BIBLIOGRAPHY—EARLY DECADES OF PAUL’S WORK
Various causes render a bibliographical chapter a difficult matter. Lapse
of time, enlargements of premises, removals, and changes of several kinds
incident to an old business, have led to the loss of records which would
have been of great value in a chapter of this kind. Apart from the works
of Sir Walter Scott—of which we give a chronological list, we can only
hope to describe a few of the books printed by James Ballantyne & Co. in
the earlier decades of Paul’s Work. It may be noted in passing, however,
that much of the early work of Carlyle was printed there, particularly
his “Miscellanies,” which include the famous essay on Burns.
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF SIR WALTER SCOTT’S WORKS
Date of
Publication.
The Chase, and William and Helen (translations from Bürger),
Manners & Miller, Edinburgh 1796
Goetz von Berlichingen (translation from Goethe), and other
Ballads, Manners & Miller, Edinburgh 1799
An Apology for Tales of Terror Kelso 1799
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border—Vols. I. and II. Kelso 1802
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border—Vol. III. Edinburgh 1803
Sir Tristrem: by Thomas of Ercildoune (_Edited_) 1804
The Lay of the Last Minstrel 1805
Original Memoirs of the Great Civil War, being the Lives of
Sir Henry Slingsby and Captain Hodgson (_Edited_) 1806
Ballads and Lyrical Pieces 1806
Marmion: a Tale of Flodden Field 1808
Memoirs of Captain George Carleton (_Edited_) 1808
Works of John Dryden (_Edited_) 1808
Memoirs of Robert Carey (_Edited_) 1808
Strutt’s Queenhoo Hall: a Romance (_Edited_) 1808
State Papers and Letters of Sir R. Sadler (_Edited_) 1809
Lord Somers’ Collection of Tracts (_Edited_) 1809-1815
English Minstrelsy (_Edited_) 1810
The Lady of the Lake 1810
The Vision of Don Roderick 1811
Secret History of the Court of James the First (_Edited_) 1811
Rokeby 1812
Warwick’s Memoirs of Reign of King Charles I. (_Edited_) 1812
The Bridal of Triermain; or, The Vale of St. John 1813
Works of Jonathan Swift (_Edited_) 1814
Letting of Humours Blood into the Head Vaine (_Edited_) 1814
Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since 1814
The Border Antiquities 1814-1817
The Lord of the Isles 1815
Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer 1815
The Field of Waterloo 1815
Memoirs of the Somervilles (_Edited_) 1815
Paul’s Letters to His Kinsfolk 1816
The Antiquary 1816
Tales of My Landlord (First Series): The Black Dwarf; Old
Mortality 1816
Harold the Dauntless 1817
Rob Roy 1817
Tales of My Landlord (Second Series): The Heart of Midlothian 1818
Tales of My Landlord (Third Series): Bride of Lammermoor;
Legend of Montrose 1819
The Visionary 1819
Ivanhoe 1819
The Monastery 1820
The Abbot 1820
Memoirs of the Haliburtons (_Edited_) 1820
Carey’s Poems and Triolets (_Edited_) 1820
The Novelists’ Library (_Edited_) 1821-1824
Franck’s Northern Memoirs (_Edited_) 1821
Kenilworth 1821
The Pirate 1822
Notes of Scottish Affairs; Diary of Lord Fountainhall (_Edited_) 1822
The Fortunes of Nigel 1822
Halidon Hill; a Metrical Drama in Two Acts 1822
Military Memoirs of the Great Civil War (_Edited_) 1822
Peveril of the Peak 1823
Quentin Durward 1823
St. Ronan’s Well 1823
Redgauntlet 1824
Tales of the Crusaders: The Betrothed; The Talisman 1825
Provincial Antiquities of Scotland 1826
Letters of Malachi Malagrowther 1826
Woodstock; or, The Cavalier 1826
Life of Napoleon Buonaparte 1827
Chronicles of the Canongate (First Series): Highland Widow;
The Two Drovers; The Surgeon’s Daughter 1827
Memoirs of Marchioness de la Rochejaquelin (_translation_) 1827
Tales of a Grandfather (First Series) 1827
Miscellaneous Prose Works (collected in 6 vols.) 1828
Religious Discourses by a Layman 1828
Chronicles of the Canongate (Second Series): Fair Maid of Perth 1828
Tales of a Grandfather (Second Series) 1828
Memoirs of George Bannatyne 1828
Anne of Geierstein 1829
Tales of a Grandfather (Third Series) 1829
History of Scotland (Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopædia) 1829-1830
Auchindrane; or, The Ayrshire Tragedy 1830
The Doom of Devorgoil 1830
Tales of a Grandfather (Fourth Series) 1830
Tales of My Landlord (Fourth Series): Count Robert of Paris;
Castle Dangerous 1831
* * * * *
“The Defence of Order, a Poem, by Josiah Walker, M.A. Third Edition.
Edinburgh. Printed by James Ballantyne, for Manners and Miller,
Parliament Square; and sold in London, by Longman and Rees, Paternoster
Row, and Cadell and Davies, Strand.” This book has the imprint at the
end: “Printed by James Ballantyne, at the Border Press, Edinburgh. 1803.”
* * * * *
“The Poems of Ossian, Translated by James Macpherson, Esq. In Three
Volumes. The Engravings by James Fittler, A.R.A., from Pictures by Henry
Singleton. Vol. I. London: Published for William Miller, Albemarle
Street; John Murray, Fleet Street; and John Harding, St. James Street.
1805.”
A very fine 12mo Edition of a famous and much-discussed work, with the
imprint of James Ballantyne, Paul’s Work. A prior edition of the “Poems
of Ossian, containing the Works of James Macpherson, Esq., in Prose and
Rhyme,” with Notes and Illustrations by Malcolm Laing, in Two Volumes,
8vo, was printed by Ballantyne in 1802.
“This edition of the poems ascribed to Ossian is illustrated by notes,
in which every simile, and almost every poetical image is traced to its
source, thus serving as a commentary to point out the real originals from
which the poems have been derived.”[48]
* * * * *
“Journal of the Transactions in Scotland, During the Contest between The
Adherents of Queen Mary and Those of her Son, 1570, 1571, 1572, 1573. By
Richard Bannatyne, Secretary to John Knox. Edinburgh. Printed by James
Ballantyne and Co., For A. Constable and Co., Edinburgh, and J. Murray,
32 Fleet Street, London. 1806.”
Very little is known of this old chronicler, besides his connection with
John Knox the Reformer and the fact that he was a man of learning. There
are two MSS. of the above-named work—one in the University Library and
the other in the Advocates’ Library at Edinburgh. From the latter Sir
John Graham Dalzell took the volume published in 1806, which excited much
interest. Shortly after that time the University MS. was discovered, and
the two being collated by Pitcairn, a more complete edition was issued in
1836.
* * * * *
“The Poetical Works of Hector Macneill, Esq. A New Edition, Corrected
and Enlarged. _Veritatis simplex oratio est._ In Two Volumes. Vol. I.
Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co., for Mundell and Son,
Manners and Miller, and A. Constable and Co., and Longman, Hurst, Rees,
and Orme, and John Murray, London. 1806.”
Hector Macneill (1746-1818) was a popular poet and song-writer. He had a
varied experience in life, and showed his poetic ability by publishing
in 1789, “The Harp, a Legendary Tale,” which brought him into favourable
notice. His most popular poem, “Scotland’s Skaith, or The History of
Will and Jean,” appeared in 1795, and its sequel, “The Waes o’ War,”
was almost equally successful. All Macneill’s works are in the Scottish
dialect. The copy here noted is the second edition (12mo); the first
(8vo) was issued in 1801.
“The moral of Will and Jean was admirable,” says Constable (ii. 235),
“and in favour of temperance at a time when such advice was at a
discount; but it is rather curious and somewhat inconsistent to find the
author in the next poem of the series declaring
“I am resolved, be’t right or sinfu’,
To hae at least,—a decent skinfu’”—
of a large bottle of Jamaica rum, which accompanies a rhyming letter to
his friend ‘Canty Chairlie.’”
* * * * *
“The Poetical Works of Sir David Lyndsay of The Mount, Lyon King at Arms
under James V., with Prefatory Dissertations, and a Glossary. Three
vols., crown 8vo. 1806. Longman and Co.”
This edition was the work of George Chalmers, a well-known Scottish
antiquary, whose greatest work, “Caledonia,” displays much research and
learning.
* * * * *
“Historical Enquiry respecting the Harp in the Highlands of Scotland,
4to. Edinburgh: A. Constable. 1807.”
In regard to this work, reference has been already made (p. 36) to a
letter of John Murray to Constable, in which the beauty of the typography
is praised.
* * * * *
“An Account of the Life and Writings of James Beattie, LL.D., late
Professor of Moral Philosophy and Logic in the Marischal College and
University of Aberdeen. Including many of his Original Letters. By Sir
William Forbes of Pitsligo, Bart., one of the executors of Dr. Beattie.
Second Edition. Vol. I. Edinburgh: Printed for Arch. Constable and Co.,
Edinburgh; Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, T. Cadell and W. Davies, and
John Murray, London. 1807.”
James Beattie (1735-1803) first published a volume of poems and
translations in 1760, which he afterwards tried to suppress, though
the book had been favourably received. The work which brought him most
prominently into notice was “An Essay on the Nature and Immutability of
Truth,” written to refute the scepticism of Hume; and it also gained him
a Government pension of £200 a year. “The Minstrel” is Beattie’s best
poem, and it will continue to be read when his philosophical productions
are forgotten. His poems were again printed at Paul’s Work in 1854, in
Nichol’s “British Poets.”
* * * * *
“The Shipwreck, a Poem, by William Falconer, a sailor. With a Life of
the Author. Edinburgh: Printed by J. Ballantyne and Co., for Alexander
Mackay, High Street, Edinburgh, and John Murray, No. 32, Fleet Street,
London. 1807.”
At an early age Falconer became a sailor on board a Leith merchantman,
and in his eighteenth year was wrecked in the _Britannia_ off Cape
Colonna, only three of the crew being saved. He was again wrecked with
the _Ramilies_, when only twenty-six escaped out of a total of 734. After
a period on shore, during which he published several poems, he joined the
_Aurora_, and sailed for India in September 1769. The vessel touched
at the Cape, but was never heard of again, and was supposed to have
foundered in the Mozambique Channel. “The Shipwreck” is his best work,
and is believed to embody his experiences in the wreck of the _Britannia_.
* * * * *
“Poems by James Grahame. In Two Volumes. Vol. I. containing The Sabbath,
Sabbath Walks, Rural Calendar, &c. Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne
and Co., for William Blackwood, South Bridge Street; and Longman, Hurst,
Rees, and Orme, Paternoster Row, London, 1807.”
Two neatly-printed little volumes, each containing a Glossary of Scottish
words at the end. “The Sabbath” first appeared in print in 1804, and was
published anonymously. So careful was the poet regarding the authorship
of this work, that he exacted a promise of secrecy from the printer of
the first edition, whom he used to meet clandestinely at coffee-houses
for the correction of proofs, but never twice at the same house.
* * * * *
“Shakespeare’s Works, in eight vols. 8vo. 1807. Printed by James
Ballantyne for Longman and Co., London.”
* * * * *
“The Cottagers of Glenburnie; a Tale for the Farmer’s Ingle-neuk. By
Elizabeth Hamilton, Author of The Elementary Principles of Education,
Memoirs of Modern Philosophers, &c. Edinburgh: Printed by James
Ballantyne and Co., for Manners and Miller, and S. Cheyne, Edinburgh;
T. Cadell and W. Davies, Strand, and William Miller, Albemarle Street,
London. 1808.”
Elizabeth Hamilton (1758-1816) was born in Belfast of Scottish parentage,
and is worthy of note for her faithful pictures of lowly Scottish life,
as well as for her works criticising the republicanism and scepticism of
the time. The “Cottagers” passed through many editions, and is her best
book.
* * * * *
“Memoirs of Capt. George Carleton, an English officer; including
Anecdotes of the War in Spain under the Earl of Peterborough, and Many
Interesting Particulars relating to the Manners of the Spaniards in the
beginning of last century. Written by Himself. Edinburgh: Printed by
James Ballantyne and Co., for Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and
J. Murray, London, 1808, 8vo.”
Originally published in London in 1728, this work was attributed to Dean
Swift, but is now known to have been written by Defoe. In Boswell’s
“Johnson” there is the following reference to it: “Lord Eliot: ‘The
best account of Lord Peterborough that I have happened to meet with is
in Captain Carleton’s Memoirs.’ Johnson said he had never heard of the
book. Lord Eliot sent it to him. Johnson was about going to bed when it
came, but sat up till he had read it through; and remarked to Sir Joshua
Reynolds, ‘I did not think a _young lord_ could have mentioned to me a
book in English history that was not known to me.’”
* * * * *
“The Novels of Daniel de Foe. In Twelve Volumes. Vol. I. containing Life
of Defoe and Robinson Crusoe. Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and
Co., for John Ballantyne and Co., and Brown and Crombie, Edinburgh; and
Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, London. 1810.”
* * * * *
“Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances, chiefly written during the
early part of the Fourteenth Century, to which is prefixed An Historical
Introduction, intended to illustrate the Rise and Progress of Romantic
Composition in France and England. By George Ellis, Esq. Second Edition
in Three Volumes. Vol. I. London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme,
and Brown, Paternoster Row. 1811.”
The first edition of this interesting and valuable work was issued in
1805. The author was a great friend of Sir Walter Scott, who says of him
that “George Ellis was the best converser I ever knew. His patience and
good breeding made me often ashamed of myself, going off at score upon
some favourite topic.”[49] Sir Walter addressed to Ellis the fifth canto
of “Marmion,” in which the following lines occur:—
“Dear Ellis! to the bard impart
A lesson of thy magic art,
To win at once the head and heart,—
At once to charm, instruct, and mend,
My guide, my pattern, and my friend!”
George Ellis was also a contributor to “Specimens of the Early English
Poets,” which ran through a number of editions.
* * * * *
An edition of Miss Seward’s Poems, in three volumes, 12mo, edited by
Scott, printed by James, and published by John Ballantyne in 1810. See
_ante_, p. 38.
* * * * *
“The Secret History of the Court of James the First: containing I.
Osborne’s Traditional Memoirs. II. Sir Anthony Weldon’s Court and
Character of King James. III. Aulicus Coquinariæ. IV. Sir Edward Peyton’s
Divine Catastrophe of the House of Stuart. With Notes and Introductory
Remarks. In Two Volumes. Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co.,
For John Ballantyne and Co., Edinburgh; and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme,
and Brown, London. 1811.”
Two large 8vo volumes, about 480 pp. each, edited by Sir Walter Scott.
* * * * *
“The Chase, Field Sports, Rural Games, and Other Poems. By William
Somerville. With a Life of the Author. Edinburgh: Printed by James
Ballantyne and Co., for John Ballantyne and Co., Hanover Street,
Edinburgh. 1812.”
The author of “The Chase” (1677-1742) was “a squire well-born, and six
foot high.” He had a goodly estate in Warwickshire worth £1500 a year,
but being of extravagant habits, he died in distressed circumstances. He
was a friend of William Shenstone and Allan Ramsay.
* * * * *
“Tixall Poetry, With Notes and Illustrations, by Arthur Clifford, Esq.,
Editor of Sir Ralph Sadler’s State Papers. Edinburgh: Printed by James
Ballantyne and Co., For Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London;
and John Ballantyne and Co., Edinburgh. 1813.”
A beautifully printed 4to volume, with large margins, having some
English-made Scotch songs among many other poems. This was one of the
unfortunate speculations of Scott, which proved so disastrous to both the
printing and publishing firms; and yet, in spite of its non-success, the
following was taken in hand not long after:—
“Tixall Letters, or the Correspondence of The Family Aston and their
Friends during the Seventeenth Century. With Notes and Illustrations,
by Arthur Clifford, Esq. In Two Volumes. London: Printed for Longman,
Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster Row; and for Archibald
Constable and Co., and John Ballantyne and Co., Edinburgh. 1815.”
There were two volumes in this latter work, of 216 pp. each in foolscap
8vo. The Letters refer generally to the first half of the seventeenth
century.
* * * * *
“The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. By Edward
Gibbon, Esq. In Twelve Volumes. Vol. I. A New Edition. London. Printed
for Lackington, Allen, and Co., W. Stride, R. Scholey, and G. Cowie and
Co., London; and for P. Hill, Doig and Stirling, and Oliver and Boyd,
Edinburgh. 1815. Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co.”
Many editions of this great history have since been printed at Paul’s
Work; one of the latest, in six volumes, for the “World’s Classics,” in
1904.
* * * * *
“The City of the Plague and other Poems, by John Wilson, author of
‘The Isle of Palms,’ &c. Second Edition. Edinburgh: Printed by James
Ballantyne and Co., for Archibald Constable and Company, Edinburgh;
John Smith and Son, Glasgow; and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown,
London. 1817.”
“The Isle of Palms” was published in 1812, and the first edition of “The
City of the Plague” in 1816.
* * * * *
The Bannatyne Club and its books took their initiative from George
Bannatyne, a merchant of Edinburgh, who, during a time of great
pestilence in 1568, retired to a secluded house in Forfarshire, and
there employed his enforced leisure in making a collection of old
Scottish poetry, which might otherwise have perished. “Bannatyne’s
manuscript,” says Scott, in a Memoir written for the Club, “is in folio
form, containing upwards of eight hundred pages, very neatly and closely
written; and designed, as has been supposed, to be sent to press.” Allan
Ramsay borrowed from it the specimens of old verse which appeared in his
“Evergreen,” a Collection of Scots Poems, which he published in 1724;
Lord Hailes issued another selection in 1770; and in 1772 the manuscript
was presented to the Advocates’ Library by the Earl of Hyndford. In 1822
the Club was instituted for “the publication of substantial volumes
illustrative of the history, antiquities, and general literature of
Scotland.” Sir Walter Scott became president, and regularly took the
chair at its annual meetings from 1823 till 1831. During the period of
its existence till 1861, the Club published no fewer than 116 volumes,
many of them printed at Paul’s Work. They were all deemed of value, and
one complete set was sold in 1887 for £235. The membership at first
consisted of thirty-one, but, owing to the desire of many persons of
rank and literary distinction to join, it was gradually increased to one
hundred in 1828, when it made a final pause. At the first annual dinner
of the Club, on March 9, 1823, Scott wrote a song for the occasion to
the tune of “One Bottle More,” several verses hitting off the foibles
of various bibliophiles. This song was sung by James Ballantyne, and
heartily chorused by the company.
Three verses are here given:—
“Assist me, ye friends of Old Books and Old Wine,
To sing the praises of sage Bannatyne,
Who left such a treasure of old Scottish lore
As enables each age to print one volume more.
One volume more, my friends, one volume more,
We’ll ransack old Banny for one volume more.
...
John Pinkerton next, and I’m truly concern’d
I can’t call that worthy so candid as learn’d;
He rail’d at the plaid and blasphemed the claymore,
And sets Scots by the ears in his one volume more.
One volume more, my friends, one volume more,
Celt and Goth shall be pleased with one volume more.
...
As bitter as gall, and as sharp as a razor,
And feeding on herbs as a Nebuchadnezzar,
His diet too acid, his temper too sour,
Little Ritson came out with his two volumes more.
But one volume more, my friends, one volume more,
We’ll dine on roast beef, and print one volume more.”
One noble specimen of the Bannatyne Club books was the “Catalogue of the
Library of Abbotsford,” presented to the members by Major Sir Walter
Scott, December 1838. This Catalogue was prepared by Mr. Cochrane of the
London Library.
* * * * *
“The History of the Ingenious Gentleman, Don Quixote of La Mancha.
Translated from the Spanish, by Motteux. A new Edition with Copious
Notes; and an Essay on the Life and Writings of Cervantes [by J. G.
Lockhart]. In Five Volumes. Vol. I. Edinburgh: Printed for Hurst,
Robinson and Co., London; and Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh.
1822.”
* * * * *
“The Works of John Home, Esq. Now first Collected. To which is prefixed
an Account of his Writings. By Henry Mackenzie, F.R.S.E., &c. In Three
Volumes. Vol. I. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co.,
Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., London. 1822.”
John Home (1722-1808) was a clergyman in the Kirk of Scotland, who wrote
several plays. His most popular play was “Douglas,” a Scottish romantic
drama, in which maternal affection is depicted under novel and striking
circumstances—the accidental discovery of a lost child; and Henry
Mackenzie, “the Man of Feeling,” here gives his opinion that the chief
scene, in which the preservation and the existence of the lost Douglas
is discovered, has no equal in modern and scarcely a superior in ancient
drama. The play was first performed at Edinburgh on December 14, 1756,
and met with instant and brilliant success, but so violent a storm was
raised by the fact of a Presbyterian minister so violating the rules of
clerical propriety as to write a play, that the author had to succumb
to the Presbytery and resign his ministry. It is in “Douglas” that the
well-known passage occurs: “My name is Norval: on the Grampian hills my
father feeds his flock,” &c.
* * * * *
“A Topographical and Historical Account of the Town of Kelso, and of the
Town and Castle of Roxburgh. With a succinct detail of the occurrences
in the History of Scotland connected with these celebrated places. And
an Appendix, containing various official documents, &c. By James Haig.
Edinburgh: Printed for John Fairbairn, Waterloo Place; and James Duncan,
London. 1825. Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co.”
Demy 8vo, and illustrated with several fine steel engravings.
* * * * *
“The Poems of William Dunbar. Now first Collected. With Notes and a
Memoir of his Life. By David Laing. Volume First. Edinburgh: MDCCCXXXIV.
Printed for Laing and Forbes, Princes Street, Edinburgh, and William
Pickering, London.”
This old Scottish poet was born in East Lothian, and after his education
at the University of St. Andrews became a Franciscan friar and travelled
through France, England, and Scotland as a mendicant preacher. Little was
known of his poems till the beginning of the eighteenth century, though
several of them had been issued as tracts by the first Scottish printers,
Walter Chepman and Andro Myllar, in 1508. Sir Walter Scott said: “Dunbar
was unrivalled by any poet that Scotland has yet produced; he excelled in
moral and humorous verse, and was peculiarly happy in using allegory in
the advocacy of truth.”
There is evidence that Dr. Laing had a previous edition of a portion of
Dunbar’s poems printed at Paul’s Work in 1827; but just as the volume
was completed, with the exception of the Introduction, a disastrous
fire occurred in the binder’s premises which destroyed the greater
portion of the sheets, and only seventy-six copies (four on vellum) were
actually published, not a few bearing evidence of the scorching they had
sustained.[50]
* * * * *
“Constable’s Miscellany,” extending to seventy-six volumes, was first
printed by Willison (Constable’s father-in-law), and after his death, for
two years by Hutchinson for Willison’s heirs, and then at Paul’s Work by
Ballantyne & Co., who had also given occasional aid in the production
of the early volumes. This series comprised books in all branches of
literature, such as Lockhart’s “Life of Burns,” Robert Chambers’s
“History of the Rebellions in Scotland during the Seventeenth Century,”
2 vols.; the same author’s “History of the Rebellion of 1745,” 2 vols.;
Basil Hall’s “Voyages,” &c., &c. The first volume appeared on January 6,
1826. The “Miscellany” was “undoubtedly the pioneer and suggester of all
the various ‘Libraries’ which sprang up in its wake, and which, after the
inspiration and management of its projector had been withdrawn, may be
said to have run it down.... ‘Constable’s Miscellany’ also inaugurated
the cloth bindings which are now universally adopted in our own and other
countries.”[51] The printing of the same publisher’s _Edinburgh Review_,
begun in October 1802, was done till 1806 by different printers—Mundell,
Muirhead, Walker and Son, and Moir. In 1807 Willison’s name first appears
and continues till his death, when Hutchinson comes in for two years; and
from 1827 till its removal to London it was printed at the Ballantyne
Press.
It is impossible to mention a tithe of the other books which have passed
through the Ballantyne Press during the century and more that has elapsed
since its origin, and all that can be attempted here is a reference to
the outstanding publications which have been printed at Paul’s Work.
These include several editions of the Waverley Novels, Shakespeare,
Browning, Dickens, Thackeray, Bret Harte, Besant and Rice, Charles Reade,
Mrs. Gaskell, Charlotte Brontë, Thomas Hardy, Mrs. Sewell, and others;
various editions of Ruskin’s Works, including the great Library Edition
of thirty-eight volumes—one of the finest works printed at the Press;
Walpole’s “History of England”; Maunder’s “Dictionaries”; Chisholm’s
“Gazetteer of the World”; “The Armorial Families”; “Chronicles of the
Atholl and Tullibardine Families” for the Duke of Atholl; “Military
History of Perthshire,” edited by the Marchioness of Tullibardine;
Nuttall’s “Dictionary” and “Encyclopædia” and “Dictionary of Quotations”;
volumes of the “Encyclopædia Britannica,” the Temple Classics,
the Chandos Classics, and Lansdowne Poets; Trübner’s Oriental and
Philosophical Libraries of about 200 octavo volumes; editions of Henry’s
“Commentary” and of Hymn-books and Church Praise; Bagster’s Bibles and
“Daily Light” and Prayer-books; Latin and Greek text-books, Art books,
works of Travel and Biography, school-books of all kinds; The Journal
of the Iron and Steel Institute; The Records of the Historic Society of
Lancashire and Cheshire, of the Champlain Society of Toronto, and of
various other learned Societies.
[Illustration]
APPENDIX
A pleasant and memorable chapter in the history of the Ballantyne Press
is its connection with the Edinburgh International Exhibition of 1886,
held in the West Meadows. The position occupied by Paul’s Work relative
to the literary history of Edinburgh since the beginning of last century,
as well as other considerations, induced the firm to make an exhibit of
ancient printing materials and of Early Bibles and other books in the Old
Edinburgh buildings of that Exhibition; and to show a working model, so
to speak, of an early printing-house. This was considered to be a very
attractive feature of the Exhibition, and the following account of it
appeared in the Scotsman of September 15, 1886.
“THE BALLANTYNE PRESS IN ‘OLD EDINBURGH’
“Passing through the Nether Bow Port, and keeping to the left,
visitors to the Exhibition will come upon the reproduction
of an old house in Dickson’s Close, now improved away, and
supposed to have been originally the work of Robert Mylne,
the builder of the modern portion of Holyrood, and peculiar
from its upper storeys and open galleries projecting for
several feet beyond the basement—a not uncommon feature of the
architecture of olden times. This house, or a near neighbour
to it in the same ‘land,’ was at one time the abode of David
Allan, the Scottish Hogarth. Above the door is an old-fashioned
swinging signboard showing ‘Ye Ballantyne Presse, 1796,’ while
the windows are adorned with stained glass. Here Messrs.
Ballantyne, Hanson & Co., Paul’s Work, have gathered together a
goodly display of the old implements of the ‘prenters,’ ancient
Bibles and other books, as well as a number of other curios.
“Prominent among the typographical antiquities is a venerable
wooden hand-press, nearly two centuries old, and substantially
identical with those used in the early stages of the art.
This press is worked by a genial and chatty representative of
Caxton, in a neat sixteenth-century costume. He is engaged
printing off sundry jobs, using the old-fashioned hand-balls
or ‘dabbers’ for putting the ink on the types, a method of
inking which came in with the art, and which was superseded
by the modern ‘roller’ only about fifty years ago. Within the
cases on the counter of this old curiosity shop are to be seen
ancient composing-sticks, type moulds, punches, matrices, &c.,
for casting types. In the cases are also a number of relative
curiosities, lent for exhibition by the Oxford University
Press, and originally the property of the celebrated Dr. Fell.
Among these is a small quarto book, printed in 1700, containing
the Lord’s Prayer in upwards of 200 languages. Here also is a
parcel of Icelandic type, given to the Oxford Press by Francis
Junius about 1677, and some music type of the seventeenth
century.
“In one case is a proof-sheet of the ‘Life of Napoleon,’ by Sir
Walter Scott, with the author’s corrections. One page of this
proof-sheet, which is the property of the Earl of Rosebery,
has a characteristic remark by James Ballantyne, the printer,
in reference to one of Sir Walter’s footnotes. It was to be
expected from the connection the Ballantynes had with Scott
that some relics of the author of the Waverley Novels would be
shown, and here are to be seen the chair and desk reserved for
his use in Paul’s Work when he came to correct his proofs or
transact business.
“Around the walls are also to be seen a number of pictures,
among these being a copy by Maris of Raeburn’s portrait of
Scott; a proof copy of the well-known engraving of Scott and
his contemporaries; Caxton in Westminster Abbey; old views
of Edinburgh, one of them dated 1579, &c. A remarkably fine
etching shows the bookselling shop of Jacob van Liesvelt at
Antwerp in the sixteenth century. Liesvelt was condemned and
beheaded at Antwerp, because in the annotations of a Bible he
had edited and printed, it was said that ‘the salvation of
mankind proceeds from Christ alone!’ A number of old playbills
also adorn the walls, some of these having portraits framed
along with them, such as that of Mackay as Bailie Nicol Jarvie,
Mrs. Siddons as Lady Randolph, and Mr. Liston as Dominie
Sampson. One old playbill is shown of the Kelso Theatre,
printed by Ballantyne at the Border Press, before Scott induced
him to remove his printing-office to Paul’s Work, Edinburgh.
“There are here a number of old newspapers—the _Kingdom’s
Intelligencer_, the _Perfect Diurnal_, the _Courant_,
_Caledonian Mercury_, &c. One of the _Diurnals_ contains a
despatch of General Monk, dated from his headquarters at
Dalkeith in August 1654; and a _Caledonian Mercury_ of August
26, 1822, contains a subscription list for the National
Monument on Calton Hill, and the _menu_ for the banquet given
by the municipality of Edinburgh to George IV. in Parliament
House. There is also an early number of the _Scotsman_, of
1855, shown by way of contrast to the present issues of the
journal.
[Illustration: DESK USED BY SIR WALTER SCOTT IN PAUL’S WORK]
“To many visitors, however, the interest in the Ballantyne
Press exhibits will centre in the fine collection of Ancient
Bibles and other books which have been gathered together. The
gem of this collection is a copy of the very rare ‘Mentelin’
Bible, printed about 1466—one of the earliest printed by the
aid of movable type, in fine condition, with initial letters
filled in by the hand, of beautiful design and colouring. The
table of contents extends to eighteen pages, and is all in
MS. of various colours. Another rare Bible is the Hans Lufft,
or first edition of Luther’s Bible in two volumes, printed in
1534. This Bible is in its original binding of wood with brass
mountings, and has a great number of woodcuts printed along
with the text, which in this copy were afterwards coloured
by hand expressly for the Prince Protector. The existence of
this Bible was frequently denied by learned men of Germany,
owing to its great rarity, caused by the destruction of most
copies by the Roman Catholics. John George of Saxony was unable
to obtain it for himself, and was obliged to be contented
with the sight of one, then supposed to be unique. A copy of
this work sold at a very high price at Lord Holland’s sale
in 1860. The engravings throughout the work, and especially
in the Revelation of St. John, are curious and full of
anachronisms—the patriarchs and prophets being clad in the
German costume of the sixteenth century. Another Lutheran
Bible here is one printed at Nurnberg, in 1720, by Andrea
Enolters. This is said to be one of the finest of all the
ancient German Bibles, and has, besides a number of beautiful
engravings of Biblical scenes, several portraits of well-known
German princes. It is also in its original binding with metal
ornaments. A copy of the first edition of the Paris printer
Robert Stephens’ valuable Greek Testament, in two volumes,
published in 1546, may also be seen. A former possessor has
enriched the margins of this copy with a copious supply of
Latin notes and comments in very small MS. There were other
editions of this book published in 1549, 1550, and 1551. That
of 1551, published at Geneva, was divided into verses as we
have the Bible now, a plan which the printer Stephens was the
first to put into actual use.
[Illustration: SIR WALTER SCOTT’S CHAIR IN PAUL’S WORK]
“Of a more purely local interest, however, is a copy of
another Bible we find here, that of the first one printed
in Scotland, with the date of 1576. This work, printed by
Alexander Arbuthnot and Thomas Bassendyne, has a history of
its own. It was put in type from the Genevan version, and
has the well-known ‘breeches’ translation of Genesis iii.
7, and contains also the side-notes, to which King James
is said afterwards to have strongly objected as ‘partial,
untrue, and seditious,’ when arrangements were being made for
the Authorised translation of 1611. Besides being connected
with the first Bible printed in Scotland, Bassendyne’s
printing-office, which was situated in a close nearly opposite
John Knox’s house, is repeatedly referred to in the evidence
of the accomplices of the Earl of Bothwell in the murder of
Darnley, an event which took place in the lifetime of the old
printer. In the deposition of George Dalgleish, one of those
who were executed for their share in that crime, it is stated
that, ‘efter thay enterit within the Nether Bow Port, thai zeid
up abone Bassyntine’s house, on the south side of the gait, and
knockit at ane dur beneth the sword slippers, and callit for
the Laird of Ormestounes, and one within answerit he was not
thare; and thai passit down a cloiss beneth Frier Wynd, and
enterit in at the zet of the Black Friers.’ This reference
clearly indicates that Bassendyne’s workshop was situated near
the Nether Bow, whence was issued the folio Bible which is here
shown.
“Another Genevan or ‘breeches’ version, printed by Christopher
Barker in 1586, is also in the collection, this one having the
Book of Common Prayer at the beginning. There is here, too,
King James’s own copy of the first edition of the Authorised
Version of 1611, printed by Robert Barker in black letter.
It is in fine condition, with the Royal arms on the massive
outside boards, and contains the well-known and curiously
elaborate genealogical tables by John Speed. Taking thought
for the common people, King James is said to have given orders
that a smaller and cheaper edition of the Authorised Version
in Roman type should be prepared in quarto size. This was also
printed by Robert Barker, and published in 1614, and is to be
seen here, along with many other Bibles, some with curious
bindings, and others with music to the Psalms. Several of the
more important of the Bibles above mentioned have been lent for
exhibition by the Rev. Dr. Ginsburg of London.
“One of the most curious black-letter books in the Ballantyne
collection, and with an interesting history, is a copy of the
first complete Concordance to the English Bible, written by
John Marbek (or Merbecke), and printed by Richard Grafton,
in 1550. This John Marbek was organist to the Royal Chapel
at Windsor, and his book bears the following title: ‘A
Concordance, that is to saie a worke wherein by the ordere of
the letters A. B. C. ye maie redely finde any worde conteigned
in the whole Bible, so often as it is there expressed or
mentioned.’ Marbek, after various difficulties, had gone on
with his Concordance as far as the letter L, when all his
papers were seized, and he was apprehended and imprisoned. ‘He
was arraigned, for that he had with his own hand gathered out
of divers men’s writings certain things that were expressly
against both the mass and the sacrament of the altar. He was
arraigned and condemned with three others—namely, Anthony
Persone, priest; Robert Testwood, singing-man; and Henry
Filmer, tailor; on account of the Six Articles in the year
1544; the three last were burned at Windsor, but the innocence
of Marbek gained him the King’s pardon.’
“When he was set at liberty, as his papers were not restored
to him, he had his Concordance to begin again; and this, when
completed, he showed to a friend, who promised to assist him in
having it presented to the King, in order to have it published
by his authority; but Henry VIII. died before that could be
brought about, and it was accordingly dedicated to Edward VI.
This folio black-letter Concordance gives a good specimen of
the printer Grafton’s rebus or monogram, a _graft_ inserted
into a _tun_.
“A number of other interesting curiosities, and a library of
ancient books, too numerous to be detailed here, are in various
cabinets and bookcases in this shop of Old Edinburgh. Many
of the volumes are over 300 years old; several are in their
original bindings; and all are in fair condition. Classics
from the printing-presses of the Elzevirs, Stephens, Gryphius,
Foulis, Ruddiman, and other printers whose names are now
historical, are all to be seen, besides a goodly array of fine
art and other books, the more recent productions of Messrs.
Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.”—W. T. D.
THE END
[Illustration: NEW PAUL’S WORK, EDINBURGH]
FOOTNOTES
[1] “I remember it was a thing of daily occurrence, that after he had
made himself master of his own lesson, I, alas! being still sadly to seek
in mine, he used to whisper to me, ‘Come, slink over beside me, Jamie,
and I’ll tell you a story.’”—James Ballantyne’s “Memorandum.”
[2] Afterwards published in 1801, and coldly received.
[3] Lockhart’s “Life of Scott,” ii. 42, 43.
[4] The Count was a native of Russian Poland, and was in early life
patronised by a Polish lady, with whom he visited various countries of
Europe. He resided for some time in Paris, but quitting it shortly before
the Revolution came over to this country. He exhibited himself at fairs,
and was a favourite with the public, to whom he recommended himself
not only by his diminutive stature, but by his intelligence and genial
disposition. He eventually realised enough to enable him to spend the
last thirty years of his life in comfort. The Count’s height was exactly
35½ inches, and his person was a model of symmetry. His remains were
interred in Durham Cathedral, near those of his intimate friend, Stephen
Kemble.
[5] This and the view of Kelso market-place in 1797, at page 3, are also
given through the courtesy of the present proprietor of the _Mail_.
[6] Endorsed by Professor Saintsbury (“Sir Walter Scott,” Famous Scots
Series): “The earliest form of the ‘Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border’ is
a very pretty book: it deservedly established the fame of Ballantyne as a
printer.”
[7] “A History of Accounting and Accountants” (T. C. and E. C. Jack,
1904).
[8] The following note gives the residents in the little street in James
Ballantyne’s time:—
No. 1, the old street guardian.
No. 2, Mr. Ewart and two sons, officials in the Chancery Office.
No. 3, Dr. Brunton, Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages, Edinburgh
University, and Mrs. Brunton, authoress of some religious novels, which
had considerable popularity in their day.
No. 4, Mr. Phillips, Commissioner of Customs.
No. 5, Mr. Alexander Cowan, the well-known papermaker.
No. 6, Mr. Andrew Bogle, Secretary Royal Bank of Scotland.
No. 7, Mrs. McLeod, widow of McLeod of St. Kilda, with a large family of
daughters and one son, who rose to the rank of General in the Indian Army.
No. 8, The Countess of Hyndford.
No. 9, Miss Suttie, an old lady from East Lothian.
No. 10, Mr. James Ballantyne.
No. 13, Mr. Speid, W.S., laird of Ardovie, Forfarshire.
No. 14, Mr. Andrew Ramsay, Advocate; and, later on, Mr. Alexander
Ballantyne.
No. 15, Mr. Trotter, the laird of Morton Hall.
—_Derived from_ Mr. Charles Cowan’s “Reminiscences” (1878).
[9] “The Book-Fancier” (1886), p. 80.
[10] Lockhart’s “Life of Scott,” iii. 120, 121.
[11] Lockhart’s “Life of Scott,” v. 218.
[12] “James Ballantyne has taken his brother Sandy into the house, I mean
the firm.”—“Scott’s Journal,” Feb. 21, 1829.
[13] See also James Ballantyne’s suggestions as to the “Field of
Waterloo,” given on p. 67; and a fuller treatment of this topic in
Chapter IX.
[14] Lockhart’s “Life of Scott,” ii. 201, 202.
[15] “My father never could forgive Scott his concealment of the
Ballantyne partnership.”—Ruskin, “Fors Clavigera,” Letter liv.
[16] “Constable and his Literary Correspondents,” i. 376.
[17] “The book was among the most unfortunate that James Ballantyne
printed, and his brother published, in deference to the personal feelings
of their partner.”—Lockhart’s “Life,” iii. 298. See further on this
point, Chapter V., p. 46.
[18] “The conclusion of the matter was that the Ballantyne publishing
company found a haven in the capacious bosom of Constable, who believed
in the Star of Scott, advanced some £4000, and took off the sinking ship
the useless burden of the valueless books.”—A. LANG.
[19] “He was a prince of booksellers.... He knew, I think, more of the
business of a bookseller in planning and executing popular works than any
man of his time.”—Scott’s “Journal,” July 23, 1827.
[20] Willison was his own press-reader. He was rigid in his ideas of
punctuation, and gave much trouble to the Reviewers by his finical
particularity in this respect. A story is told of his having on one
occasion sent Jeffrey a second proof (technically _revise_) of a portion
of one of his criticisms, with a note on the margin, that “there appeared
to be something unintelligible in this passage.” Jeffrey returned the
proof unaltered, with a note to the effect that “Mr. Jeffrey can see
nothing unintelligible in this passage, unless in the number of commas,
which Mr. Willison seems to keep in a pepper-box beside him, for the
purpose of dusting the proof with.”
[21] A complete set of the _Sale Room_ in good condition is very rare.
[22] Charles Cowan’s “Reminiscences.”
[23] Lockhart’s “Life of Scott,” vi. 67.
[24] “Perhaps the very best specimens of Scott’s powers in this direction
are the prefaces which he contributed much later and gratuitously to
John Ballantyne’s ‘Novelists’ Library’—things which hardly yield to
Johnson’s ‘Lives’ as examples of the combined arts of criticism and
biography.”—Saintsbury’s “Sir Walter Scott” (Famous Scots Series).
[25] Lockhart’s “Life of Scott,” vi. 328, 329.
[26] “Literary Lives” (Hodder & Stoughton).
[27] “To dethrone the Scot’s one-pound note, the Palladium of the ancient
kingdom.”—A. LANG.
[28] “Meadowbank taxed me with the novels, and to end that farce at once
I pleaded guilty, so that splore is ended.”—Scott’s “Journal,” Feb. 24,
1827.
[29] Smiles’ “Life of John Murray,” i. 457, 461.
[30] Many manuscripts of modern authors are execrable, and little care
is taken to make what is written plain and intelligible, resulting in
“errors of the press,” though, owing to the vigilance of the press
reader, comparatively few of these meet the eye of the public. In the
preparation of their “copy” lawyers of high repute will leave technical
and foreign terms in a truncated or misspelt way; divines frequently
show an aversion to both punctuation marks and capitals, the omission
of which would bring scorn and contempt upon the compositor and the
reader. Many instances of faulty manuscripts could be cited. A few will
suffice. A learned professor in a northern university wrote in such a
shocking spidery hand that the men were paid a third more for putting
it in type; a divine, long since gone over to the majority, wrote his
sermons on any scrap of paper he got hold of—old bills, torn envelopes,
&c.—and thus caused an infinity of labour in arranging these oddments
in a readable way. If any particular bit got transposed from its proper
place, it did not appear to matter very much; it was as well there as
anywhere else. Similar to this was a famous writer, well known at Paul’s
Work, who, prior to his morning prowl among old bookshops, would fill his
pockets with scraps of paper—envelopes and such-like—on which he noted
the particulars of his daily finds; and these were afterwards sent to
the printer to be arranged for a book. Another reverend writer, whose
works were many and sold well, would take a quarto sheet of paper to
write on—beginning with a narrow centre column for the first draft of
his subject; to this would be added afterthoughts by branching lines to
the centre column, till the whole sheet was full—like a rushing river
gathering in fresh supplies from meandering rivulets on either side of
its course. But this topic is a wide and curious one, and instances might
be given where an author was unable to read his own “copy,” and had to
see a proof of what could be set in type before he was able to remedy an
unreadable passage or supply an obscure or missing word.
[31] By permission of the Curators of the Library there is here given a
facsimile of a page of “Waverley.”
[32] The following note is from C. G. Leland’s translation of Heine’s
“Pictures of Travel” (i. 258): “Of all great writers, Byron is just the
one whose writings excite in me the least passion, while Scott, on the
contrary, in his every book gladdens, tranquillises, and strengthens my
heart. Even his imitators please me, as in such instances as Willibald
Alexis, Bronikowski, and Cooper, the first of whom, in the ironic
‘Walladmor,’ approaches nearest his pattern, setting before our souls a
poetic originality well worthy of Scott.”
[33] Hutton’s “Life of Scott.”
[34] An old name for hand-pressmen, as “cuddie” was for the compositor:
both now gone out of use.
[35] Lockhart’s “Life of Scott,” v. 344, 345.
[36] It may be interesting to reproduce here the statement of accounts,
&c., of the paper at the time of the sale:
RECEIPTS
Sale of Newspapers £2390
Advertisements 1055
------
Total £3445
EXPENDITURE
Annual cost of stamps and paper £1425
Printing 570
Advertisement duty 360
Clerks’ salaries, office rent, &c. 250
Allowance for bad debts 230
Profits 610
------
Total £3445
—_Edinburgh Newspapers, Past and Present_ (1891).
[37] Andrew’s “British Journalism,” &c.
[38] See also a letter of Scott to Ellis (Lockhart’s “Life,” iii.
145):—“An Edinburgh Annual Register, to be conducted under the auspices
of James Ballantyne, _who is himself no despicable composer_.”
[39] “The Greville Memoirs,” i. 251.
[40] _Tait’s Magazine_ (1839), pp. 657, 658, 668.
[41] “Leaves from My Autobiography.” By Rev. Charles Rogers, LL.D.
[42] Miss Martineau’s “Biographical Sketches,” pp. 347, 348.
[43] “No man was better fit to arbitrate in this difficult dispute than
Chambers was.”—Claudius Clear, in the _British Weekly_, January 1907.
[44] _Fraser’s Magazine_, 1835.
[45] See footnote, pp. 47-48.
[46] Letter of James Ballantyne in “Constable and his Literary
Correspondents,” iii. 5.
[47] Lockhart’s “Life of Scott,” ii. 125.
[48] “Constable and his Literary Correspondents,” ii. 197.
[49] Journal, Aug. 29, 1826.
[50] In connection with this a curious fraud may be noted here. At the
sale of Dr. Laing’s library there was disposed of a number of odd lots of
pamphlets and papers, and amongst these a quantity of undamaged sheets
of the Ballads and Poems of Dunbar. Whoever bought these was determined
to make a profit out of them, for an Edinburgh “book-hunter” discovered
one day in a second-hand bookseller’s shop a nicely bound gilt-top
quarto volume, bearing the title “Ancient Poetry of Scotland. Edinburgh,
1508,” and having the device of Andro Myllar on it. Facing the title
was “Imprinted Glasgow, 1800. Limited to 50 copies, 10 on thick paper,
1 on vellum.” The book looked tempting, and was bought; but, to the
bibliophile’s disappointment, it proved most fragmentary, as it contained
only a limited portion of the sheets of the Ballantyne reprint several
times repeated, irrespective of consecutiveness, throughout the book, and
many of the pages bore traces of the accident which befell the original
work.
[51] “Constable and his Literary Correspondents,” iii. 305, 310.