The late Mr. Tegg, the publisher in Cheapside, gave the following list
of remunerative payments to distinguished authors in his time; and he is
believed to have taken considerable pains to verify the items:
Fragments of History, by Charles Fox, sold by Lord Holland, for 5000
guineas. Fragments of History, by Sir James Mackintosh, 500_l._
Lingard’s History of England, 4683_l._ Sir Walter Scott’s Bonaparte was
sold, with the printed books, for 18,000_l._; the net receipts of
copyright on the first two editions only must have been 10,000_l._ Life
of Wilberforce, by his sons, 4000 guineas. Life of Byron, by Moore,
4000_l._ Life of Sheridan, by Moore, 2000_l._ Life of Hannah More,
2000_l._ Life of Cowper, by Southey, 1000_l._ Life and Times of George
IV., by Lady C. Bury, 1000_l._ Byron’s Works, 20,000_l._ Lord of the
Isles, half share, 1500_l._ Lalla Rookh, by Moore, 3000_l._ Rejected
Addresses, by Smith, 1000_l._ Crabbe’s Works, republication of, by Mr.
Murray, 3000_l._ Wordsworth’s Works, republication of, by Mr. Moxon,
1050_l._ Bulwer’s Rienzi, 1600_l._ Marryat’s Novels, 500_l._ to 1500_l._
each. Trollope’s Factory Boy, 1800_l._ Hannah More derived 30,000_l._
per annum for her copyrights, during the latter years of her life.
Rundell’s Domestic Cookery, 2000_l._ Nicholas Nickleby, 3000_l._
Eustace’s Classical Tour, 2100_l._ Sir Robert Inglis obtained for the
beautiful and interesting widow of Bishop Heber by the sale of his
journal, 5000_l._