Poetical Works 41,340 ”
Prose Works 8,260 ”
_Life_ by Lockhart 26,060 ”
_Tales of a Grandfather_
(as a separate work) 22,190 ”
Selections 7,550 ”
and, as a test of the popularity of the _People’s Edition_ of the
writings and _Life_, he states that the following numbers originally
printed in weekly sheets were issued:
Novels 7,115,197
Poetry 674,955
Prose 269,406
Life 459,291
----------
Total Sheets 8,518,849
Robert Cadell died on January 21st, 1849, after a long career rendered
prosperous by this splendid property, and on March 26th, 1851, the
novels, poems, prose works, and the “Life” by Lockhart were put up to
auction at the London Coffee House by Mr. Hodgson. The sale brought
together the largest “trade” gathering that has ever been witnessed;
there were publishers from the “Row” and Albemarle Street, booksellers
from Ave Maria and Ivy Lanes, and speculators from every corner of
the kingdom. The stock had been valued at £10,193 3_s._, a very low
figure, and it was announced that this would be sold only with the
copyrights, and that the trustees retained the right of bidding. After
much disputing as to these restrictions £5000 was offered, and quickly
rose by leaps of £500 to £10,500, when Mr. Bohn and the “Row” retired,
and the struggle lay between Mr. Virtue and some imaginary bidder,
visible only to the eyes of the auctioneer. At £13,500 the copyright
was “bought in” making the price, including the stock, £23,693 3_s._
This afforded a wonderful contrast to the former sale at £8500, more
especially when we consider that the copyright of the earlier novels
had only five or six years more to run.
In a few weeks after this it was announced in the _Scotsman_ that
the whole of the copyrights were transferred to the hands of another
eminent publishing firm in Edinburgh--Messrs. A. and C. Black, who, in
conjunction with their friends, Messrs. Richardson Brothers, became the
possessors at the price of £27,000.
Leaving the Waverley Novels for a time, it will be necessary to bring
up the narrative of the career of Mr. Adam Black to the period when he
was able to become the owner of the most valuable literary property
that has ever existed.
Adam Black, the son of Charles Black, a builder of Edinburgh, was born
in that town in the year 1784, and was educated primarily at the High
School, on his entrance as a pupil at which, tradition says, he was
accompanied by his father, who, having just left his employment for
the purpose, appeared in full working garb, the mason’s white leathern
apron included. At the University his talents speedily procured him
admittance into that clique of young Liberals who were afterwards to
effect such a change in Edinburgh, indeed in cosmopolitan politics.
After serving his apprenticeship to the book trade, in partnership
with his nephew, the bookselling business of Adam and Charles Black
was founded. In 1817 he married Isabella, only daughter of James Tait,
architect (sister of William Tait, the well-known originator of _Tait’s
Magazine_), and at the time of Constable’s failure was in a steady and
prosperous way of business. This disaster was the means of making many
fortunes, and in 1826 the _Edinburgh Review_ appeared under the joint
proprietorship of Thomas Norton Longman and Adam and Charles Black.
As we have followed the career of the _Review_ in our history of the
Longman family, it will be unnecessary to enter fully into the changes
of management and the success of later numbers.
Another work, however, afterwards thrown on the market, which also
became the property of Messrs. A. and C. Black, is of such literary
importance that we must again for a moment retrace our steps, in order
to keep up the proper sequence of our narrative.
The idea of a compilation that should embrace all human knowledge is of
very great antiquity. Pliny, in fact claims the name of “Encyclopædia”
for his _Natural History_; but it was not till the sixteenth century
that any attempt was made at arranging the matter in a systematic
manner, though the Arabians are said to have had a true _Encyclopædia_
centuries before that date. It was long, however, before the idea
occurred of employing the lexographic plan as a basis of a universal
_répertoire_ of learning, and the first great step in advance was
the _Lexicon Technicum_ of Dr. Harris, completed and published at
London in the year 1710. The _Cyclopædia_ of Ephraim Chambers, with
which we have previously dealt, appeared in 1728, and for a long time
was the supreme authority; through its success at home and abroad a
new impulse was given to the desire for such publications. In France
the _Encyclopédie_ was projected by the Abbé de Gua, and was based
originally on an unpublished translation of Chambers’s _Cyclopædia_,
made by an Englishman named Mills. In consequence of a quarrel with the
publishers, De Gua threw it up, and it was then transferred to Diderot
and D’Alembert; to become the text-book of the French philosophers.
The publication of the seventeen volumes extended from 1751 to 1765,
and six years after the latter date appeared the first volume of the
_Encyclopædia Britannica_.
The plan and all the principal articles of this now important work were
in this first edition devised and written by William Smellie.
Smellie began life as a compositor, and he used to lay down his
composing-stick for an hour or two daily to attend the classes of the
Edinburgh University. At the age of nineteen he was engaged by Murray
and Cochrane as corrector of their press in general and conductor and
compiler of the _Scots Magazine_ at a salary of sixteen shillings a
week. If the saying that “Edinburgh never had a Grub Street” is true,
it must have arisen rather from the perseverance of the writers than
from the uniform generosity of the publishers.
The agreement upon which the _Encyclopædia_ was undertaken was still in
existence when Kerr wrote Smellie’s _Life_; as a literary curiosity we
quote it:--
“Mr. Andrew Bell to Mr. William Smellie.
“SIR,--As we are engaged in publishing a ‘Dictionary of the
Arts and Sciences,’ and as you have informed us that there
are fifteen capital sciences, which you will undertake for,
and write up the sub-divisions and detached parts of them,
conforming to your plan, and likewise to prepare the whole work
for the press, &c., &c. We hereby agree to allow you £200 for
your trouble.”
The first proprietors were Andrew Bell, engraver, and Colin
Macfarquhar, printer. The publication was commenced in weekly numbers
in 1771, and completed in 1773, by which time the bulk in all consisted
only of three small quarto volumes. A second edition was called for in
1776, and Smellie was offered a share in the property, but he declined
to have anything more to do with it, as upon the recommendation of “a
very distinguished nobleman” it was resolved to introduce a complete
system of biography. The proprietors engaged, instead, James Tytler, a
laborious miscellaneous writer, and a man of extraordinary knowledge.
A large proportion of the additional matter, by which the work was
extended from three to ten volumes, was due to his pen, but the payment
for this labour is said to have been very small, and the unfortunate
author was not able to support his family in a style superior to that
of a common labourer. At one time, during the progress of the work, he
lived at the village of Duddingston, in the house of a washerwoman,
whose tub inverted formed the only desk at his disposal, and one of his
children was frequently despatched with a parcel of “copy” upon which
their next meal depended.
This second edition consisted of 1500 copies, and extended to ten
volumes quarto. The third edition, to which Tytler also contributed,
was commenced in 1789. Till then it had been considered in the south as
“a Scots rival of little repute” (to Chambers’s _Cyclopædia_), but in
this edition, beside the method and comprehensiveness of the plan, it
rose greatly above its former level in its practical and speculative
departments. It was completed in 1797, in eighteen volumes, to which
Professor Robison supplied two supplementary volumes to complete the
series he had commenced when the principal work was far advanced.
The sale of this edition extended to ten thousand copies, and the
proprietors are said to have netted £42,000 of clear profit, besides
being paid for their respective work--the one as printer, the other as
engraver. Much of this, of course, was due to poor Tytler’s labours,
who was still living in the utmost penury. He was, however, perfectly
regardless about poverty, having no desire to conceal it from the
world. He would finish his frugal meal of a cold potato before the eyes
of a stranger with as much nonchalance as if it had been a sumptuous
repast. He had that contentment with poverty which is so apt to make
it permanent, and this, in addition to his imprudent and intemperate
habits, cut off all chance of a higher social position. As a proof of
his extraordinary stock of general knowledge, his biographer relates a
characteristic anecdote.
“A gentleman in this city of Edinburgh once told me he wanted as much
matter as would form a junction between a certain history and its
continuation to a later period. He found Tytler lodged in one of those
elevated apartments called _garrets_, and was informed by the old woman
with whom he resided, that he could not see him, as he had gone to
bed rather the worse for liquor. Determined, however, not to depart
without his errand, he was shown into Mr. Tytler’s apartment by the
light of a lamp, where he found him in the situation described by the
landlady. The gentleman having acquainted him with the nature of the
business which brought him at so late an hour, Mr. Tytler called for
pen and ink, and in a short time produced about a page and a half of
letterpress, which answered the end as completely as if it had been the
result of the most mature deliberation, previous notice, and a mind
undisturbed by any liquid capable of deranging its ideas.”
On the death of Macfarquhar the whole work became the property of
Andrew Bell.
The fourth edition, augmented to twenty volumes, was completed in 1810,
under the able superintendence of Dr. James Millar; but the editor
was prevented from availing himself of Professor Robison’s excellent
supplementary articles by a temporary separation of that property from
that of the principal work. This issue consisted of three thousand five
hundred copies.
With the completion of this edition the progress of improvement was
for a time suspended; but in 1814 the copyright of the work was
purchased by Archibald Constable, who, with the enterprise that always
distinguished him, at once projected a supplement, which extended to
six volumes. It was placed under the skilful management of Professor
Macney Napier, and the publication lasted from 1815 to 1824. Many
very distinguished authors were engaged as contributors, among whom
we may specially mention Arago, Biot, and Dugald Stewart; and all the
resources of the proprietors were devoted to this favourite undertaking.
In 1829 the whole of the copyrights (including that of Professor
Robison’s supplementary articles) passed into the hands of Messrs. A.
and C. Black, assisted by their friends; and we are now able to resume
our narrative at the point we left it.
The property was at first a joint stock concern, resembling the
original proprietorship, and was, we believe, owned in equal shares
by Mr. Abraham Thomson, as the binder; Mr. Thomas Allan, as the
printer; and Messrs. A. and C. Black, as publishers. Mr. Thomson died
shortly afterwards, and the Messrs. Black became the possessors of his
interest in the work. Some years afterwards, the share held by Mr.
Allan, who was a banker in Edinburgh, and also printer and proprietor
of the _Caledonian Mercury_, also fell into the hands of the Messrs.
Black. At this time the new edition was in midway progress, and the
enormous expense necessary to complete the work rendered the venture
single-handed something more than hazardous. But the ability, tact,
immense energy, and unceasing labour of Mr. Adam Black, then in the
prime of life, proved equal to the task he had undertaken, and in
this case it may truly be said that for years he went on literally
scattering bread upon the waters, and most deservedly did he obtain his
reward. Previously, we believe, to the completion of this edition, Mr.
Charles Black, who had long been in delicate health, died.
Upon Jeffrey’s retirement in 1829, Macney Napier, Professor of
Conveyancing in the University of Edinburgh, was promoted to the
editorship of the _Edinburgh Review_, and Mr. Black also secured
his services for the management of the seventh edition of the
_Encyclopædia_. Napier was assisted by James Brown, LL.D., as
sub-editor, and on his shoulders most of the hard work fell. Brown,
who was trained as an advocate at the Scottish bar, relinquished this
for literature. His thorough scholarship enabled him to undertake
almost any department of literary work, and rendered him invaluable
for the revisal of such a work as the _Encyclopædia_. He was also a
ready and slashing political writer, at a time when political feeling
was rampant. Remarkable alike for his mental activity and his personal
irascibility, the one great difficulty lay in managing the Doctor. As
an instance of this, the article “Alphabet” was entrusted to Brown for
the new edition of the _Encyclopædia_. He was at the same time editor
of the _Caledonian Mercury_, and on the appearance of something in that
paper which led to a quarrel with Mr. Allan, the proprietor, who was
also a shareholder in the _Encyclopædia_, Brown declined to go on with
“Alphabet.” The part in which this was to appear was due, and Brown
was inflexible. The subject was a difficult one, peculiarly suited to
Brown’s abilities, and it was not easy elsewhere to find so competent
a writer. In these circumstances, Mr. Black adopted the experiment
of passing over that part and bringing out the succeeding one. Thus
circumvented, Brown came to terms, and things again went on smoothly.
But, notwithstanding his proverbial kindliness of disposition, he
was hasty in coming to conclusions, and was always getting into
scrapes of one kind or another; and a duel, in which he and Charles
Maclaren, editor of the _Scotsman_, figured as principals, furnished
the Edinburgh _gamins_ with a popular street song. He escaped all
duellistic dangers, however, but his unremitting labours brought on a
stroke of apoplexy, of which he died in 1841.
The great feature of the new edition was the preliminary
“Dissertations,” which were commenced by Professors Stewart and
Playfair, who were both carried off in the midst of their labours. Sir
James Mackintosh, who undertook to complete his friend’s “History of
Ethical and Political Philosophy” (the Metaphysical portion had been
completed by Stewart) was also summoned from his labours before the
Political division was commenced; and the “History of the Physical
Sciences” was brought down by Professor Leslie to the commencement of
this century.
“The ‘Dissertations’ produced by these four extraordinary men are still
regarded with peculiar pride in Scotland; indeed, few nations can boast
of such an intellectual group living at the same time, and adorning the
same society; and yet, with powers of mind not far from equality, how
various were their gifts, and how diversified their genius!”[14]
The seventh edition was commenced in monthly parts in March, 1830, and
finished in January, 1842. Of its success it is almost unnecessary to
speak; with confidence reposed in the proprietors sufficient to command
the services of such writers as Young, Malthus, Macculloch, Mill,
Roget, Wilson, Empson, De Quincey, and Tytler, while the editor can
count on the aid of friends like Scott, Playfair, Stewart, Leslie, Lord
Jeffrey, Sir William Hamilton, and Sir John Barrow, it is not difficult
to anticipate the result. The mere cost of presentation copies
amounted to £416 16_s._, and the amount of duty on the paper employed
exceeded £6000; while, to go into heavier matters, the total expense
of the twenty-one quarto volumes was, in a trial in the Jury Court of
Scotland, proved to have been no less a sum than £125,667 9_s._ 3_d._
This amount, of course, includes every item of expenditure, among which
the following are the most important:--
£ _s._ _d._
Contributions and Editing 22,590 2 11
Printing 18,610 1 4
Stereotyping 3,317 5 8
Paper 27,854 15 7
Bookbinding 12,739 12 2
Engraving and Plate-printing 11,777 18 1
The literary contributions to the first volume of “Dissertations” alone
cost upwards of £3450.
The work was eminently successful, and this immense expenditure shows
us something of what “success” means in this instance. The commercial
management of an undertaking like this was sufficient to occupy the
attention of a man of extraordinary diligence; but Mr. Black found
time, not only to contribute several articles to his _Encyclopædia_,
but to take a very warm and prominent interest in the government of his
native city; and from 1843 to 1848 he occupied the highest position to
which a citizen of Edinburgh can aspire--that of Lord Provost.
Enterprise and success, more especially when they are mingled with
real desert, and caused by honest service, are qualities of which the
Scotch, perhaps more than any other nation, are peculiarly proud; and
when the representation of Edinburgh became vacant in 1856, a large and
influential party at once nominated Mr. Adam Black to fill the post.
Mr. Adam Black was a thorough-going Liberal and a Nonconformist, and
a party of the electors received his nomination in a spirit of the
greatest bitterness, and an opposition candidate was brought forward.
The election came off on the 8th February, 1856, and Mr. Black, the
friend of political freedom when friends were few, the champion of
religious charity and goodwill when enemies were many, was rewarded for
his consistency and his many services by a larger number of votes than
had been polled for twenty years--no weak test of popular approbation.
As a contemporary opinion, we may quote the _Scotsman_ of that
date:--“Honour to the candidate! Sincerely reluctant to compete for the
honour, no sooner was he embarked, and saw that the great principles
and the reputation of the city were concerned and imperilled in his
person, than he threw himself into the work with a vigour that made
even the youngest and most energetic of his supporters stand aside. We
don’t care who knows it: Mr. Black was the most effective member of his
own committee--in word and in act, by day and by night, the veteran was
ready with guidance and warning and incentive. In all his many battles
in the public cause, he never made a better fight than when achieving
this victory which so gloriously crowns his career.”
In the House Mr. Black distinguished himself by his assiduity to
business, and in 1864 he introduced his Copyright Bill, which, though
it contained much that was good, was ultimately thrown out.
Upon completion of the seventh edition, a number of cheap reprints were
issued of the most famous articles of the “Encyclopædia,” and met with
a very favourable reception.
We have seen that in 1851 the Messrs. Black, in conjunction with
Messrs. Richardson Brothers, became possessed of the Waverley Novels.
Ultimately, the Messrs. Black purchased, it is said, the Messrs.
Richardsons’ share, and are now believed to be the sole proprietors of
Sir Walter Scott’s works. In the management of this property Mr. Adam
Black exhibited the same rare sagacity, and reaped the same successful
reward as in the former important work. In the middle of 1852, he
announced that 120,000 complete sets of the Waverley Novels had been
sold in this country alone since their first publication; and in 1858
an ingenious mathematician computed that the weight of the paper used
for them was upwards of 3500 tons.
Among the most important editions issued by Messrs. Black we may
instance the following:--
£ _s._ _d._