(1606-1687)
27. The | Workes | Of | Edmond VValler | Eſquire, | [Four lines]
Imprimatur | Na. Brent. Decem. 30. 1644. | London, | Printed for
Thomas Walkley | 1645.
The "Workes" of this poet "nursed in parliaments" consist of
poems and speeches. The book was probably issued early in the
year, having, as we see from the title-page, been licensed
in December, 1644. There are copies identical in every other
respect, that show a block of printer's ornament instead
of the "Imprimatur," and still others with quite a new
title-page, which reads: _Poems,| &c. | Written By | Mr. Ed.
Waller | of Beckonſfield, Eſquire; lately a | Member of
the Honourable | House of Commons. | All the Lyrick Poems in
this Booke | were ſet by Mr. Henry Lavves Gent. | of the
Kings Chappell, and one of his | Majeſties Private Muſick.
| Printed and Publiſhed according to Order. | London, |
Printed by T. W. for Humphrey Moſley, at the | Princes Armes
in Pauls Church- | yard._ 1645.
New poems have been added to this last issue, and "The Table"
of contents has been inserted between the poems and speeches.
There is also an Epistle "To my Lady," and "An advertiſement
to the Reader" wherein we read:
"This parcell of exquiſit poems, have paſſ'd up and
downe through many hands amongſt perſons of the beſt
quallity, in looſe imperfect Manuſcripts, and there
is lately obtruded to the world an adulterate Copy,
surruptitiouſly and illegally imprinted, to the derogation
of the Author, and the abuſe of the Buyer. But in this
booke they apeare in their pure originalls and true genuine
colours."
We may with reasonableness see in the first variation a
publisher's trick to make his book appear to have had a quick
sale; while the second might indicate a transfer of the unsold
sheets from Walkley to Moseley, who for some reason, perhaps
an agreement arrived at with the poet, considered himself to
be the authorized publisher.
Later in the same year, Moseley issued a reprint, which
omitted the Speeches, and a new edition in octavo with a
title-page which now reads:
_Poems, &c. | Written By | Mr. Ed. Waller | [Three lines] And
Printed by a Copy of | his own hand-writing. | [Four lines]
Printed and Publiſhed according to Order. | London, |
Printed by J. N. for Hu. Moſley, at the Princes | Armes in
Pauls Church-yard, | 1645_.
The volume has been entirely reprinted.
The Speeches appear again, but the rest of the contents remain
as before. Mr. Beverly Chew, in an article on "The First
Edition of Waller's Poems," says: "It is this edition that
is generally called the 'first authorized edition,' but it
is quite evident that all of the editions of this year stand
about on the same level so far as the author is concerned."
Not until the edition of 1664 do we read on the title-page,
"Never till now Corrected and Published with the approbation
of the Author."
Octavo.
COLLATION: _Title, one leaf, B-H, in eights_.
FRANCIS BEAUMONT
(1584-1616)
AND
JOHN FLETCHER
(1579-1625)
28. Comedies | And | Tragedies | Written by | Francis Beaumont | And
| Iohn Fletcher | Gentlemen. | Never printed before, | And now
publiſhed by the Authours | Originall Copies. | [Quotation] London,
| Printed for Humphrey Robinſon, at the three Pidgeons, and for |
Humphrey Moſeley at the Princes Armes in S^t Pauls | Church-yard.
1647.
These two dramatists, between whom "there was a wonderfull
consimility of phancy," and who shared everything in common,
were inseparably connected in their writings. No collected
edition of their plays appeared before this posthumous one,
which is dedicated to Philip, Earl of Pembroke, by ten
actors, and is introduced to the reader by James Shirley, the
dramatist, who speaks of the volume as "without flattery the
greatest Monument of the Scene that Time and Humanity
have produced." This, too, notwithstanding the fact that
Shakespeare's _Works_ had appeared twenty-four years before.
This edition appears to have been due to Moseley's enterprise.
He tells us in a frank address called "The Stationer to the
Readers":
"'T were vaine to mention the Chargeableneſſe of this
VVork; for thoſe who own'd the Manuſcripts, too well
knew their value to make a cheap eſtimate of any of theſe
Pieces, and though another joyn'd with me in the Purchaſe
and Printing, yet the _Care & Pains_ were wholly mine...."
Commenting upon the fact stated on the title-page that the
plays had not been printed before, he says: "You have here a
New Booke; I can ſpeake it clearely; for of all this large
Uolume of Comedies and Tragedies, not one, till now, was ever
printed before...." "And as here's nothing but what is genuine
and Theirs, ſo you will find here are no Omiſſions; you
have not onely All I could get, but all that you muſt ever
expect. For (beſides thoſe which were formerly printed)
there is not any Piece written by theſe Authours, either
Joyntly or Severally, but what are now publiſhed to the
VVorld in this Volume. One only Play I muſt except (for
I meane to deale openly) 'tis a Comedy called the
_VVilde-gooſe-Chase_, which hath beene long lost...."
Nothing which throws light upon the history of printing at
this time is more interesting than the Postscript added at the
end of the commendatory verses by Waller, Lovelace, Herrick,
Ben Jonson and others, and immediately after a poem by Moseley
himself ending, "If this Booke faile, 'tis time to quit the
Trade."...
"... After the _Comedies_ and _Tragedies_ were wrought off,
we were forced (for expedition) to ſend the _Gentlemens_
Verſes to ſeverall Printers, which was the occaſion of
their different Character; but the _Worke_ it ſelfe is one
continued Letter, which (though very legible) is none of
the biggeſt, becauſe (as much as poſſible) we would
leſſen the Bulke of the Volume."
This matter of size seems to have been the cause of no little
solicitude and care. Speaking of adding more plays to the
volume, he says:
"And indeed it would have rendred the Booke ſo Voluminous,
that _Ladies_ and _Gentlewomen_ would have found it ſcarce
manageable, who in Workes of this nature muſt firſt be
remembred."
There are thirty-six plays in the collection: as the stationer
tells us in the preface to the reader quoted above, all those
previously printed in quarto are included, except the _Wild
Goose Chase_, which had been lost. It is added at the end of
the volume with a separate title-page dated 1652.
The following epigram by Sir Aston Cockain, addressed to the
publishers, the two Humphreys, is not without interest in this
connection as showing that the difficulties arising from the
joint authorship were early sources of perplexity:
"In the large book of Plays you late did print
(In Beaumonts and in Fletchers name) why in't
Did you not juſtice? give to each his due?
For Beaumont (of thoſe many) writ in few:
And Maſſinger in other few; the Main
Being ſole Iſſues of ſweet Fletchers brain.
But how come I (you ask) ſo much to know?
Fletchers chief boſome-friend inform'd me ſo.
... ... ... ... ...
For Beaumont's works, & Fletchers ſhould come forth
With all the right belonging to their worth."
Moseley, in his address as stationer, says of the portrait of
Fletcher by William Marshall, which bears the inscriptions,
"Poetarum Ingeniosissimus Ioannes Fletcherus Anglus Episcopi
Lond: Fili." "Obijt 1625 Ætat 49": "This figure of Mr.
Fletcher was cut by ſeveral Originall Pieces, which his
friends lent me; but withall they tell me, that his unimitable
Soule did ſhine through his countenance in ſuch _Ayre_ and
_Spirit_, that the Painters confeſſed it, was not eaſie
to expreſſe him." The nine lines of verse beneath the
portrait are by Sir John Birkenhead. The portrait is found
in two states, distinguishable by the size of the letters in
Birkenhead's name. Although he was very ambitious to get a
portrait of Master Beaumont, his search proved unavailing.
There are a few woodcut head-bands, varied with others made of
type metal, in the front part of the book, but the last part
is severely plain.
Folio. The first collected edition.
COLLATION: _Portrait; A, four leaves; a-c, in fours; d-g, in
twos; B-L2, in fours; Aa-Ss, in fours; Aaa-Xxx, in fours;
4A-4I, in fours; 5A-5X, in fours; 6A-6K, in fours; 6L, six leaves;
7A-7G, in fours; 8A-8C, in fours; *Dddddddd, two leaves;
8D-8F, in fours._
ROBERT HERRICK
(1591-1674)
29. Hesperides: | Or, | The Works | Both | Humane & Divine | Of |
Robert Herrick Eſq. [Quotation, Printer's mark] London, | Printed
for John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, | and are to be ſold at
the Crown and Marygold | in Saint Pauls Church-yard. 1648.
A volume entitled "The seuerall Poems written by Master Robert
Herrick" was entered by Master Crooke for license April 29,
1640, but was not published. The _Hesperides_ was the first
work of the poet to be printed, except some occasional
contributions to collections of poems. It is dedicated in
a metrical epistle to the most illustrious and most hopeful
Charles, Prince of Wales, afterward Charles II.
The book is divided into two parts, the second having a
separate title-page which reads: _His | Noble Numbers: | Or,
| His Pious Pieces, | Wherein (amongſt other things) |
he ſings the Birth of his Christ: | and ſighs for his
Saviours ſuffe- | ring on the Croſſe.| [Quotation]
London. | Printed for John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield,
1647. |_
This part was not issued, as far as is known, except with the
Hesperides to which the author evidently intended it to be
affixed, if we may judge by the lines toward the end of the
first part: "Part of the work remains; one part is past."
The year of publication had seen Herrick dispossessed of his
living at Dean Prior by the predominant Puritan party, and
it has been suggested that he was glad to take this means
of gaining an income. His use of the form, "Robert Herrick,
Esquire," was, it is thought, a wise move on the part of
the publishers, since a book by the "Reverend," or "Robert
Herrick, Vicker" would have been less likely to meet with
favor.
Neither Williams nor Eglesfield was a bookseller of
importance, and the printer is entirely unknown. He may
have withheld his name for fear of the judgment suggested by
Herrick at the head of his column of Errata:
"For theſe Tranſgreſsions which thou here doſt ſee,
Condemne the Printer, Reader, and not me;
Who gave him forth good Grain, though he miſtook
The Seed; ſo ſow'd theſe Tares throughout my Book."
Copies vary in the imprint, some reading _London, Printed for
John Williams and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be ſold
by Tho. Hunt, Bookſeller in Exon, 1648_; and several
differences of spelling, capitalization and punctuation also
occur. These variations have given rise to a discussion that
aims to determine the sequence of issues; but thus far it
serves only to prove that constant editorial tinkering took
place at the press-side.
William Marshall, whose prolific graver (Strutt says he
used only that tool) produced portraits, frontispieces,
title-pages, and other decorations of a certain charm, even
if dry and cramped in style, had in Herrick a subject of more
than usual difficulty. As if conscious of his shortcomings
he attempts to make atonement by the emblematic flattery
of Pegasus winging his flight from Parnassus, the Spring of
Helicon, loves and flowers, which he adds to lines signed _I.
H. C._ and _W. M._
Octavo.
COLLATION: _Four leaves (without signatures): B-Z and Aa-Cc, in
eights, Aa-Ee, in eights._
JEREMY TAYLOR
(1613-1667)
30. The Rule | And | Exercises | Of | Holy Living. | [Eleven lines]
London, | Printed for Francis Aſh, Book- | Seller in Worceſter. |
MDCL. [Colophon] London, | Printed by R. Norton. | MDCL.
The remarkably well-designed title-page engraved by Robert
Vaughan, which precedes the printed title, bears the imprint,
_London printed for R: Royſton | in Ivye lane_. 1650. and
some copies have the following imprint on the title-page:
_London, | Printed for Richard Royſton at the | Angel in
Ivie-Lane. | MDCL._ Royston was the royal bookseller, and
publisher of _Eikon Basilike_, which ran through fifty
editions in the single year 1649. Taylor's work was also a
popular venture, and reached a fourteenth edition in 1686.
This edition contains "Prayers for our Rulers," which recalls
the fact that these were stirring times when the book was
published. Charles had been beheaded in January of the
previous year, and Cromwell won his victory at Worcester,
where Ash had his shop, in the year following. It was not
without some worldly wisdom of living, then, that our author
used the above heading, and later, when times were changed,
altered it so as to make it read, "For the King."
Duodecimo.
COLLATION: _Frontispiece; ¶, twelve leaves; A-S4, in twelves._
IZAAK WALTON
(1593-1683)
31. The | Compleat Angler | [Six lines, Quotation.] London, Printed
by T. Maxey for Rich. Marriot, in | S. Dunſtans Church-yard
Fleetſtreet, 1653.
In the _Perfect Diurnall_, as well as in other broad-sheets,
the following advertisement appeared from Monday, May 9, to
Monday, May 16, 1653:
"The Compleat Angler or the Contemplative Man's Recreation,
being a Diſcourſe of Fish and Fishing, not unworthy the
peruſal of moſt Anglers, of 18 pence price. Written by
Iz. Wa. Alſo the known Play of the Spaniſh Gipſee, never
till now publiſhed. Both printed for Richard Marriot, to
be ſold at his ſhop in St. Dunſtans Church-yard, Fleet
Street." Walton could hardly have expected his work to be
anonymous when his very distinctive initials appeared so
plainly in the advertisement. And even though they are not
printed on the title-page of the book, they are signed to the
dedication to his most honoured friend, Mr. John Offley of
Madeley Manor, and at the end of the address "To the Reader of
this Discourse: but eſpecially To the honeſt Angler."
The name was added to the title in the fifth or 1676 edition,
called _The Universal Angler._
Contemplative men did indeed find the work not unworthy their
perusal, and Marriot, who seems to have been fortunate in the
books he published, alone issued five editions during the life
of the author. Between then and now we may count no less than
one hundred and thirty different imprints. At Sotheby's, in
1895, a copy of this eighteen-pence book sold for four hundred
and fifteen pounds, an earnest of its rarity and of the
eagerness with which it is sought.
Concerning the engraved cartouche with the first part of the
title, on the title-page, and the six illustrations of fish
engraved in the text, the author says "To the Reader of this
Discourse": "And let me adde this, that he that likes not the
diſcourſe ſhould like the pictures of the _Trout_ and
other fiſh, which I may commend, becauſe they concern not
myſelf." No name is given to show whose work they may be;
they are sometimes ascribed to Pierre Lombart, a Frenchman
resident in London, and employed by book-publishers to
illustrate their books. But on the other hand we must
not forget that Vaughan and Faithorne were both making
illustrations for books at this time. There is reason for
calling attention to the belief, formerly current, that the
engravings were done on plates of silver, a notion which, as
Thomas Westwood remarks, is sufficiently disproved by their
repeated use in no less than five editions of _The Compleat
Angler_, and the same number of Venable's _Experienc'd
Angler_.
Henry Lawes, the musician, and the author of several works,
wrote the music to "The Anglers' Song For two Voyces,
Treble and Baſſe," which occupies pages 216 and 217.
The right-hand page is printed upside down for the greater
convenience of the singers, who could thus stand facing one
another. Lawes used a similar arrangement in his _Select Ayres
and Dialogues_, published the same year as the _Angler_.
Octavo.
COLLATION: _A-R3, in eights._
SAMUEL BUTLER
(1612-1680)
32. Hudibras. | The First Part, | Written in the time of the late
Wars. | [Device] London, | Printed by J. G. for Richard Marriot, under
Saint | Dunstan's Church in Fleetſtreet. 1663.
Although "written in the time of the late Wars," _Hudibras_
was not licensed to be printed until November 11, 1662, two
years after the reëstablishment of the monarchy, when a satire
on Puritanism could no longer give offense to the ruling
party. On the contrary, the satisfaction which it gave to
the King and court had much to do with the great success it
achieved. Butler himself records the royal favor:
"He never ate, nor drank, nor slept,
But 'Hudibras' still near him kept;
Nor would he go to church or so,
But 'Hudibras' must with him go."
Marriot, the successful publisher of Walton's _Angler_
and some of Donne's books, issued the first part in three
different forms, large octavo, like our copy, small octavo,
and duodecimo; the last two sizes being sold for a lower price
than the former, to meet the popular demand for the work.
Besides these there is another edition, in three issues of the
same date, which has no name of printer or publisher in
the imprint, although, like Marriot's copies, it bears the
license, "Imprimatur. Jo: Berkenhead, Novemb. 11, 1662." If
it were not for this imprimatur, the following notice, which
appeared in the _Public Intelligencer_ for December 23, 1662,
would make it seem certain that the nameless edition was
really spurious:
"There is stolen abroad a most false imperfect copy of a
poem called _Hudibras_, without name either of printer or
bookseller, as fit for so lame and spurious an impression. The
true and perfect edition printed by the author's original, is
sold by Richard Marriot under St. Dunstan's church in Fleet
Street; that other nameless is a cheat, and will not abuse
the buyer as well as the author, whose poem deserves to have
fallen into better hands." But the presence of the regular
license brings us to the very probable theory that Marriot may
have issued both editions; the first without his name because
he was unwilling to allow it to appear until the fortune of
the book seemed certain.
Singularly enough, Marriot did not issue _The Second Part. By
the Authour of the Firſt_, which came out the next year in
two sizes, octavo and small octavo, _Printed by T. R. for John
Martyn, and James Alleſtry, at the Bell in St. Pauls Church
Yard_. Ten years later we find the volume being issued by
Martyn and also by Herringman.
_The Third and laſt_ | _Part_. | _Written by the Author_ |
_Of The | First and Second Parts_. | _London_, | _Printed for
Simon Miller, at the Sign of the Star_ | _at the Weſt End of
St. Pauls, 1678._ was only published in one size, the octavo.
We get an idea of the great interest the book created, when,
after a lapse of so many years, this last part ran into a
second edition in a twelvemonth.*
Mr. Pepys is our authority for the cost of the spurious book.
He says, in his Diary on Christmas Day, 1662: "Hither come Mr.
Battersby; and we falling into a discourse of a new book of
drollery in verse, called Hudebras, I would needs go find it
out, and met with it at the Temple: it cost 2s. 6d. But when
I came to read it, it is so silly an abuse of the Presbyter
Knight going to the warrs, that I am ashamed of it; and by and
by, meeting at Mr. Townsend's at dinner, I sold it to him for
18d." He afterward tried to read the second part, so we learn
from his notes dated November 28, 1663; but which issue he
used we shall never know. He says:
"... To Paul's Church Yarde, and there looked upon the second
part of Hudibras, which I buy not, but borrow to read, to
see if he be as good as the first, which the world do cry so
mightily up, though it hath not a good liking in me...."
Octavo.
COLLATION: _Title; A-R, in eights_.
* It should be noted that some copies of the
volume have the record of the license and some have none.
JOHN MILTON
(1608-1674)
33. Paradiſe loft. | A | Poem | Written in | Ten Books | By John
Milton. | Licenſed and Entred according | to Order. | London |
Printed, and are to be ſold by Peter Parker | under Creed
Church neer Aldgate; And by | Robert Boulter at the Turks Head in
Biſhopſgate-ſtreet; | And Matthias Walker, under St. Dunſtons
Church | in Fleet-ſtreet, 1667.
Milton began his great epic in 1658, and is said to have
finished it in 1663. It was licensed after some delay,
occasioned by the hesitation of the deputy of the Archbishop
of Canterbury over the lines:
"As when the Sun, new ris'n
Looks through the Horizontal Misty Air
Shorn of his Beams, or from behind the Moon
In dim Eclips, disastrous twilight sheds
On half the Nations, and with fear of change
Perplexes Monarchs."
He may, as Professor Masson has pointed out, have had
difficulty in finding a publisher able and willing to venture
upon the printing of a work by one "whose attacks on the
Church and defenses of the execution of Charles I. were still
fresh in the memory of all, and some of whose pamphlets had
been publicly burnt by the hangman after the Restoration."
Few probably of those whose shops had centered around Paul's
Churchyard, the very heart of the book-trade, could have done
so, for they were, if not ruined, certainly inconvenienced
by the loss of their stock and shops in the Great Fire of the
year before. It is small wonder that Simmons, to whom, through
some agency or other, the poet did come, drove a hard bargain
when the agreement for the copyright was entered into,
April 27, 1667. The original of this agreement came into the
possession of the Tonsons, the proprietors of the copyright,
and was finally presented to the British Museum by Samuel
Rogers, who acquired it from Pickering the publisher. "Milton
was to receive 5 l. down, and 5 l. more upon the sale of each
of the first three editions. The editions were to be accounted
as ended when thirteen hundred copies of each were sold 'to
particular reading customers,' and were not to exceed fifteen
hundred copies apiece. Milton received the second 5 l. in
April, 1669, that is 15 l. in all. His widow in 1680 settled
all claims upon Simmons for 8 l. and Simmons became proprietor
of the copyright, then understood to be perpetuated."
The book made its appearance at an unfortunate time. London
had barely recovered from the Plague of 1665 (during which
eighty printers had died, wherein is seen another reason for
the difficulty in finding a publisher), and the great district
devastated by the Fire was still only partly rebuilt. It was
not surprising that the 1200 copies which are thought to have
made the first edition did not have a brisk sale; these were
not exhausted for at least eighteen months, and a second
impression was not put out for four years.
The copies of the first printing may be divided into several
classes, according to the title-pages they bear. These all
differ from one another in several more or less important
particulars, but the text of the work is identical in all
cases, except for a few typographical errors. Two titles,
supposed to be the earliest, were _Licenſed and Entred
according | to Order_, and have the imprint:
_London | Printed, and are to be ſold by Peter Parker |
under Creed Church neer Aldgate; And by | Robert Boulter at
the Turks Head in Biſhopſgate-ſtreet; | And Matthias
Walker, under St. Dunſtons Church | in Fleet-ſtreet,
1667._
On these the poem is seen to be by "John Milton," and the only
difference between them lies in the type used for Milton's
name, one being of a smaller size than the other. A third
title-page, having a similar imprint but dated 1668, has
"The Author J. M." A fourth has "The Author John Milton," the
license has given place to a group of _fleurs-de-lis_, and the
imprint reads:
_London, | Printed by S. Simmons, and to be ſold by S.
Thomſon at | the Biſhopſ-Head in Duck-lane, H. Mortlack,
at the | White Hart in Weſtminſter Hall, M. Walker under
| St. Dunſtans Church in Fleet-ſtreet, and R. Boulter at |
the Turks-Head in Biſhopſgate ſtreet, 1668._
Two new title-pages were used in 1669, differing only in the
type. The imprint reads:
_London, | Printed by S. Simmons, and are to be ſold by | T.
Helder at the Angel in Little Brittain. | 1669._
Beside these there are others. Early bibliographers claimed
that eight or even nine variations existed, but later
investigation has failed to verify more than six.