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_.