_ as there was anything of Carlyle's in
    it.' 'One spake up and the other spake down.'"

    After the work had run its course in the magazine, about fifty
    copies were struck off from the types and stitched together
    for distribution among friends.

    It remained to the honor of America, to print the book in
    1836, through the energetic efforts of Dr. LeBaron Russell.
    Emerson furnished the copy and a preface; and before the end
    of the year he was able to announce to Carlyle the sale of the
    whole edition. Another edition of over a thousand copies was
    sold before the first English edition, "a dingy, ill-managed
    edition" of a thousand copies, was published anonymously by
    Saunders and Otley in 1838.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _1 l., 107 pp._




RALPH WALDO EMERSON

(1803-1882)


80. Nature. | [Quotation] Boston: | James Munroe And Company. |
MDCCCXXXVI.

    "My little book is nearly done. Its title is 'Nature.' Its
    contents will not exceed in bulk Sampson Reed's 'Growth of the
    Mind.' My design is to follow it by another essay, 'Spirit,'
    and the two shall make a decent volume." Thus Emerson wrote to
    his brother William, from Concord, June 28, 1836.

    _Nature_ was, however, published alone in September by
    Metcalf, Torry and Ballou of the Cambridge Press. It received
    little attention except from "the representatives of orthodox
    opinion," who violently attacked it. Only a few hundred copies
    were sold, and it was twelve years before a second edition was
    called for.

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _95 pp._




WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT

(1796-1859)


81. History | Of The | Conquest Of Peru, | [Three lines] By | William
H. Prescott, | [Two lines] [Quotations] In Two Volumes. | Volume I. |
New York: | Harper And Brothers, 82 Cliff Street. | MDCCCXLVII.

    George Ticknor, in his life of Prescott, gives the story of
    the production of the _History_ in the following words:

    "The composition of the 'Conquest of Peru' was, therefore,
    finished within the time he had set for it a year previously,
    and the work being put to press without delay, the printing
    was completed in the latter part of March, 1847; about two
    years and nine months from the day when he first put pen
    to paper. It made just a thousand pages, exclusive of the
    Appendix, and was stereotyped under the careful correction and
    supervision of his friend Mr. Folsom of Cambridge.

    "While it was passing through the press, or just as the
    stereotyping was fairly begun, he made a contract with the
    Messrs. Harper to pay for seven thousand five hundred copies
    on the day of publication at the rate of one dollar per copy,
    to be sold within two years, and to continue to publish at
    the same rate afterwards, or to surrender the contract to the
    author at his pleasure; terms, I suppose, more liberal than
    had ever been offered for a work of grave history on this side
    of the Atlantic. In London it was published by Mr. Bentley,
    who purchased the copyright for eight hundred pounds, under
    the kind auspices of Colonel Aspinwall; again a large sum, as
    it was already doubtful whether an exclusive privilege could
    be legally maintained in Great Britain by a foreigner."

    The demand for the book was large: in five months five
    thousand copies were sold in America, and an edition of half
    that number sold in England. By January 1, 1860, there had
    been sold of the American and English editions together,
    16,965 copies. It was translated into Spanish, French, German,
    and Dutch.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _xl, 527 pp._ Volume II:
      _xix, 547 pp._




EDGAR ALLAN POE

(1809-1849)


82. The Raven | And | Other Poems. | By | Edgar A. Poe. | New York: |
Wiley And Putnam, 161 Broadway. | 1845.

    The poem first appeared in print in the columns of the _New
    York Evening Mirror_ for January 29, 1845, where N. P. Willis,
    its editor, says in a note: "We are permitted to copy,
    (in advance of publication,) from the second number of the
    _American Review_, the following remarkable poem by Edgar
    Poe." Willis issued the poem again in the weekly edition of
    the _Mirror_, dated February 8, and Charles F. Briggs, with
    whom Poe afterward became associated, also published it in the
    _Broadway Journal_ of the same date, crediting it to "Edgar A.
    Poe." Both of these weeklies seem to have appeared before the
    _American Review_ came out. We are not told the reason for
    Mr. George H. Colton's editorial courtesy in permitting this
    advance publication when the second, or February number of
    his paper, _The American Review: A Whig Journal Of Politics,
    Literature, Art And Science_, was so soon to appear. It is a
    curious circumstance that Willis and Briggs gave the author's
    name freely, while Colton's issue, as originally intended,
    appeared with the pseudonym of "---- Quarles."

    The poem was an immense success, and was copied far and wide
    in all the newspapers of the country. Writing to F. W. Thomas,
    May 4, Poe says:

    "'The Raven' has had a great run, Thomas--but I wrote it for
    the express purpose of running--just as I did the 'Gold Bug,'
    you know. The bird beat the bug, though, all hollow."

    This popularity was the poet's greatest reward, for we learn
    that the actual money remuneration was only ten dollars. Poe
    makes us think of the early writers, like Bacon and Browne,
    whom we have seen take to printing their books to save them
    from the errors of the unlicensed publisher. In a preface to
    this volume he writes:

    "These trifles are collected and republished chiefly with a
    view to their redemption from the many improvements to which
    they have been subjected while going at random 'the rounds of
    the press.' If what I have written is to circulate at all,
    I am naturally anxious that it should circulate as I wrote
    it...."

    From the original straw- paper covers in which it
    appeared, about December, we learn that the book was issued
    as one of a series, _Wiley And Putnam's Library Of American
    Books. No. VIII._, and that its price was the unusual sum of
    thirty-one cents. Among the other volumes, its companions
    in the set, were _Journal of an African Cruiser_, edited by
    Nathaniel Hawthorne; _Tales_ of Edgar A. Poe; _Letters from
    Italy_, by J. T. Headley; _The Wigwam and the Cabin_, by W.
    Gilmore Simms; and _Big Abel_, by Cornelius Mathews.

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _4 ll., 91 pp._




CHARLOTTE BRONTË

(1816-1855)


83. Jane Eyre. | An Autobiography. | Edited By | Currer Bell. | In
Three Volumes. | Vol. I. | London: | Smith, Elder, And Co., Cornhill.
| 1847.

    Under date of August 24, 1847, Miss Brontë wrote a letter to
    Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co., in which she said: "I now send you
    per rail a MS. entitled 'Jane Eyre,' a novel in three volumes,
    by Currer Bell." The novel was accepted, was printed and
    published by October sixteenth, and on the nineteenth the
    publishers received the following:

    "Gentlemen,--The six copies of 'Jane Eyre' reached me this
    morning. You have given the work every advantage which good
    paper, clear type, and a seemly outside can supply;--if it
    fails, the fault will be with the author,--you are exempt.
    I now await the judgment of the press and the public. I am,
    Gentlemen, yours respectfully, C. Bell."

    Their judgment was decisive, and the book was so great a
    success that a second edition, dedicated to Thackeray, was
    issued January 18, 1848.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _Three volumes._




HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

(1807-1882)


84. Evangeline, | A | Tale Of Acadie. | By | Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow. | Boston: | William D. Ticknor & Company. | 1847.

    Writing in his journal under date of October 2, 1847,
    Longfellow says: "Why does not Ticknor publish Evangeline? I
    am going to town to ask him that very question. And his answer
    was that he should do so without further delay." An entry,
    dated October 30, says, "Evangeline published." On November 8,
    he says: "Evangeline goes on bravely. I have received greater
    and warmer commendations than on any previous volume. The
    public takes more kindly to hexameters than I could have
    imagined." On November 13, a third thousand is recorded, and
    on April 8 of the following year we learn: "Next week Ticknor
    prints the sixth thousand of Evangeline, making one thousand a
    month since its publication."

    In 1857 the following entry sums up the successful career of
    the poem:

    "Allibone wants to get from the publishers the number of
    copies of my book sold up to date, the editions in this
    country only," and _Evangeline_ is set down as 35,850 copies.

    The poem was translated into German, Swedish, Danish, Italian,
    Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, and French, and was made a
    school-book in Italy.

      Sextodecimo.

      COLLATION: _163 pp._




ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

(1806-1861)


85. Sonnets. | By | E. B. B. | Reading: | [Not For Publication.] 1847.

    This is the first appearance in print of the _Sonnets from
    the Portuguese_ which were not published until 1850, when they
    were issued under the title _Sonnets from the Portuguese_, as
    a part of the _Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning_.

    Mr. Browning told the story of the Portuguese Sonnets to Mr.
    Edmund Gosse, who printed the account in _Critical Kit-Kats_,
    1896:

    "The Sonnets were intended for her husband's eyes alone; in
    the first instance, not even for his.... Fortunately for all
    those who love true poetry, Mr. Browning judged rightly of the
    obligation laid upon him by the possession of these poems.
    'I dared not,' he said, 'reserve to myself the finest sonnets
    written in any language since Shakespeare's.' Accordingly
    he persuaded his wife to commit the printing of them to
    her friend Miss Mitford; and in the course of the year they
    appeared in a slender volume entitled 'Sonnets, by E. B.
    B.,' with the imprint 'Reading, 1847,' and marked 'Not for
    publication.'"

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _47 pp._




JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

(1819-1891)


86. Melib[oe]us-Hipponax. | The | Biglow Papers, | Edited, | With
An Introduction, Notes, Glossary, | And Copious Index, | By | Homer
Wilbur, A.M., | [Three lines] [Quotations] Cambridge: | Published By
George Nichols. | 1848.

    Writing to Thomas Hughes on September 13, 1859, Lowell says:
    "I tried my first "Biglow Papers" in a newspaper, and found
    that it had a great run. So I wrote the others from time to
    time during the year which followed, always very rapidly, and
    sometimes (as "What Mr. Robinson thinks") at one sitting.

    "When I came to collect them and publish them in a volume, I
    conceived my parson-editor with his pedantry and verbosity,
    his amiable vanity and superiority to the verses he was
    editing, as a fitting artistic background and foil."

    The following extracts from letters show, in detail, the
    evolution of the work.

    "You will find a squib of mine in this week's _Courier_," said
    he to Sidney H. Gay, on June 16, 1846, "I wish it to continue
    anonymous, for I wish Slavery to think it has as many enemies
    as possible. If I may judge from the number of persons who
    have asked me if I wrote it, I have struck the old hulk of
    the Public between wind and water...." On the last day of
    December, 1847, he says to C. F. Briggs:

    "I am going to indulge all my fun in a volume of H. Biglow's
    verses which I am preparing, and which I shall edit under the
    character of the Rev. Mr. Wilbur.... I am going to include in
    the volume an essay of the reverend gentleman on the Yankee
    dialect, and on dialects in general, and on every thing else,
    and also an attempt at a complete natural history of the
    Humbug--which I think I shall write in Latin. The book will
    purport to be published at Jaalam (Mr. B's native place), and
    will be printed on brownish paper with those little head and
    tail-pieces which used to adorn our earlier publications--such
    as hives, scrolls, urns, and the like."

    The latter part of 1848 found the poet busily engaged in
    getting out the book, and he wrote to Gay in September:

    "This having to do with printers is dreadful business. There
    was a Mr. Melville who, I believe, enjoyed it, but, for my
    part, I am heartily sick of Typee."

    In October he says:

    "I should have sent you this yesterday, but it was not
    written, and I was working like a dog all day, preparing a
    glossary and an _index_. If I ever make another glossary or
    index--!"....

    "... Hosea is done with," he says in November, "and will soon
    be out. It made fifty pages more than I expected and so took
    longer." The volume appeared on the 10th, and on the 25th he
    again writes to Gay: "... The first edition of Hosea is nearly
    exhausted already."

    The following retrospect, sent to the same friend on February
    26, 1849, contains the lesson of experience:

    "There were a great many alterations of spelling made in
    the plates of the "Biglow Papers," which added much to the
    expense. I ought not to have stereotyped at all. But we are
    never done with cutting eye-teeth."

    George Nichols, who published the book, was at one time an
    owner of the University Book-store, and, later, one of the
    proprietors of the University Press. He was noted for his
    skill in proof-reading.

    The printing was done by Metcalf and Company, printers to
    the University; and the little book came out from their hands
    innocent of hives, scrolls, urns, or any other ornament.
    Something changed the author's mind, too, regarding _Jaalam_
    as the purporting place of publication.

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _12, xxxii, 163 pp._




WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY

(1811-1863)


87. Vanity Fair. | A Novel without a Hero. | By | William Makepeace
Thackeray. | With Illustrations On Steel And Wood By The Author. |
London: | Bradbury and Evans, 11, Bouverie Street. | 1848.

    The name of the book, as we see it in the delightful and
    altogether characteristic drawing on the engraved title-page,
    reminds us of what Miss Kate Perry says in her reminiscences
    of Thackeray:

    "He told me, some time afterward, that, after ransacking his
    brain for a name for his novel, it came upon him unawares, in
    the middle of the night, as if a voice had whispered, 'Vanity
    Fair.' He said, 'I jumped out of bed, and ran three times
    round my room, uttering as I went, 'Vanity Fair, Vanity Fair,
    Vanity Fair.'"

    It has been repeated, more than once, that _Vanity Fair_ was
    refused by _Colburn's Magazine_, and various other publishers,
    before Bradbury and Evans undertook it, but Vizetelly, in his
    _Glances Back Through Seventy Years_, thinks that this could
    not have been the case, since Thackeray did not finish the
    story until long after it had been accepted, and, in fact, was
    well along in the printer's hands. If refused, therefore, it
    was refused before it was finished. "I know perfectly well
    that after the publication commenced much of the remainder of
    the work was written under pressure for and from the printer,
    and not infrequently the first instalment of 'copy' needed
    to fill the customary thirty-two pages was penned while the
    printer's boy was waiting in the hall at Young Street."

    Vizetelly also gives the following account of the final
    arrangements for the publication of the book:

    "One afternoon, when he called in Peterborough Court he had
    a small brown paper parcel with him, and opened it to show
    me his two careful drawings for the page plates to the first
    number of _Vanity Fair_. Tied up with them was the manuscript
    of the earlier part of the book, of which he had several times
    spoken to me, referring to the quaint character that Chiswick
    Mall--within a stone's throw of which I was then living--still
    retained. His present intention, he told me, was to see
    Bradbury & Evans, and offer the work to them.... In little
    more than half an hour Thackeray again made his appearance,
    and, with a beaming face, gleefully informed me that he had
    settled the business. 'Bradbury & Evans,' he said, 'accepted
    so readily that I am deuced sorry I didn't ask them for
    another tenner. I am certain they would have given it.' He
    then explained that he had named fifty guineas per part,
    including the two sheets of letterpress, a couple of etchings,
    and the initials at the commencement of the chapters. He
    reckoned the text, I remember, at no more than five-and-twenty
    shillings a page, the two etchings at six guineas each, while
    as for the few initials at the beginnings of the chapters, he
    threw those in."

    Following the plan of Chapman and Hall, who issued Dickens's
    works in monthly parts in green covers, and of Charles James
    Lever's publishers, who brought him out in pink, Bradbury and
    Evans published _Vanity Fair_ in yellow-covered numbers dated
    January, 1847, to July, 1848, and costing one shilling a part.
    The title on these paper covers ran: _Vanity Fair: Pen And
    Pencil Sketches Of English Society. By W. M. Thackeray [Two
    lines] London: Published At The Punch Office, 85, Fleet
    Street. [One line] 1847._, and there was a woodcut vignette.

    There are numerous illustrations in the text, and each part
    has two plates, etchings, except the last, which has three and
    the engraved title-page. The last part as published contained
    the title-page, dedication, "Before the Curtain," a preface,
    table of contents, and list of plates.

    The earliest issues contain, on page 336, a woodcut of the
    Marquis of Steyne, which was afterward suppressed, the type
    from pages 336 to 440 being shifted to fill the vacancy. In
    the first edition, too, the title at the head of Chapter I is
    in rustic type.

    At first the novel did not sell well; it was even questioned
    whether it might not be best to stop its publication. But
    later in the year, owing to some cause, perhaps the eulogistic
    mention in Miss Brontë's preface to _Jane Eyre_, or, perhaps,
    a favorable review in the _Edinburgh Review_, its success
    became assured.

    Mrs. Carlyle, writing to her husband, says: "Very good indeed,
    beats Dickens out of the World."

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _xvi, 624 pp. Forty plates, including the engraved
      title-page._




THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY,

FIRST BARON MACAULAY

(1800-1859)


88. The | History Of England | From | The Accession Of James II. |
By | Thomas Babington Macaulay. | Volume I. | London: | Printed For
| Longman, Brown, Green, And Longmans, | Paternoster-Row. | 1849.
[-1861].

    Trevelyan, in his _Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay_, tells
    us there was no end to the trouble that the author devoted
    to matters which most writers are glad to leave to their
    publishers. "He could not rest until the lines were level to a
    hair's breadth, and the punctuation correct to a comma; until
    every paragraph concluded with a telling sentence, and every
    sentence flowed like water."

    In a footnote he adds this quotation from one of Macaulay's
    letters to Mr. Longman, which, while it referred to the
    edition of 1858, is also indicative of his attitude toward
    this, the first edition:

    "I have no more corrections to make at present. I am inclined
    to hope that the book will be as nearly faultless, as to
    typographical execution, as any work of equal extent that is
    to be found in the world."

    He was apprehensive concerning the success of the book. He
    writes, "I have armed myself with all my philosophy for the
    event of failure," but his fears were groundless.

    "The people of the United States," says Trevelyan, "were even
    more eager than the people of the United Kingdom to read about
    their common ancestors; with the advantage that, from the
    absence of an international copyright, they were able to read
    about them for next to nothing. On the 4th of April, 1849,
    Messrs. Harper, of New York, wrote to Macaulay: 'We beg you
    to accept herewith a copy of our cheap edition of your work.
    There have been three other editions published by different
    houses, and another is now in preparation; so there will be
    six different editions in the market. We have already sold
    forty thousand copies, and we presume that over sixty thousand
    copies have been disposed of. Probably, within three months
    of this time, the sale will amount to two hundred thousand
    copies. No work, of any kind, has ever so completely taken
    our whole country by storm.' An indirect compliment to the
    celebrity of the book was afforded by a desperate, and almost
    internecine, controversy which raged throughout the American
    newspapers as to whether the Messrs. Harper were justified in
    having altered Macaulay's spelling to suit the orthographical
    canons laid down in Noah Webster's dictionary."

    This quotation refers to the first volume. The second volume
    came out in the same year, but the third and fourth did
    not appear until 1855. Volume five was edited by Macaulay's
    sister, Lady Trevelyan, in 1861. It continued the portion of
    the History which was fairly transcribed and revised by the
    author before his death.

    The posthumous appearance of the last volume reminds us of
    what Mr. Alexander B. Grosart says in his life of Spenser,
    apropos of the promise on the title-page of the _Fairy Queen_
    that the work should be in twelve books fashioning twelve
    moral virtues:

    "Than this splendid audacity I know nothing comparable,
    unless Lord Macaulay's opening of his _History of England_,
    wherein--without any saving clause, as Thomas Fuller would
    have said, of 'if the Lord will'--he pledges himself to write
    his great Story down to 'memories' of men 'still living.'"

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _Five volumes._




ALFRED TENNYSON,

FIRST BARON TENNYSON

(1809-1892)


89. In Memoriam. | London. | Edward Moxon, Dover Street. | 1850.

    In May of the year 1850, _In Memoriam_ was privately printed
    for the use of friends, and soon afterward was published
    in the present form, at six shillings. A second and third
    editions were issued in the same year. They are alike in
    all particulars except for the correction of two literal
    misprints. Though the book was anonymous, the authorship was
    never in doubt.

    A circumstance connected with its publication, though not
    bibliographical in its bearing, demands a passing word. "If
    'In Memoriam' were published," Hallam Tennyson says in his
    life of the laureate, "Moxon had promised a small yearly
    royalty on this and on the other poems, and so my father had
    decided that he could now honourably offer my mother a home.
    Accordingly after ten years of separation their engagement was
    renewed.... Moxon now advanced £300--so my uncle Charles told
    a friend,--at all events £300 were in my father's bank in his
    name." With this and their small incomes combined they decided
    to marry. The marriage took place June 13, the month that saw
    the publication of "In Memoriam."

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _vii, 210 pp._




NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

(1804-1864)


90. The | Scarlet Letter, | A Romance. | By | Nathaniel Hawthorne. |
Boston: | Ticknor, Read, And Fields | MDCCCL.

    James T. Fields, in his little life of Hawthorne, tells of a
    visit to Salem to see the author. He goes on to say:

    "... I caught sight of a bureau or set of drawers near where
    we were sitting; and immediately it occurred to me that hidden
    away somewhere in that article of furniture was a story or
    stories by the author of the 'Twice-Told Tales,' and I became
    so positive of it that I charged him vehemently with the fact.
    He seemed surprised, I thought, but shook his head again; and
    I rose to take my leave.... I was hurrying down the stairs
    when he called after me from the chamber, asking me to stop
    a moment. Then quickly stepping into the entry with a roll of
    manuscript in his hands, he said: 'How in Heaven's name did
    you know the thing was there? As you have found me out, take
    what I have written, and tell me, after you get home and have
    time to read it, if it is good for anything....' On my way up
    to Boston I read the germ of 'The Scarlet Letter'; before I
    slept that night I wrote him a note all aglow with admiration
    of the marvellous story he had put into my hands, and told him
    that I would come again to Salem the next day and arrange for
    its publication."

    It was Hawthorne's first intention to make the romance one of
    a volume of several short stories, because, as he remarks to
    Mr. Fields:

    "A hunter loads his gun with a bullet and several buckshot;
    and, following his sagacious example, it was my purpose to
    conjoin the one long story with half a dozen shorter ones, so
    that, failing to kill the public outright with my biggest and
    heaviest lump of lead, I might have other chances with the
    smaller bits, individually and in the aggregate." But this
    plan was finally changed and it was decided to publish the
    story alone. There was then some talk about a title for it.
    "In this latter event" (the event of publishing alone), "it
    appears to me that the only proper title for the book would
    be 'The Scarlet Letter,' for 'The Custom House' is merely
    introductory...." And so it was decided.

    "If 'The Scarlet Letter' is to be the title," he asked Mr.
    Fields, "would it not be well to print it on the title-page in
    red ink? I am not quite sure about the good taste of so doing,
    but it would certainly be piquant and appropriate, and, I
    think, attractive to the great gull whom we are endeavoring to
    circumvent." The reader might ask the bibliophile if the red
    title line, for it was printed in that way, really did have
    anything to do with the circumventing which eventually took
    place.

    On February 4, 1850, Hawthorne wrote to Horatio Bridges:

    "I finished my book yesterday, one end being in the press in
    Boston, while the other was in my head here in Salem; so that,
    as you see, the story is at least fourteen miles long."

    The book appeared about March 16. As Mr. George Parsons
    Lathrop points out, there seems to have been no expectation of
    a very successful sale, in spite of Mr. Fields's enthusiasm;
    but to the surprise of all, the whole issue was exhausted in
    ten days. A second edition, with a preface dated March 30, was
    soon published, making, with the first, a total number of five
    thousand copies. All these were printed by Metcalf &
    Company of Cambridge. The third issue was entirely reset and
    electrotyped, and numbered 307 pages.

    The second issue, beside the preface, shows numerous changes,
    especially in words. Among these the bookseller's favorite
    catch-word "reduplicate" (p. 21, l. 20) was changed to
    "repudiate." In late copies of the stereotyped form, this word
    was changed to "resuscitate."

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _vi, 322 pp._




HARRIET BEECHER STOWE

(1811-1896)


91. Uncle Tom's Cabin; | Or, | Life Among The Lowly. | By | Harriet
Beecher Stowe. | [Vignette] Vol. I. | Boston: | John P. Jewett &
Company. | Cleveland, Ohio: | Jewett, Proctor & Worthington. | 1852.

    The first chapter of _Uncle Tom_ appeared June, 1851, in _The
    National Era_ of Washington, a magazine edited by Gamaliel
    Bailey, and one of the ablest mediums of opinion of the
    anti-slavery party. It was finished in April, 1852. Mrs. Stowe
    received $300 for her labor.

    The interest which the story awakened led John Punchard
    Jewett, a member of the first anti-slavery society in New
    England, and himself a frequent contributor to the newspapers
    on anti-slavery topics, to offer to bring it out immediately
    in book form, giving the author ten per cent. on the sales.
    The proposition was accepted, and the book was published March
    20, 1852. The very remarkable sale of three thousand copies
    the first day was only an earnest of what was to happen.
    Over 300,000 copies were sold within the year, and eight
    power-presses running day and night could hardly supply the
    demand.

    There is a vignette on the title-pages signed by the
    engravers, _Baker-Smith_, and each volume contains three
    unsigned plates, evidently by the same artist, and engraved
    by the same hands as the vignette. The volumes were bound
    in black with the vignette of the title-page stamped on the
    covers, the front impression being in gold.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _312 pp._ Volume II: _322
      pp. Six plates._




JOHN RUSKIN

(1819-1900)


92. The | Stones of Venice. | Volume The First. | The Foundations. |
By John Ruskin, | [Two lines] With Illustrations Drawn By The Author.
| London: | Smith, Elder And Co., 65. Cornhill. | 1851. [-1853.]

    These fine volumes, printed by Spottiswoode and Shaw, have a
    particularly clean and clear type-page, and are excellent
    in press-work. It is not the type, however, that demands our
    especial attention, but the illustrations with which the work
    is liberally furnished. These distinguish it from anything we
    have hitherto seen in our list of books. The plates and cuts,
    made by various processes, mezzo-tinting, lithography, line
    engraving and wood-cutting, mark most clearly the advance
    in bookmaking which had taken place within the half century.
    Hitherto we have had illustrations for their own sakes, or for
    the ornamentation of the books they are in, and depending for
    their existence solely upon the liberality and intelligence of
    the publisher; but here we have illustrations introduced
    into the book for the sake of the text, of which they are an
    integral part. Ruskin's own words about them, as found in the
    Preface, are instructive:

    "It was of course inexpedient to reduce drawings of crowded
    details to the size of an octavo volume,--I do not say
    impossible, but inexpedient; requiring infinite pains on the
    part of the engraver, with no result except farther pain to
    the beholder. And as, on the other hand, folio books are
    not easy reading, I determined to separate the text and the
    unreduceable plates. I have given, with the principal
    text, all the illustrations absolutely necessary to the
    understanding of it, and, in the detached work, such
    additional text as had special reference to the larger
    illustrations.

    "A considerable number of these larger plates were at first
    intended to be executed in tinted lithography; but, finding
    the result unsatisfactory, I have determined to prepare the
    principal subjects for mezzotinting,--a change of method
    requiring two new drawings to be made for every subject; one
    a carefully penned outline for the etcher, and then a finished
    drawing upon the etching....

    "For the illustrations of the body of the work itself, I
    have used any kind of engraving which seemed suited to the
    subjects--line and mezzotint, on steel, with mixed lithographs
    and woodcuts, at a considerable loss of uniformity in the
    appearance of the volume, but, I hope, with advantage, in
    rendering the character of the architecture it describes."

    "The illustrations to the new book," Collingwood adds, "were
    a great advance upon the rough soft-ground etchings of the
    _Seven Lamps_. He secured the services of some of the finest
    engravers who ever handled the tools of their art. The English
    school of engravers was then in its last and most accomplished
    period. Photography had not yet begun to supersede it; and the
    demand for delicate work in book illustration had encouraged
    minuteness and precision of handling to the last degree. In
    this excessive refinement there were the symptoms of decline;
    but it was most fortunate for Mr. Ruskin that his drawings
    could be interpreted by such men as Armytage and Cousen, Cuff
    and Le Keux, Boys and Lupton.... The mere fact of their skill
    in translating a sketch from a note-book into a gem-like
    vignette, encouraged him to ask for more; so that some of
    the subjects which became the most elaborate were at first
    comparatively rough drawings, and were gradually worked up
    from successive retouchings of the proofs by the infinite
    patience of both parties. In other cases, working drawings
    were prepared by Mr. Ruskin, as refined as the plates."

    "Like much else of his work, these plates for 'Stones of
    Venice' were in advance of the times. The publishers thought
    them 'caviare to the general,' so Mr. J. J. Ruskin told his
    son; but gave it as his own belief that 'some dealers in
    Ruskins and Turners in 1890 will get great prices for what at
    present will not sell.'"

    An "Advertisement" in the second volume tells us, "It was
    originally intended that this Work should consist of two
    volumes only; the subject has extended to three. The second
    volume, however, will conclude the account of the ancient
    architecture of Venice. The third will embrace the Early, the
    Roman, and the Grotesque Renaissance; and an Index...."

    The first volume, called _The Foundations_, and having
    twenty-one plates, and the second, called _The Sea-Stories_,
    with twenty plates, each cost two guineas. The third volume,
    called _The Fall_, with twelve plates, cost a guinea and a
    half. They were bound in cloth, stamped in gold, with the
    "Lion of St. Mark" on the back. A few copies of both volumes
    one and two were issued in two parts. The first volume ran
    into a second edition in 1858, and the second and third were
    reissued in 1867.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _Three volumes. Illustrations. Fifty-three plates._




ROBERT BROWNING

(1812-1889)


93. Men And Women. | By | Robert Browning. | In Two Volumes. | Vol. I.
| London: | Chapman And Hall, 193, Piccadilly. | 1855.

    This was the only edition of _Men and Women_ published
    separately. The poems it contained were afterward incorporated
    in collected editions; with the exception of _In a Balcony_,
    they were distributed under the respective headings of
    _Dramatic Lyrics_, _Dramatic Romances_, and _Men and Women_.

    The book was issued in a green cloth binding, at twelve
    shillings a copy.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _iv, 260 pp._ Volume II:
      _iv, 241 pp._




JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY

(1814-1877)


94. The Rise | Of The | Dutch Republic. | A History. | By John Lothrop
Motley. | In Three Volumes. | Vol. I. | New York: | Harper & Brothers,
| 329 & 331 Pearl Street. | 1856.

    Motley wrote a letter to his wife, dated at London, May 10,
    1854, in which he says that he has had the matter of copyright
    looked up, and finds that the English law will protect him
    if he publish his book recently completed, first, by however
    small an interval, in England. He then carried the manuscript
    to Murray, who received him civilly, and professed interest
    in his subject, promising an answer in a fortnight. But the
    answer, when it came, was unfavorable, and, being of the mind
    that "if Murray declines ... I shall doubt very much whether
    anybody will accept, because history is very much in his
    line," he seems to have tried no farther, but to have arranged
    with Mr. John Chapman to publish the _Dutch Republic_ himself.

    Throughout the transaction Motley was very modest and not at
    all sanguine for the success of his venture.

    "It cannot take in England," he says to his mother in 1855,
    "and moreover the war, Macaulay's new volumes, and Prescott's,
    will entirely absorb the public attention." And again to his
    father, May 13, 1856, he says:

    "I have heard nothing from Chapman since the book was
    published, but I feel sure from the silence that very few
    copies have been sold. I shall be surprised if a hundred
    copies are sold at the end of a year."

    In reality, the book, as Dr. Holmes said, was "a triumph."
    Seventeen thousand copies were sold in England alone during
    the first year, and in America, where it was issued by the
    Harpers, just long enough after the English edition to fulfill
    all the demands of the copyright law, it was equally popular.
    Mr. Murray afterward asked to be allowed to publish _The
    History of the United Netherlands_, and expressed his
    regret "at what he candidly called his mistake in the first
    instance." Prescott, Motley's friend and generous rival, wrote
    from Boston, April 18, 1856:

    "You have good reason to be pleased with the reception the
    book has had from the English press, considering that you had
    no one particularly to stand godfather to your bantling, but
    that it tumbled into the world almost without the aid of
    a midwife. Under these circumstances success is a great
    triumph...."

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _Three volumes._




GEORGE ELIOT

MARY ANN _or_ MARIAN CROSS

(1819-1880)


95. Adam Bede | By | George Eliot | Author Of | "Scenes Of Clerical
Life" | [Quotation] In Three Volumes | Vol. I. | William Blackwood And
Sons | Edinburgh And London | MDCCCLIX | The Right of Translation is
reserved.

    _Scenes from Clerical Life_ had appeared in the early part of
    January, 1858, and had proved an unexpected success, but the
    name of its author, concealed under a pseudonym, long proved a
    mystery.

    "The first volume [of Adam Bede]," says Mrs. Cross, "was
    written at Richmond, and given to Blackwood in March. He
    expressed great admiration of its freshness and vividness, but
    seemed to hesitate about putting it in the Magazine, which was
    the form of publication he, as well as myself, had previously
    contemplated. He still _wished_ to have it for the Magazine,
    but desired to know the course of the story. At _present_ he
    saw nothing to prevent its reception in 'Maga,' but he would
    like to see more. I am uncertain whether his doubts rested
    solely on Hetty's relation to Arthur, or whether they were
    also directed towards the treatment of Methodism by the
    Church. I refused to tell my story beforehand, on the ground
    that I would not have it judged apart from my _treatment_,
    which alone determines the moral quality of art; and
    ultimately I proposed that the notion of publication in 'Maga'
    should be given up, and that the novel should be published in
    three volumes at Christmas, if possible. He assented."

    "... When, on October 29, I had written to the end of the
    love-scene at the Farm between Adam and Dinah, I sent the MS.
    to Blackwood, since the remainder of the third volume could
    not affect the judgement passed on what had gone before. He
    wrote back in warm admiration, and offered me, on the part of
    the firm, £800 for four years' copyright. I accepted the
    offer.... The book would have been published at Christmas, or
    rather early in December, but that Bulwer's 'What will he do
    with it?' was to be published by Blackwood at that time, and
    it was thought that this novel might interfere with mine."

    The book was published the first day of January with the still
    unpenetrated pseudonym on the title-page. It cost thirty one
    shillings and six pence. The advance subscriptions amounted
    to 730 copies, and the following note, written March 16, gives
    the history of its success:

    "Blackwood writes to say I am 'a popular author as well as
    a great author.' They printed 2,090 of 'Adam Bede,' and have
    disposed of more than 1800, so that they are thinking of a
    second edition."

    In May, Blackwood proposed to add, at the end of the year,
    £400 to the £800 originally given for the copyright. A fourth
    edition of 5000 volumes was issued in 1859, all of which were
    sold in a fortnight; a seventh was printed the same year, and
    in October Blackwood felt justified in proposing to pay £800
    more at the beginning of the new year. The sale amounted to
    16,000 volumes in one year.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _Three volumes._




CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN

(1809-1882)


96. On | The Origin Of Species | [Four lines] By Charles Darwin, M.A.,
[Three lines] London: | John Murray, Albemarle Street. | 1859. | The
right of Translation is reserved.

    The simplicity and honesty of Darwin's character are nowhere
    more clearly seen than in his correspondence over the
    production of this book, which, from its unorthodoxy, he
    feared might expose others as well as himself to censure. For
    example, he says in a letter of March 28, 1859, to Sir Charles
    Lyell, the famous geologist, who made the arrangements for the
    publication of the work:

    "P.S. Would you advise me to tell Murray that my book is not
    more _un_-orthodox than the subject makes inevitable....
    Or had I better say _nothing_ to Murray, and assume that he
    cannot object to this much unorthodoxy, which in fact is not
    more than any Geological Treatise which runs slap counter to
    Genesis."

    Afterward, in a letter to J. D. Hooker, under date of April 2,
    1859, he says:

    "... I wrote to him [Mr. Murray] and gave him the headings of
    the chapters, and told him he could not have the MSS. for ten
    days or so; and this morning I received a letter, offering
    me handsome terms, and agreeing to publish without seeing
    the MS.! So he is eager enough; I think I should have been
    cautious, anyhow, but, owing to your letter, I told him most
    _explicitly_ that I accepted his offer solely on condition
    that, after he has seen part or all the MS., he has full power
    of retracting. You will think me presumptuous, but I think
    my book will be popular to a certain extent (enough to ensure
    [against] heavy loss) amongst scientific and semiscientific
    men.... Anyhow, Murray ought to be the best judge, and if
    he chooses to publish it, I think I may wash my hands of all
    responsibility...."

    His views on the success of the book are worth recording. To
    Murray he writes, April 5, 1859: "It may be conceit, but I
    believe the subject will interest the public, and I am sure
    that the views are original. If you think otherwise, I must
    repeat my request that you will freely reject my work; and
    though I shall be a little disappointed, I shall be in no way
    injured." And again to J. D. Hooker: "... Please do not say
    to any one that I thought my book on Species would be fairly
    popular, and have a fairly remunerative sale (which was the
    height of my ambition), for if it proves a dead failure, it
    would make me the more ridiculous."

    After the book went to press he found it necessary to make
    many corrections involving no slight extra expense; without
    waiting for Murray to complain he took the initiative in
    setting the matter upon the proper footing in the following
    manner, in a letter written June 14, 1859:

    "P.S. I have been looking at the corrections, and considering
    them. It seems to me that I shall put you to quite unfair
    expense. If you please I should like to enter into some such
    arrangement as the following:

    "When work completed, you to allow in the account a fairly
    moderately heavy charge for corrections, and all excess
    over that to be deducted from my profits, or paid by me
    individually."

    "... But you are really too generous about the, to me,
    scandalously heavy corrections. Are you not acting unfairly
    towards yourself? Would it not be better at least to share the
    £72 8s.? I shall be fully satisfied, for I had no business
    to send, though quite unintentionally and unexpectedly, such
    badly composed MS. to the printers."

    The first edition, a child, Darwin calls it, in whose
    appearance he takes infinite pride and pleasure, was published
    November 24:

    "It is no doubt the chief work of my life. It was from the
    first highly successful. The first small edition of 1250
    copies was sold on the day of publication, and a second
    edition of 3000 copies soon afterward. Sixteen thousand copies
    have now (1876) been sold in England; and considering
    how stiff a book it is, this is a large sale. It has been
    translated into almost every European tongue, even into such
    languages as Spanish, Bohemian, Polish, and Russian. It has
    also, according to Miss Bird, been translated into Japanese
    [a mistake] and is there much studied. Even an essay in Hebrew
    has appeared on it, showing that the theory is contained in
    the Old Testament!"

    The second edition of 3000 copies, only a reprint, yet with
    a few important corrections, was issued January 7, 1860. An
    edition of 2500 copies was issued in the United States, where
    it enjoyed great popularity. "I never dreamed," said he, "of
    my book being so successful with general readers; I believe
    I should have laughed at the idea of sending the sheets to
    America."

    The sum of £180 was received by the author for the first
    edition, and £636 13s., for the second.

      Duodecimo.

      COLLATION: _ix, 502 pp. Folded plate._




EDWARD FITZGERALD

(1809-1883)


97. Rubáiyát | Of | Omar Khayyám, | The Astronomer-Poet Of Persia. |
Translated into English Verse. | London: | Bernard Quaritch, | Castle
Street, Leicester Square. | 1859.

    Fitzgerald first offered his translation to the editor of
    _Fraser's Magazine_, who returned it after holding it a long
    time, apparently afraid to publish it. It was not until years
    afterward that the poet, having nearly doubled the number of
    the verses, issued it himself, anonymously, inserting in the
    imprint, without even asking permission, the name of Bernard
    Quaritch.

    The little pamphlet in brown paper, with its eleven pages of
    biography, and five pages of notes, against sixteen pages of
    poem, was not attractive in appearance; and we are told that
    it was not advertised in any way except by entry among the
    Oriental numbers of Quaritch's catalogue. So it is really not
    to be greatly wondered at that its sale was slow, even though
    the price was set as low as five shillings. Two hundred copies
    remaining on his hands, Quaritch, who had consented to act as
    bookseller, finally resorted to the expedient of offering them
    at half-a-crown, then at a shilling, then at sixpence, until
    finally they were cleared out at a penny a volume.

    Those who read it at this price acted as leaven, and nine
    years afterward, in 1868, a second edition was called for; a
    third was published in 1872, and a fourth in 1879. These were
    all issued by Quaritch at his own expense, and all without
    the translator's name. Quaritch paid Fitzgerald a small
    honorarium, which he promptly gave away in charity.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _xiii, 21 pp._




JOHN HENRY NEWMAN,

CARDINAL

(1801-1890)


98. Apologia Pro Vita Sua: | Being | A Reply to a Pamphlet | Entitled
| "What, Then, Does Dr. Newman Mean?" [Quotation] By John Henry
Newman, D.D. | London: | Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, And Green.
| 1864.

    The pamphlet _"What, Then, Does Dr. Newman Mean?" A Reply to
    a Pamphlet lately published by Dr. Newman. By the Rev. Charles
    Kingsley._, was issued in March, 1864. Cardinal Newman's
    rejoinder took the form of a series of pamphlets. The first
    appeared on Thursday, April 21, and its brown paper cover bore
    the title given above, with the additional line, _Pt. I. Mr.
    Kingsley's Method of Disputation_. Thereafter, on successive
    Thursdays, until June 16, the following numbers appeared: _Pt.
    II. True Mode Of Meeting Mr. Kingsley._ _Pt. III-VI. History
    Of My Religious Opinions._ _Pt. VII. General Answer To Mr.
    Kingsley._ _Appendix. Answer in Detail To Mr. Kingsley's
    Accusations._

    A title-page and "Contents" were issued with the Appendix.
    Parts I, II, and III cost a shilling each, Parts IV, V, and
    VII, two shillings each, Part VI, and the Appendix, each two
    shillings sixpence.

    The parts were issued afterward in a cloth binding. In later
    editions almost all of Parts I and II, and about half of the
    Appendix were omitted, while some new matter was added in the
    form of notes.

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _iv, 430, 127 pp._




MATTHEW ARNOLD

(1822-1888)


99. Essays In Criticism. | By | Matthew Arnold, | Professor Of Poetry
In The University Of Oxford. | London and Cambridge: Macmillan And Co.
| 1865.

    The first edition contained a satirical and not altogether
    tasteful preface which, Arnold said in a letter to his mother
    before the book was out, "will make you laugh." But later, in
    a letter to Lady de Rothschild written February 11, 1865, he
    says of it: "I had read the Preface to a brother and sister of
    mine, and they received it in such solemn silence that I began
    to tremble...." The silence of his friends and the criticism
    of others produced their effect upon him, and he writes again,
    to Lady de Rothschild: "I think if I republish the book I
    shall leave out some of the preface and notes, as being too
    much of mere temporary matter...."

    The volume contained nine essays, afterward made ten.

    Professor Saintsbury says, in reviewing the book:

    "I am afraid it must be taken as only too strong a
    confirmation of Mr. Arnold's belief as to the indifference of
    the English people to criticism that no second edition of the
    book was called for till four years were past, no third for
    ten, and no fourth for nearly twenty."

    We get an intimation of the terms on which the book was
    published from the following note to Miss Quillinan, dated
    March 8, 1865:

    "The book is Macmillan's, not mine, as my Poems were, and I
    have had so few copies at my own disposal that they have not
    even sufficed to go the round of my own nearest relations, to
    whom I have always been accustomed to send what I write."

      Octavo.

      COLLATION: _xx, 302 pp._




JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

(1807-1892)


100. Snow-Bound. | A Winter Idyl. | By | John Greenleaf Whittier. |
[Vignette] Boston: | Ticknor And Fields. | 1866.

    It was at first proposed to publish the poem with
    illustrations by Felix Octavius Darley, who so successfully
    illustrated Cooper, Irving, Longfellow, Lossing, and many
    others; but, for some reason, this idea was abandoned, and
    illustration of the work was reduced to a vignette showing
    "a view of the old farm house in a snow storm, copied from a
    photograph ..." It was drawn by Harry Fenn. We might regret
    that we are thus the losers of some characteristic work by
    Darley, but, on the other hand, we must agree with Whittier,
    who, when referring to the proposed illustrations of _The
    Pageant_, published later, said: "I know of no one who could
    do it, however, so well as Harry Fenn." The bit of work
    reproduced here is in its way quite as worthy of commendation
    as that drawn by this "Nestor of his guild," for _Ballads
    of New England_, 1869, and so appreciatively reviewed by Mr.
    William Dean Howells in _The Atlantic_ for December.

    The poet took an unusual interest in the make-up of his book.
    For example, he says of the vignette:

    "In the picture of the old home, the rim of hemlocks, etc., at
    the foot of the high hill which rises abruptly to the left, is
    not seen. They would make a far better snow picture than the
    oaks which are in the view."

    His remarks, too, about his portrait are particularly
    entertaining.

    "I don't know about the portrait. At first thought, it strikes
    me that it would be rather out of place at the head of a
    new venture in rhyme. I don't want to run the risk of being
    laughed at. However, do as thee likes about it. Put thyself in
    the place of Mrs. Grundy, and see if it will be safe for any
    'counterfeit presentment' to brave the old lady's criticism."

    Mr. Fields evidently dared to add the portrait. It is a
    steel engraving, and bears, besides the name, the following
    inscription: "Engraved By H. W. Smith. From a Photograph
    By Hawes." The book is further embellished by a woodcut
    head-piece and an initial letter, representing snow scenes.

    From other letters we learn that Whittier liked the page
    and type of the volume, and in this he showed himself a good
    judge. His opinion is confirmed by those who see in the book
    an example worthy of its publishers, all of whose productions,
    issued at this period, are good, while some are beautiful in
    their simplicity and elegance. When the matter of paper was
    brought up, the author said, "Don't put the poem on tinted or
    fancy paper, let it be white as the snow it tells of." Fifty
    copies were printed on large paper, and were probably given
    by the poet only to his friends. These embodied all the
    corrections afterward incorporated in the regular editions.

    Whittier's feeling for appropriateness is shown also in the
    following quotation:

    "I wish it could come out in season for winter fireside
    reading--the very season for it.... I shall dedicate it to my
    brother, and shall occupy one page with quotations from Cor.
    Agrippa, and from Emerson's 'Snow Storm.'..."

    He changed his mind about the dedication, however, for
    the book is inscribed "To the memory of the household it
    describes."

    Among the errors which crept into the poem, one, the phrase
    "Pindus-born Araxes," was afterward corrected to "Pindus-born
    Arachthus"; and another,

      "The wedding _knell_ and dirge of death,"

    held its ground from 1866 until 1893.

    Whittier's share in the profits of _Snow-Bound_, we are told,
    amounted to ten thousand dollars.

      COLLATION: _52 pp. Portrait._




CORRIGENDA


   PAGE       LINE         READ

     4          7          copies are known
     9          2          adminiſtracion
    15          4          The | Firſte
    16         32          Arber
    25          3          authors' names
    25         10          youngmans
    33         20          Imprented
    34          4          diſſwaſion. |
    34          6          the | blacke
    40          6          omnia: | fiue
    41         11          duodecimi
    41         23          Odysses
    41         24          Mihi q^d viuo
    41         34          end, in some copies,
    45          1          are found
    45          8          1585
    48         18          Maſques
    48         30          The second Volume Containing These
    56          7          length
    61         19          Grosart
    67          4          Decem.
    69          7          Beaumont
    77          5          Dunstan's
    79          9          in
    86         27          The month of September, 1694
    89          8          Theater
    94         18          Charles
   121         28          1759
   126          4          By |
   128          6          A. M'Lean
   147          6          Intitled

       *       *       *       *       *


INDEX TO AUTHORS AND TITLES

       *       *       *       *       *




INDEX TO AUTHORS AND TITLES


  Absalom And Achitophel, 84, 85

  Adam Bede, 211, 212

  Addison (Joseph). The Spectator, 94-96

  Adonais, 169, 170

  Analogy (The) Of Religion, 104

  Anatomy (The) Of Melancholy, 51, 52

  Apologia Pro Vita Sua, 217

  Arcadia. The Countesse Of Pembrokes, 29-31

  Arnold (Matthew). Essays In Criticism, 218

  Austen (Jane). Pride And Prejudice, 161, 162


  B. (E. B.) Sonnets, 193

  Bacon (Francis), Baron Verulam. Essaies, 34, 35

  Baldwin (William), Thomas Sackville, and others. A Myrrour For
          Magiſtrates, 19-21

  Beaumont (Francis) and John Fletcher. Comedies And Tragedies, 69-71

  Bell (Currer). Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. Edited by, 191

  Bible. The Holy, 44-47

  Biglow Papers (The), 194, 195

  Blackstone (Sir William). Commentaries, 121, 122

  Booke (The) of the common praier, 9-11

  Boswell (James). The Life Of Samuel Johnson, 150-152

  Braybrooke (Richard, Lord). _See_ Pepys (Samuel). Memoirs, 173, 174

  Broken Heart (The), 58

  Brontë (Charlotte). Jane Eyre, 191

  Browne (Sir Thomas). Religio Medici, 65, 66

  Browning (Elizabeth Barrett). Sonnets, 193

  Browning (Robert). Men and Women, 208

  Bunyan (John). The Pilgrims Progreſs, 82, 83

  Burke (Edmund). Reflections On The Revolution In France, 146

  Burns (Robert). Poems, 141, 142

  Burton (Robert). The Anatomy Of Melancholy, 51, 52

  Butler (Joseph), Bishop of Durham. The Analogy Of Religion, 104

  Butler (Samuel). Hudibras. 77, 78

  Byron (George Gordon), Sixth Baron. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage,
          157-160


  Canterbury Tales (The), 3, 4

  Carlyle (Thomas). Sartor Resartus, 183-185.

  Chapman (George). The Whole Works Of Homer, 40-43.

  Chaucer (Geoffrey). The Canterbury Tales, 3, 4

  Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, 157-160

  Christabel: Kubla Khan ... The Pains Of Sleep, 163, 164

  Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande, 15-18

  Clarendon (Edward Hyde, First Earl of). The History Of The
          Rebellion, 89, 90

  Clarissa, 110, 111

  Coleridge (Samuel Taylor). Christabel, 163, 164

  Coleridge (Samuel Taylor) and William Wordsworth. Lyrical Ballads,
          153, 154

  Collins (William). Odes, 109

  Comedies And Tragedies, 69-71

  Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, 53-55

  Commentaries On The Laws Of England, 121, 122

  Common praier. The booke of the, 9-11

  Compleat Angler (The), 75, 76

  Confeſſio amantis, 5, 6

  Congreve (William). The Way of the World, 88

  Conquest Of Peru. History Of The, 187, 188

  Cooper (James Fenimore). The Last Of The Mohicans, 175, 176

  Countesse Of Pembrokes Arcadia (The), 29-31

  Cowper (William). The Task, 137-140

  Cross (Mary Ann or Marian). Adam Bede Edited By George Eliot, 211,
          212


  D. (J.). Poems by, 62-64

  Darwin (Charles Robert). On The Origin Of Species, 213-215

  Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire. The History Of The, 133-135

  Defoe (Daniel). The Life And Strange Surprizing Adventures Of
          Robinson Crusoe, 97, 98

  Democritus Iunior. _See_ Burton (Robert).

  Dickens (Charles). The Posthumous Papers Of The Pickwick Club,
          180-182

  Dictionary (A) Of The English Language, 117, 118

  Donne (John). Poems, 62-64

  Dorset (Thomas Sackville, First Earl of). _See_ Thomas Sackville.

  Dryden (John). Absalom And Achitophel, 84, 85

  Dutch Republic. The Rise Of The, 209, 210

  Dutchesse of Malfy. The Tragedy Of The, 56


  Elegy (An) Wrote In A Country Church Yard, 114-116

  Elia. Essays Which Have Appeared Under That Signature, 171, 172

  Emerson (Ralph Waldo). Nature, 186

  Essaies. Religious Meditationes, 34, 35

  Essay (An) Concerning Humane Understanding, 86, 87

  Essay (An) On Man, 102, 103

  Essays In Criticism, 218

  Euphues, 26-28

  Evangeline, 192

  Eve Of St. Agnes (The). Lamia, Isabella, 167, 168

  Expedition (The) Of Humphry Clinker, 130, 131


  Faerie Queene (The), 32, 33

  Famous Tragedy (The) Of The Rich Ievv Of Malta, 59

  Federalist (The), 128, 129

  Ferrex and Porrex. The Tragidie of, 24, 25

  Fielding (Henry). The History Of Tom Jones, 112, 113

  Fitzgerald (Edward). Rubáiyát Of Omar Khayyám, 216

  Fletcher (John) and Francis Beaumont. Comedies And Tragedies, 69-71

  Ford (John). The Broken Heart, 58

  Franklin (Benjamin). Poor Richard improved, 119, 120


  George Eliot. Adam Bede, 211, 212

  Gibbon (Edward). The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman
          Empire, 133-135

  Goldsmith (Oliver). The Vicar Of Wakefield, 123-125

  Gower (John). Confeſſio amantis, 5, 6

  Gray (Thomas). An Elegy Wrote In A Country Church Yard, 114-116

  Gulliver (Lemuel). Travels Into Several Remote Nations ... By,
          99-101


  Hakluyt (Richard). The Principal Navigations, etc., 36-39

  Hawthorne (Nathaniel). The Scarlet Letter, 202, 203

  Herbert (George). The Temple, 60, 61

  Herrick (Robert). Hesperides, 72, 73

  Hesperides, 72, 73

  History (The) of England, 199, 200

  History (A) Of New York ... By Diedrich Knickerbocker, 155, 156

  History Of The Conquest Of Peru, 187, 188

  History (The) Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, 133-135

  History (The) Of The Rebellion, 89, 90

  History (The) Of Tom Jones, 112, 113

  Holinshed (Raphael). Chronicles, 15-18

  Holy Bible (The), 44-47

  Holy Living. The Rule And Exercises Of, 74

  Homer. The Whole Works Of, 40-43

  Howard (Henry), Earl of Surrey, and others. Songes And Sonnettes,
          22, 23

  Hudibras, 77, 78

  Humane Understanding. An Essay Concerning, 86, 87

  Humphry Clinker. The Expedition Of, 130, 131

  Hyde (Edward), First Earl of Clarendon. The History Of The
          Rebellion, 89, 90


  In Memoriam, 201

  Inquiry (An) Into The Nature and Cauſes Of The Wealth Of
          Nations, 132

  Irving (Washington). A History Of New York, 155, 156

  Isabella, The Eve Of St. Agnes. Lamia, 167, 168

  Ivanhoe, 165, 166


  Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. Edited By Currer Bell, 191

  Johnson (Samuel). A Dictionary Of The English Language, 117, 118

  Johnson, The Life Of Samuel, 150-152

  Jonson (Benjamin). The Workes, 48-50


  Keats (John). Lamia, Isabella, The Eve Of St. Agnes, 167, 168

  Knickerbocker (Diedrich). A History Of New York ... By, 155, 156

  Kubla Khan, A Vision; The Pains Of Sleep. Christabel, 163, 164


  Lamb (Charles). Elia, 171, 172

  Lamia, Isabella, The Eve Of St. Agnes, 167, 168

  Landor (Walter Savage). Pericles And Aspasia, 177-179

  Langland (William). The Vision of Pierce Plowman, 12-14

  Last Of The Mohicans (The), 175, 176

  Life (The) And Strange Surprizing Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe,
          97, 98

  Life (The) Of Samuel Johnson, 150-152

  Locke (John). An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, 86, 87

  Longfellow (Henry Wadsworth). Evangeline, 192

  Lowell (James Russell). The Biglow Papers, 194, 195

  Lucubrations (The) Of Isaac Bickerſ<DW75> Eſq., 91-93

  Lyly (John). Euphues, 26-28

  Lyrical Ballads, With A Few Other Poems, 153, 154


  Macaulay (Thomas Babington), First Baron Macaulay, The History Of
          England, 199, 200

  Malfy. The Tragedy Of The Dutchesse Of, 56

  Malory (Sir Thomas). Le Morte Darthur, 7, 8

  Marlowe (Christopher). The Famous Tragedy Of The Rich Ievv Of
          Malta, 59

  Massinger (John). A New Way To Pay Old Debts, 57

  Melib[oe]us-Hipponax. The Biglow Papers. Edited ... By Homer
          Wilbur, 194, 195

  Memoirs Of Samuel Pepys, Esq. F.R.S., 173, 174

  Men And Women, 208

  Milton (John). Paradiſe loſt, 79-81

  Morte Darthur. (Le), 7, 8

  Motley (John Lothrop). The Rise Of The Dutch Republic, 209, 210

  Myrrour For Magiſtrates (A), 19-21


  Natural History (The) And Antiquities Of Selborne, 143-145

  Nature, 186

  New Way (A) To Pay Old Debts, 57

  Newman (John Henry), Cardinal. Apologia Pro Vita Sua, 217

  Norton (Thomas) and Thomas Sackville. The Tragidie of Ferrex and
          Porrex, 24, 25


  Odes On Several Deſcriptive and Allegoric Subjects, 109

  Omar Khayyám. Rubáiyát Of, 216

  On The Origin Of Species, 213-215


  Paine (Thomas). Rights Of Man, 147-149

  Pains Of Sleep. Christabel: Kubla Khan ... 163, 164

  Paradiſe loſt, 79-81

  Pepys (Samuel). Memoirs, 173, 174

  Percy (Thomas), Bishop of Dromore. Reliques Of Ancient English
          Poetry, 105-108

  Pericles And Aspasia, 177-179

  Pickwick Club. The Posthumous Papers Of The, 180-182

  Pierce Plowman. The Vision of, 12-14

  Pilgrims Progreſs (The), 82, 83

  Poe (Edgar Allan). The Raven, 189, 190

  Poems, By J. D., 62-64

  Poems, Chiefly In The Scottish Dialect, 141, 142

  Poor Richard improved, 119, 120

  Pope (Alexander). An Essay On Man, 102, 103

  Posthumous Papers (The) Of The Pickwick Club, 180-182

  Prescott (William Hinckling). History Of The Conquest Of Peru,
          187, 188

  Pride And Prejudice, 161, 162

  Principal Navigations, (The) Voiages, Traffiques And Discoueries
          of the Engliſh Nation, 36-39


  Raven (The) And Other Poems, 189, 190

  Reflections On The Revolution In France, 146

  Religio Medici, 65, 66

  Reliques Of Ancient English Poetry, 105-108

  Revolution In France. Reflections On The, 146

  Richardson (Samuel). Clarissa, 110, 111

  Rich Ievv Of Malta. The Famous Tragedy Of The, 59

  Rights Of Man, 147-149

  Rise Of The Dutch Republic, 209, 210

  Robinson Crusoe. The Life And Strange Surprizing Adventures Of,
          97, 98

  Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, 216

  Rule And Exercises Of Holy Living, 74

  Ruskin (John). The Stones of Venice, 205-207


  Sackville (Thomas), First Earl of Dorset, and Thomas Norton. The
          Tragidie of Ferrex and Porrex, 24, 25

  Sackville (Thomas), First Earl of Dorset, William Baldwin and
          others. A Myrrour For Magiſtrates, 19-21

  Sartor Resartus, 183-185

  Scarlet Letter (The), 202, 203

  School (The) For Scandal, 136

  Scott (Sir Walter). Ivanhoe, 165, 166

  Selborne. The Natural History And Antiquities Of, 143-145

  Sentimental Journey (A), 126, 127

  Shakespeare (William). Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, 53-55

  Shelley (Percy Bysshe). Adonais, 169, 170

  Sheridan (Richard Brinsley). The School For Scandal, 136

  Sidney (Sir Philip). The Countesse Of Pembrokes Arcadia, 29-31

  Smith (Adam). An Inquiry Into The Nature and Causes Of The Wealth
          Of Nations, 132

  Smollett (Tobias George). The Expedition Of Humphry Clinker, 130,
          131

  Snow-Bound, 219, 220

  Songes And Sonnettes, 22, 23

  Sonnets. By E. B. B., 193

  Spectator (The), 94-96

  Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene, 32, 33

  Steele (Sir Richard). The Tatler, 91-93

  Sterne (Laurence). A Sentimental Journey, 126, 127

  Stones of Venice (The), 205-207

  Stowe (Harriet Beecher). Uncle Tom's Cabin, 204

  Surrey (Henry Howard), Earl of. Songes And Sonnettes, 22, 23

  Swift (Jonathan). Travels Into Several Remote Nations ... By
          Lemuel Gulliver, 99-101


  Task (The), 137-140

  Tatler (The), 91-93

  Taylor (Jeremy). The Rule And Exercises Of Holy Living, 74

  Temple (The), 60, 61

  Tennyson (Alfred), First Baron Tennyson. In Memoriam. 201

  Thackeray (William Makepeace). Vanity Fair, 196-198

  Tom Jones. The History Of, 112, 113

  Tragedy (The) Of The Dutchesse Of Malfy, 56

  Tragedy of The Rich Ievv Of Malta. The Famous, 59

  Tragidie (The) of Ferrex and Porrex, 24, 25

  Travels Into Several Remote Nations ... By Lemuel Gulliver, 99-101


  Uncle Tom's Cabin, 204


  Vanity Fair, 196-198

  Vicar Of Wakefield (The), 123-125

  Vision (The) of Pierce Plowman, 12-14


  Waller (Edmund). The Workes, 67, 68

  Walton (Izaak). The Compleat Angler, 75, 76

  Way of the World (The), 88

  Wealth Of Nations. An Inquiry Into The Nature and Cauſes Of The,
          132

  Webster (John). The Tragedy Of The Dutchesse Of Malfy, 56

  White (Gilbert). The Natural History And Antiquities Of Selborne,
          143-145

  Whittier (John Greenleaf). Snow-Bound, 219, 220

  Wilbur (Homer) ... The Biglow Papers. Edited ... by, 194, 195

  Wordsworth (William) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Lyrical Ballads,
          153, 154.

       *       *       *       *       *

[Illustration:
  καὶ μὴν ἀριθμὸν
  ἔξοχον σοφισμάτων
  έξεῦρον αὐτοῖς
  γραμμάτών τε συνθέσεις
  μνήμην θ'ἁπάντων
  μουσομήτορ' ἐργάτιν

THE DE VINNE PRESS

IMPRIMATVR]

[Greek:
  kai mên arithmon
  exochon sophismatôn
  exeuron autois
  grammatôn te syntheseis
  mnêmên th'apantôn
  mousomêtor' ergatin]

Translation (De Vinne Press - https: //printinghistory.org/de-vinne/):
"and further I discovered for them [i.e., mankind] numeration, most
striking of inventions, and composition, nurse of the arts, producer
of the record of all things."--Prometheus.

       *       *       *       *       *




Transcriber's Note:

This book contains many instances of ſ (long s), which have been
retained, though its use is not necessarily consistent.

Some joining m-dashes (&mdash;) (usually in dates) have been changed
to hyphens (-).

Lines 921, 927 (page 16): 'trust' has twice appeared on this page as
'trust', instead of the expected 'truſt'. It may have been deliberate,
and has been retained.

  "thoſe yet whom he left in trust to diſpoſe his things
  after...."

  "and the rather to anſwere that trust which the deceaſſed
  repoſed in me,..."

Line 1070 (page 20): 'fyrst' has been retained.

  "as the fyrst part doth of other mens," ... ... "wurthy wittes to
  enterpryſe and performe the reſt."

Line 1122 (Page 21): ([backwards P?R] one) and ([backwards P?R] I).
This appears to be a monogram, either qR, joined, or backwards-P
joined to R.

Line 1718 (Page 36): 'christopher Barker' is as printed.

  "... christopher Barker, Printer to the Queenes moſt excellent
  Maieſtie."

Line 1723 (Page 36): Decorative 'A', or SA monogram?

  "... and there are two large pictorial initials at the beginning
  signed A."

(also Line 1807 on Page 38)

Line 1982 (Page 42): 'χαριsńgιον' corrected to 'χαριϛήριον'
[Greek: Charistêrion]

Line 2754: (Page 63): 'fory' corrected to 'ſory'

  "I am ſory that I muſt deceive you; but you will not...."

Lines 3799-3800 (Page 90): 'MBurg.' and 'MBurghers', with M and B
close together - a monogram?

  "... is signed "delin MBurg. ſculp. Univ. Ox.," in the first two
  volumes, and "delin MBurghers ſculpt, Univ. Ox. 1704," in the
  third,..."

Line 3805 (Page 90): "A portrait of Clarendon, occurs as a
frontispiece in each of the three volumes." ... either extraneous
comma after 'Clarenden' or missing comma after 'portrait'. Extraneous
comma removed for clarity.

Line 3971 (Page 94): 'ſumum' corrected to 'fumum'

  "Non fumum ex fulgore, ſed ex fumo dare lucem"

Line 4913 (Page 118): "... they received 23s. a week, which he agreed
to raise to 2l. 2s., not, it is to be hoped, out of the 1,575l."

l = £ (pound/pounds); so,

  "... they received 23 shillings a week, which he agreed to raise to
  £2. 2s. (2 pounds 2 shillings, or 42 shillings), not, it is to be
  hoped, out of the £1575 (1,575 pounds)."

Line 5505, Page 135: 'historians'' corrected to 'historian's'

  (re Gibbon) "... the historian's "profit on the whole is stated...."

Line 9236 (Page 226): 'surprising' corrected to 'surprizing' to match
title, and other index entry.

  "Robinson Crusoe. The Life And Strange Surprizing Adventures Of, 97,
  98"

Lines 9370, 9378 (Page 230): The transliteration of the Greek poem in
the De Vinne Press Logo, and the translation supplied by the De Vinne
Press website, have been added for readers' benefit.










End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bibliographic Notes on One Hundred
Books Famous in English Literature, by Henry W. Kent

*** 