issued in November, 1747; two more in April, 1748 (making
"the 4 Vols. you have," above referred to); and the remaining
three, which, according to Mr. Urban's advertisement,
"compleats the whole," in December, 1748."
The second and succeeding volumes have the line, _And Sold
by John Osborn, in Pater-noſter-Row_, added to the imprint,
after Richardson's name.
Bishop Warburton presented the author with a preface in which
he pointed out the variety of the characters in the book, and
commended the moral tendency of the work. This, by the
way, serves to remind us that he afterward quarrelled with
Richardson because the novelist ventured to censure Pope's
sentiment, "Every woman is at heart a rake."
In a catalogue like this, no name has more interest than that
of Samuel Richardson, "The Father of the English Novel," and a
printer and publisher of distinction. At the age of seventeen
he chose the profession of printer, because he thought that in
it he would be able to satisfy his craving for reading. After
a diligent apprenticeship to John Wilde, whose daughter was
his first wife, he gradually won his way until he became one
of the leading printers of his time. He issued twenty-six
volumes of _Journals_ of the House of Commons, though he found
the position more honorable than lucrative; he was the printer
of the _Daily Journal_ from 1736 to 1737, and of the _Daily
Gazetteer_ in 1738; he was chosen printer to an interesting
_Society for the Encouragement of Learning_, for whom
he printed and edited their first and only volume, _The
Negociations of Sir Thomas Roe in his Embassy to the Ottoman
Porte from the year 1621 to 1628 inclusive_. He also printed,
among other books, an edition of _Æsop's Fables_, De Foe's
_Tour through Great Britain_, Young's _Night Thoughts_, and
the second volume of De Thou's _Historia Sui Temporis_, 1733.
He became a member of the Stationers' Company in 1689, and its
master in 1754.
Duodecimo.
COLLATION: _Seven volumes._
HENRY FIELDING
(1707-1754)
48. The | History | Of | Tom Jones, | A | Foundling. | In Six Volumes
| By Henry Fielding, Eſq; | [Quotation] London: | Printed for A.
Millar, over-againſt | Catharine-ſtreet in the Strand. | MDCCXLIX.
The announcement of the appearance of the work in the _General
Advertizer_ for February 28, 1749, reads as follows:
"This day is published, in six vols., 12mo, The History of Tom
Jones, A Foundling.--Mores hominum multorum vidit. By Henry
Fielding Esq.
"It being impossible to get sets bound fast enough to answer
the demand for them, such Gentlemen and Ladies as please may
have them served in Blue Paper and Boards, at the price of
16s. a set, of A. Millar, over against Catharine Street, in
the Strand."
The sale was really enormous for those days, and Millar, the
successful publisher, could afford to be generous to Fielding,
as he had been to others, thus winning for himself the
position of a patron as well as publisher. Johnson called him
"the Mæcenas of literature." "I respect Millar, sir;" said he,
"he has raised the price of literature."
Horace Walpole gives us an account of the dealing of this
remarkable man in this case. He says, in a letter to George
Montagu: "Millar, the bookseller, has done very generously
by him [Fielding]; finding 'Tom Jones' for which he gave him
£600. sell so greatly, he has since given him another £100."
A second edition in four volumes was issued the same year, and
a third, also in four volumes, the year following. The book
has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Dutch,
Russian, and Swedish. It was frequently dramatized, and was
also turned into a comic opera.
An original document in the possession of the owner of the
book from which the facsimile was made shows that the value
of _Tom Jones_ had not decreased with successive editions, or
else the various partners, whose well-known names are
signed to it, would not have thought it worth their while to
prosecute.
"Memorandum July, 24. 1770.
"At the Chapter Coffee-house, it is agreed by the Partners
in Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones, to prosecute Alexander
Donaldson, Bookseller in the Strand, for printing the above
Books, in the Court of Chancery, and do agree to pay our
respective Shares of the Expence of the Proscecution.
WILL: STRAHAN
THO^S. LONGMAN
W. JOHNSTON
ROBERT HORSFIELD
THO: CADELL
T BECKET
ROBINſON & ROBERTS
HAWES, CLARKE & COLLINS
STANLEY CROWDON
EDM^D. & CH^S DILLY
WM. & J. RICHARDſON
THO^S. LOWNDES
THOMAS CASLON"
Duodecimo.
COLLATION: _Six volumes._
THOMAS GRAY
(1716-1771)
49. An | Elegy | Wrote In A | Country Church Yard | London: |
Printed for R. Dodsley in Pall-mall; | And ſold by M. Cooper in
Pater-noſter-Row. 1751. | [Price Six-pence.]
In 1750 Gray finished a poem which he had begun eight years
before, and it was circulated freely, in manuscript, among his
delighted friends. One of them, Horace Walpole, received the
following communication from the author, dated at Cambridge,
February 11, 1751:
"As you have brought me into a little sort of distress, you
must assist me, I believe, to get out of it as well as I can.
"Yesterday I had the misfortune of receiving a letter from
certain gentlemen (as their bookseller expresses it), who have
taken the Magazine of Magazines into their hands. They tell
me that an _ingenious_ Poem, called reflections in a Country
Church-yard has been communicated to them, which they
are printing forthwith; that they are informed that the
_excellent_ author of it is I by name, and that they beg not
only his _indulgence_, but the _honour_ of his correspondence.
As I am not at all disposed to be either so indulgent or so
correspondent as they desire, I have but one bad way left to
escape the honour they would inflict upon me; and therefore am
obliged to desire you would make Dodsley print it immediately
(which may be done in less than a week's time) from your copy,
but without my name, in what form is most convenient for him,
but on his best paper and character; he must correct the
press himself, and print it without any interval between the
stanzas, because the sense is in some places continued beyond
them; and the title must be,--Elegy, written in a Country
Church-yard. If he would add a line or two to say it came into
his hands by accident, I should like it better. If you behold
the Magazine of Magazines in the light that I do, you will not
refuse to give yourself this trouble on my account, which you
have taken of your own accord before now. If Dodsley do not do
this immediately, he may as well let it alone."
"You have indeed, conducted with great decency my little
_misfortune_:" (this was written to Walpole on Ash-Wednesday,
after the book was published): "you have taken a paternal care
of it, and expressed much more kindness than could have been
expressed from so near a relation. But we are all frail; and I
hope to do as much for you another time.
"Nurse Dodsley has given it a pinch or two in the cradle, that
(I doubt) it will bear the marks of as long as it lives. But
no matter: we have ourselves suffered under her hands before
now; and besides it will only look the more careless and by
_accident_ as it were. I thank you for your advertisement [the
preface, signed 'The Editor'], which saves my honour, and in a
manner _bien flatteuse pour moi_, who should be put to it even
to make myself a compliment in good English."
Dodsley's promptness was noteworthy; on February 16 the book
was issued, having been six days, at most, in the printer's
hands. The author, even if he had desired, could hardly have
complained about the ornaments on the title-page, since he had
given Dodsley a free hand. It would be pleasant to see in
the woodcuts, with their death's-heads, spades, cross-bones,
hour-glasses, pickaxes and crowns, an argument for a sense
of decoration, or even of a sense of humour, rather than the
evidences of a habit of the use of such things for funeral
sermons.
Speaking of Nurse Dodsley's "pinches," the following extract
from a letter to Walpole, dated March 3, 1751, proves of
additional interest: "I do not expect any more editions; as
I have appeared in more magazines than one. The chief errata
were _sacred_ bower for _secret_; _hidden_ for _kindred_ (in
spite of dukes and classics); and "_frowning_ as in scorn" for
_smiling_. I humbly propose, for the benefit of Mr. Dodsley
and his matrons, that take _awake_ for a verb, that they
should read _asleep_, and all will be right."
The two versions of the poem probably appeared on the same
day.
_The Magazine of Magazines Compiled from Original Pieces,
With Extracts from the moſt celebrated Books And Periodical
Compoſitions Publiſhed in Europe_, was issued by William
Owen, maker of mineral water, at Homer's Head, near Temple
Bar. Owen's compositor, having had more time, avoided some
of the errors of the printers of the book, but he fell into
others of his own; and he completely frustrated Gray's desire
to be anonymous. The poem is introduced, amidst a running fire
of talk, in this way: "Gentlemen, ſaid _Hilario_, give
me leave to ſooth my own melancholy, and amuſe you in a
moſt noble manner, with a fine copy of verſes by the
very ingenious Mr. Gray, of _Peterhouſe_, Cambridge.--They
are--"Stanza's written in a Country Church-yard.""
The book proved immensely popular. Gray himself received
no pecuniary reward from it, having given the copyright
to Dodsley in accordance with a notion, very common in the
preceding century but seeming quixotic now, that it was
beneath a gentleman to receive money from a bookseller, a view
in which, we are told, Dodsley warmly concurred. Later, Mason,
Gray's friend, attempted to regain possession of the copyright
by means of litigation.
We are indebted to our Author for the following
bibliographical note: "Publish'd in Feb^{ry}, 1751, by
Dodsley, & went thro' four editions, in two months; and
afterwards a fifth, 6th, 7th, & 8th, 9th, & 10th, & 11th;
printed also in 1753 with Mr. Bentley's Designs, of w^{c}h
there is a 2d Edition, & again by Dodsley in his _Miscellany_,
Vol. 7th & in a Scotch Collection call'd the _Union_;
translated into Latin by Ch^{r} Anstey, Esq., and the Rev^{d}.
Mr. Roberts, & published in 1762, & again in the same year by
Rob. Lloyd, M.A."
Dodsley figures so prominently in the publication of the
_Elegy_ that we are reminded that he was himself a poet and
also a dramatist. His epitaph in the churchyard of Durham
cathedral lays stress on this point:
"If you have any respect
for uncommon industry and merit,
regard this place,
in which are deposited the remains of
Mr. Robert Dodsley;
who, as an Authour, raised himself
much above what could have been expected
from one in his rank in life,
and without a learned education;
... ... ... ..."
Quarto.
COLLATION: _11 pp._
SAMUEL JOHNSON
(1709-1784)
50. A | Dictionary | Of The | English Language: | [Ten lines] By
Samuel Johnson, A.M. | In Two Volumes | Vol. I. | [Quotation] London,
| Printed by W. Strahan, | For J. and P. Knapton; T. and T. Longman;
C. Hitch and L. Hawes; | A. Millar; and R. and J. Dodsley. | MDCCLV.
Robert Dodsley first suggested to Johnson that a dictionary of
the English language would take well with the public; though
Johnson afterward told Boswell that he had long thought of it
himself. But it was Dodsley who, in accordance with the
custom of the time of placing books under the patronage of
an influential person, suggested the Earl of Chesterfield as
patron for the work; and Johnson addressed him as such in _The
Plan Of A Dictionary Of The English Language; Addreſſed to
the Right Honourable Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield: ...
London_, 1747, a pamphlet of thirty-four pages.
This step eventually led to the letter called by Carlyle "the
far famed blast of doom proclaiming into the ears of Lord
Chesterfield, and through him to the listening world, that
patronage should be no more." For the Earl was tardy in
acknowledging the inscription (his commendatory letters did
not appear until the November and December issues of _The
World_, 1754), and did little to encourage the enterprise;
"Upon which," said the irritated author, "I wrote him a letter
expressed in civil terms, but such as might show him that I
did not mind what he said or wrote, and I had done with him."
It was dated February 7, 1755, and ends with the famous words:
"Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern upon a
man struggling for life in the water, and when he has reached
ground encumbers him with help?"
Johnson undertook his great work single-handed, expecting
to finish it in three years; but the labor was enormous, and
eight years were consumed (the work appeared on February
20, 1755), though not all of the time was spent upon the
Dictionary, for he was editor of _The Rambler_, also, at this
period. In this connection his own words written at the end
of the Preface are: "I have protracted my work till moſt
of thoſe whom I wiſhed to pleaſe have ſunk into the
grave, and ſucceſs and miſcarriage are empty ſounds:
I therefore diſmiſs it with frigid tranquillity, having
little to fear or hope from cenſure or from praiſe."
The _A.M._ after the author's name was procured for him
at Oxford through the good offices of his friend, the
poet-laureate, Thomas Warton, since it "was thought desirable
that these letters should appear on the title-page of the
dictionary for the credit both of himself and the university."
The publishers whose names are given in the imprint were joint
proprietors of the work, having paid Johnson 1575l. for the
copyright. "The payment included the whole work of preparing
for the press; and Johnson lost 20l. on one occasion for a
transcription of some leaves which had been written on both
sides. He employed six amanuenses, five of whom, as Boswell is
glad to record, were Scotsmen ... they received 23s. a week,
which he agreed to raise to 2l. 2s., not, it is to be hoped,
out of the 1,575l." Boswell would lead us to think that even
if these extras did come out of Johnson's pocket, he was not
dissatisfied. "I once said to him, "I am sorry, sir, you did
not get more for your Dictionary." His answer was "I am
sorry too. But it was very well. The booksellers are generous
liberal-minded men.""
To Andrew Millar fell the responsibility of seeing the book
through the press; and his patience, we are told, was sorely
tried by Johnson's dilatoriness. When the last sheet was
brought to him, he exclaimed: "Thank God I have done with
him!" This was repeated to Johnson, who said, with a smile: "I
am glad that he thanks God for anything."
Folio.
COLLATION: _Two volumes. Without pagination._
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
(1706-1790)
51. Poor Richard improved: | Being An | Almanack | And | Ephemeris
| [Eight lines] For The | Year of our Lord 1758: | [Ten lines] By
Richard Saunders, Philom. | Philadelpeia: | Printed and Sold by B.
Franklin; and D. Hall. [1757.]
Franklin says in his _Autobiography_:
"In 1732 I first publish'd my Almanack, under the name of
_Richard Saunders_; it was continu'd by me about twenty-five
years, commonly call'd _Poor Richard's Almanac_. I endeavor'd
to make it both entertaining and useful, and it accordingly
came to be in such demand, that I reap'd considerable profit
from it, vending annually near ten thousand...." The price
was five pence. So great was its popularity that it was found
necessary to issue three editions in the first month. In 1747
we are told in a note, "This Almanack us'd to contain but 24
Pages, and now has 36; yet the Price is very little advanc'd,"
and to fit the new conditions the title was changed to _Poor
Richard Improved_.
The _Almanac_, whose title-page is here facsimiled, was the
last of the series edited by Franklin. A collection of the
proverbial sentences which had "filled all the little spaces
that occur'd between the remarkable days in the calendar" in
former issues, were collected into one speech, supposed to be
delivered by an old man, named _Father Abraham_, to the
people at an auction sale. "The bringing all these scatter'd
counsells thus into a focus enabled them to make a greater
impression." The discourse was quickly reprinted, and is
famous now under various titles, _The Speech of Father
Abraham_; _The Way to Wealth_, and _La science du bonhomme
Richard_. It has been translated and reprinted oftener "than
any other work from an American pen." "Seventy editions of
it," says Mr. Paul L. Ford, "have been printed in English,
fifty-six in French, eleven in German, and nine in Italian.
It has been translated into Spanish, Danish, Swedish, Welsh,
Polish, Gaelic, Russian, Bohemian, Dutch, Catalan, Chinese,
Modern Greek and Phonetic writing. It has been printed at
least four hundred times, and is to-day as popular as ever."
Franklin borrowed for his pseudonym the name of an English
"philomath" of the seventeenth century, because, as he says,
he knew "that his name would hardly give it [the _Almanack_]
currency among readers who still looked upon it as dealing in
magic, witchcraft and astrology."
In 1747 or 1748 our author-printer entered into partnership
with David Hall, who took the sole management of the business
until 1766, when the firm was dissolved.
Octavo.
COLLATION: _36 pp._
SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE
(1723-1780)
52. Commentaries | On The | Laws | Of | England. | Book The First. |
By | William Blackstone, Esq. | [Three lines] Oxford, | Printed At The
Clarendon Press. | M.DCC.LXV. [--M.DCC.LXIX.]
The story of the publication of Blackstone's lectures, as
Professor of Law at Oxford, reminds us of Bacon's "orchard
ill-neighbored." The author relates the circumstances in his
preface: "For the truth is, that the preſent publication is
as much the effect of neceſſity, as it is of choice. The
notes which were taken by his hearers, haue by ſome of them
(too partial to his favour) been thought worth reuiſing and
tranſcribing, and theſe tranſcripts haue been frequently
lent to others. Hence copies haue been multiplied, in their
nature imperfect, if not erroneous; ſome of which haue
fallen into mercenary hands, and become the object of
clandeſtine ſale. Having therefore ſo much reaſon to
apprehend a ſurreptitious impreſſion, he choſe rather
to ſubmit his own errors to the world, than to ſeem
anſwerable for thoſe of other men."
The volumes were not all issued at once, but followed one
another at different times during a period of four years. They
were printed at the Clarendon Press, which Blackstone, when
appointed a delegate in 1755, had "found languishing in a lazy
obscurity," and whose quickening was in no small measure due
to his "repeated conferences with the most eminent masters, in
London and other places, with regard to the mechanical part
of printing," his recommendations, and to his own examples of
good typography supplied in the _Magna Charta_, published in
1759, and in this his _magnum opus_.
The wonderful success of the work is attested by the number
of its editions. A second was issued in 1768, and six more
appeared before the author's death. From then until now, it
has been frequently reprinted. Blackstone is reputed to have
received from the sale of the _Commentaries_, and from his
lectures, about £14,000.
Quarto.
COLLATION: _Four volumes._
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
(1728-1774)
53. The | Vicar | Of | Wakefield: | A Tale. | Suppoſed to be
written by Himself. | Sperate miſeri, cavete f[oe]lices. | Vol.
I. Salisbury: | Printed by B. Collins, | For F. Newbery, in
Pater-Noſter-Row, London. | MDCCLXVI.
Boswell, Mrs. Piozzi, Sir John Hawkins and others have given
slightly different versions of the well-known story of the
sale of the manuscript of the _Vicar_; but aside from throwing
light on the character of Goldsmith, none of them have
helped us to a definite understanding of the transaction. The
earliest account was written by Mrs. Piozzi in 1786, under the
title of _Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., during
the last Twenty Years of his Life_. At pp. 119-120 she says:
"I have forgotten the year, but it could scarcely I think be
later than 1765 or 1766, that he [Johnson] was called abruptly
from our house after dinner, and returning in about three
hours, ſaid, he had been with an enraged author, whose
landlady pressed him for payment within doors, while the
bailiffs beset him without; that he was drinking himself drunk
with Madeira to drown care, and fretting over a novel which
when finished was to be his whole fortune; but he could not
get it done for distraction, nor could he step out of doors to
offer it to sale. Mr. Johnson therefore set away the bottle,
and went to the bookseller, recommending the performance, and
desiring some immediate relief, which when he brought back
to the writer, he called the woman of the house directly to
partake of punch, and pass the time in merriment."
Boswell adds, in his account, that Johnson sold the novel for
£60. There seems to be no evidence to prove this, nor yet to
show who bought it. It has generally been supposed that the
publisher, "F. Newbery," or his uncle, John Newbery, with whom
he was inseparably connected, was the purchaser, until Mr.
Charles Welsh made the discovery which he relates in his _A
Bookseller of the Last Century_. He says:
"In a book marked 'Account of copies, their cost and value,
1764,' I find the following entry:--"'Vicar of Wakefield,'
2 vols. 12mo., 1/3 rd. B. Collins, Salisbury, bought of Dr.
Goldsmith, the author, October 28, 1762, £21.""
From this entry of Collins, the Salisbury printer, we may
conclude that the amount Johnson is said to have received for
the distressed author (from Newbery, perhaps) was an advance
on the unfinished story; and that Collins bought his third
interest some time afterward. In 1785, when Collins sold out
his interest, Mr. Strahan owned one third, and Carnan and
Newbery the other third.
There are several circumstances, besides the date given by
Collins, which show that the _Vicar_ was sold, in whole or in
part, at least four years before it was published, and not a
few months before, as Mrs. Piozzi thought. The occasion for
the delay has been explained in various ways. One explanation
is that it was held back until the _Traveller_, which came out
in 1765, should have increased the author's reputation. It may
have been, as Johnson told Boswell, that the publishers were
afraid that the book would not sell. Certainly the results
would seem to bear them out in any doubts they may have had of
its financial success. Mr. Welsh says:
"All the writers who have spoken of the "Vicar of Wakefield"
have jumped to the conclusion that it brought a golden harvest
to its publishers.... The first three editions ... resulted in
a loss and the fourth, which was not issued until eight years
after the first, started with a balance against it of £2 16s.
6d., and it was not until the fourth edition had been sold
that the balance came out on the right side."
After being three months in the press, the book appeared March
27, 1766. The advertisement in the _Public Advertiser_ reads:
"This Day is publiſhed, In two Volumes in Twelves, Price
6s. bound, or 5s. ſewed, The Vicar of Wakefield, A Tale.
Supposed to be written by Himself. 'Seperate [ſic] miſere
cavete f[oe]lices.' Printed for F. Newbery, at the Crown in
Pater-Noſter Row, of whom may be had, Price 1s. 6d. The
Traveller, or, a Proſpect of Society, a Poem. By Dr.
Goldsmith." The author's name was signed to the preface, or
"Advertisement" of the book, so it was not really anonymous,
as the title-page and newspaper advertisement would lead us
to think. If it was not a financial success the tale seems to
have met with popular favor. The second edition, bearing the
imprint _London: Printed for F. Newbery, in Pater-Noster-Row,
MDCCLXVI._, was issued May 31, and the third on August 29.
Ninety-six editions were issued before 1886, and there are
translations in every European language.