about issuing the criticism of _Hyperion_ with this volume, as
he planned to do in the letter to Ollier. "It is my intention
to subjoin to the London edition of this poem, a criticism
upon the claims of its lamented object to be classed among the
writers of the highest genius who have adorned our age." No
London edition is known, however.
The poem was first printed in England in the columns of
the _Literary Chronicle_ for December 1, 1821, where it was
appended to a review; but in this form stanzas XIX to XXIV
were omitted. The earliest separate reprint bears the impress
_Cambridge: Printed by W. Metcalfe, and sold by Messrs. Gee &
Bridges, Market-Hill_. MDCCCXXIX.
Two quotations from an interesting unpublished letter,
belonging to a member of the Grolier Club, show that Ollier,
who had been the publisher of most of Shelley's works, had
copies of the Pisa book for sale, shortly after it was
issued; the letter is addressed to "Meſs^r. Ollier & Co.,
Booksellers Vere Street, Bond St., London, Angleterre," and
reads:
"Bagni. July 27. 1821
"DEAR SIR
"I send you the bill of lading of the box containing Adonais:
and I send also a copy to yourself by M^r. Gisborne who
probably will arrive before the Ship.... The work I send you,
has been seen in print by M^r. Gisborne, & has excited, as it
must in every one, the deepest interest.
"Dear Sir, Yours very truly
"P. B. SHELLEY."
Quarto.
COLLATION: _25 pp._
CHARLES LAMB
(1775-1834)
74. Elia. | Essays Which Have Appeared Under That Signature | In The
| London Magazine. | London: | Printed For Taylor And Hessey, |
Fleet-Street. | 1823.
"Poor Elia," says Lamb in a letter to the publisher, Taylor,
under date of July 30, 1821, "Poor Elia, the real (for I am
but a counterfeit), is dead. The fact is, a person of that
name, an Italian, was a fellow-clerk of mine at the South
Sea House thirty (not forty) years ago, when the characters
I described there existed, but had left it like myself many
years; and I, having a brother now there, and doubting how he
might relish certain descriptions in it, I clapt down the name
of Elia to it, which passed off pretty well, for Elia himself
added the function of an author to that of a scrivener, like
myself.
"I went the other day (not having seen him for a year) to
laugh over with him at my usurpation of his name, and found
him, alas! no more than a name, for he died of consumption
eleven months ago, and I knew not of it.
"So the name has fairly devolved to me, I think, and 'tis all
he has left me."
In this way our author himself accounts for the pseudonym,
which, by the way, he says should be pronounced "Ellia."
The _London Magazine, London: Printed for Baldwin, Cradock,
And Joy_, was established in January, 1820; but Taylor and
Hessey did not become its proprietors until July of the
following year, when Taylor, who was something of a writer
himself, especially on monetary subjects, acted as editor,
with Thomas Hood as sub-editor. John Scott, whom Byron
described as "a man of very considerable talents and of great
acquirements," had been called to the editorship when Lamb
began his essays, and William Hazlitt was on the staff.
The first of the series appeared in the August number,
1820, and the papers continued until October, 1822, when,
twenty-seven having been issued, they, with one other called
_Valentine's Day_, which had appeared in the _Indicator_ for
February, 1821, were collected to form this volume.
When the book was in press Lamb thought to use a dedication,
which he wrote and sent to Taylor with the following note,
dated December 7, 1822:
"Dear Sir--I should like the enclosed Dedication to be
printed, unless you dislike it. I like it. It is in the olden
style. But if you object to it, put forth the book as it is;
only pray don't let the printer mistake the word _curt_ for
_curst_.
C. L.
"On better consideration, pray omit that Dedication. The
Essays want no Preface: they are _all Preface_. A Preface is
nothing but a talk with the reader; and they do nothing else.
Pray omit it.
"There will be a sort of Preface in the next Magazine, which
may act as an advertisement, but not proper for the volume.
"Let Elia come forth bare as he was born."
The label on the paper-covered boards gives the price of the
volume as 9s. 6d., a fairish price for the neat, but in no way
remarkable piece of book-making which Thomas Davison executed
for the publishers.
Some copies of the first edition show a variation in the
imprint: Messrs. Taylor and Hessey having opened a new shop at
13, Waterloo Place, this address was printed in a line below
the old one. Occasion was also taken, at this time, to furnish
the book with a half-title.
Octavo.
COLLATION: _iv, 341 pp._
SAMUEL PEPYS
(1633-1703)
75. Memoirs | Of | Samuel Pepys, Esq. F.R.S. | [Two lines] Comprising
| His Diary | From 1659-1669, | Deciphered By The Rev. John Smith,
A.B. Of St. John's College, Cambridge, | From The Original Short-Hand
MS. In The Pepysian Library, | [Two lines] [Copy of one of Pepys's
book-plates] Edited By | Richard, Lord Braybrooke. | In Two Volumes. |
Vol. I. | London: | Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street. | MDCCCXXV.
To the information given on the title-page, the noble editor
adds some further facts in a preface. He says that the six
volumes, closely written in short-hand by Pepys himself, had
formed a part of the collection of books and prints bequeathed
to Magdalen College, where they had remained unexamined (from
the date of Pepys's death) until the appointment of Lord
Braybrooke's brother, George Neville, afterwards called
Grenville, as master of the College. Under Neville's auspices
they were deciphered by Mr. Smith, whom his lordship had not
the pleasure of knowing.
Pepys used short-hand for his notes because he often had
things to say which he did not think fit for all the world to
know; and Lord Braybrooke found it "absolutely necessary" to
"curtail the MS. materially." The complete journal, all that
it is possible to print, was not issued until 1893.
Colburn, the publisher, known for his successful ventures, and
especially for the series called _Colburn's Modern Standard
Novelists_ and _The Literary Gazette_, containing works by
Bulwer Lytton, Lady Morgan, Captain Marryat, and others, had
been so fortunate with an issue of Evelyn's _Diary_ that he
was led into the present undertaking. With this edition, which
sold at six pounds six shillings, and with two succeeding
editions selling at five guineas, he is reputed to have made a
handsome profit on the twenty-two hundred pounds paid for the
copyright.
The large volumes with their broad margins are handsome
specimens of the excellent typographical work of the Bentleys.
They are embellished with two illustrations in the text,
and thirteen engraved plates. A frontispiece portrait of the
author, after the painting by Kneller, was engraved by T.
Bragg, and a smaller portrait used as a head-piece to the
Life is signed _R. W. ſculp_. This last is a copy of one of
Pepys's book-plates; it has the motto "Mens cujusque is est
Quisque" above the oval frame, and "Sam. Pepys. Car. Et.
Iac. Angl. Regib. A. Secretis Admiraliæ" in two lines below.
Another book-plate used by the Secretary is copied on the
title-page. Of the remaining portraits, one was engraved by
John Thomson, while five were the work of R. Cooper, who also
engraved the "View of the Mole at Tangier" and the "View of
Mr. Pepys' Library." The other plates, including one showing
facsimiles of Pepys's short- and long-hand; two of pedigrees,
and a folded map, are signed "Sid^y. Hall, Bury Str^t.
Bloomsb^y."
Some copies of the book on fine paper, with beautiful
impressions of the plates, are marked in red on the half-title
page, "Presentation Copies."
Quarto.
COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _1 l., xlii, 498, xlix pp._
Volume II: _2 ll., 348, vii, 311 pp. Seven portraits. Six plates._
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
(1789-1851)
76. The Last | Of | The Mohicans; | A Narrative Of | 1757. | By The
Author Of "The Pioneers." [Quotation] In Two Volumes. | Vol. I. |
Philadelphia: | H. C. Carey & I. Lea--Chestnut-Street. | 1826.
_The Pioneers_ was the first of _The Leather Stocking Tales_.
It appeared in 1823, and was an immediate success; more than
3500 copies are said to have been sold before noon of the
day of publication. This was reason enough for following the
custom of the English novelists of putting on the title-page,
not the name of the author, but the name of his first success.
_The Last of the Mohicans_ appeared February 4, 1826, and was
also a prodigious success.
The surprising meagerness of bibliographical facts concerning
Cooper's works is, Professor Lounsbury says in his life of
the novelist, characteristic of a reticence and dislike of
publicity which extended to all his dealings. "The size of the
editions has never been given to the public. The sale of 'The
Pioneers' on the morning of its publication has already been
noticed, and there are contemporary newspaper statements to
the effect that the first edition of 'The Red Rover' consisted
of five thousand copies, and that this was exhausted in a few
days. But it was only from incidental references of this kind,
which can rarely be relied upon absolutely, that we, at this
late day, are able to give any specific information whatever.
"He was unquestionably helped in the end, however, by what in
the beginning threatened to be a serious if not insuperable
obstacle. He was unable to get any one concerned in the book
trade to assume the risk of bringing out 'The Spy.' That had
to be taken by the author himself. In the case of this novel,
we know positively that Cooper was not only the owner of the
copyright, but of all the edition; that he gave directions
as to the terms on which the work was to be furnished to the
booksellers, while the publishers, Wiley & Halsted, had
no direct interest in it, and received their reward by a
commission. It is evident that under this arrangement his
profits on the sale were far larger than would usually be the
case. Whether he followed the same method in any of his later
productions, there seems to be no method of ascertaining.
Wiley, however, until his death, continued to be his
publisher. 'The Last of the Mohicans' went into the hands
of Carey & Lea of Philadelphia, and this firm, under various
changes of name, continued to bring out the American edition
of his novels until the year 1844."
Henry Charles Carey, son of Matthew Carey, was as celebrated
for his writings on political economy as for his connection
with this publishing house, which was one of the largest in
the country.
Duodecimo.
COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _262 pp._ Volume II: _260 pp._
WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR
(1775-1864)
77. Pericles And Aspasia | By | Walter Savage Landor, Esq. | In Two
Volumes. | Vol. I. | London | Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street. |
1836.
These volumes were issued in three or more styles of binding:
paper-covered boards, straight-grain dull green cloth, and
half roan with brown glazed paper boards all with paper
labels. The publishers' advertisements, two leaves at the end
of Vol. II. are the same with each style of binding.
This work was written by Landor during his residence at
Fiesole, but it was published after his return to England. His
own choleric temperament and irascible manner unfitted him for
personal dealings with publishers, as he had found from past
experiences, and so the arrangements for this publication were
intrusted to his friend Mr. G. P. R. James, the novelist, who
sold the manuscript to Saunders and Otley for £100.
The following unpublished letter of Landor's, belonging to
a member of the Grolier Club, is interesting as referring to
this transaction.
"MY DEAR SIR:
"When I offered my Pericles to MM. Saunders & Otley I did not
suppose there was more than enough for one volume, the size of
the Examination of Shakspeare. They told you it would form two
volumes of that size. Knowing that I had material for thirty
pages more, I said that if they would make the first vol: 300
pp. I would take care that the second should not fall short
of it more than a dozen pages. Now I have sent them not thirty
but a hundred--and they tell me to-day that there is not
remaining, for the second volume, more than 175 pp. I have,
you perceive, already sent above one third more than what I
calculated the whole at, when you had the kindness to make the
agreement for me.
"In reply to their letter I have said that, if they will give
me fifty pounds more, I will send one hundred more pages, 50
within three weeks, 50 more in the three following; and if
this does not appear equitable to them I leave it entirely to
you. I shall then have given them 200 pp. for fifty pounds,
when I offered them only 285 for a hundred. It will be my
business to take care that the remainder shall fall as
little short as possible of the preceding. I have furthermore
stipulated for twenty copies. Many of these will take nothing
from the profits, as more than a dozen will be given to people
who certainly would not have bought them, and who are not
likely to lend them.
"A friend has offered me some pheasants, which I have desired
to be sent to you. I hope they will please the young lion with
their plumage. The first of Feb. I set out for Clifton: an old
favorite of mine for winter and spring. I have requested MM
Saunders to favour me with two (I should be glad of three)
copies of the first volume as my friend Ablett's birthday is
on the 31 of this month, and mine on the 30, and I have three
friends to whom it would delight me to give them before I
leave Wales. With best compliments to Mrs. James, believe me
ever,
"Yrs very sincerely
"W. S. LANDOR
"LLAMBEDR, Jan. 18 [1836]
"I have seen the last sheet of Vol. I, but not the short
Preface sent from London.
"How can you complain of your English. There is hardly a fault
to be found in the 3 volumes. I have read them a second time.
"G. P. R. James, Esq.
"1 Lloyds Buildings
"Blackheath
"London"
The work appeared during the early part of 1836, and though
it was received with much praise by his friends, and had many
favorable reviews, the sale dragged. In October of the same
year, Landor, in one of his letters to Forster, refers to an
unfavorable review which appeared in _Blackwood_: "... I am
not informed how long this Scotchman has been at work about
me, but my publisher has advised me, that he loses £150. by my
_Pericles_. So that it is probable the Edinburgh Areopagites
have condemned me to a fine in my absence; for I never can
allow any man to be a loser by me, and am trying to economise
to the amount of this indemnity to Saunders and Otley...."
The money was in fact paid back, and yet, curiously enough,
as Forster relates, Landor not only forgot, three years later,
that he had received a payment for the copyright, but even
that he himself had sent back the money, and was making
further remittances to satisfy the supposed loss. This was
stopped by a statement from Mr. Saunders, to which Landor
refers in a letter to Forster: "Never, in the course of
my life, was I so surprised as at the _verification_ of my
account with Saunders; for such it is. Certain I am that no
part of the money was ever spent by me, nor can I possibly
bring to mind either the receiving or the returning of it...."
The first American edition of _Pericles and Aspasia_, in
two volumes, was published by Carey, Philadelphia, 1839, the
second English edition in 1849, and there have been frequent
editions since, both in England and in America.
Duodecimo.
COLLATION: _Two Volumes._ Volume I: _viii, 299 pp._
Volume II: _viii, 343 pp._
CHARLES DICKENS
(1812-1870)
78. The | Posthumous Papers | Of | The Pickwick Club. | By Charles
Dickens. | With | Forty-three illustrations by R. Seymour and | Phiz.
| London: | Chapman and Hall, 186, Strand. | MDCCCXXXVII.
An advertisement in the _Times_ for March 26, 1836, reads:
"THE PICKWICK PAPERS.--On the 31st of March will be published,
to be continued monthly, price One Shilling, the first number
of the Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, containing
a faithful record of the Perambulations, Perils, Travels,
Adventures, and Sporting Transactions of the Corresponding
Members. Edited by Boz. Each monthly Part embellished with
four Illustrations by Seymour. Chapman & Hall, 186 Strand, and
of all booksellers."
Robert Seymour, a caricaturist, and the illustrator of such
works as _The Odd Volume_, _The Looking Glass_, and _Humorous
Sketches_, had been employed by Chapman and Hall to illustrate
a comic publication called _The Squib Annual_; and this
led him to suggest that he should make a series of Cockney
sporting plates which could be furnished with letter-press.
Hall applied to Dickens, then an unknown newspaper man, for
the text, a "something which should be a vehicle for certain
plates to be executed by Mr. Seymour." Dickens says of this
proposition: "I objected.... My views being deferred to, I
thought of Mr. Pickwick, and wrote the first number; from the
proof-sheets of which Mr. Seymour made his drawing of the
Club and his happy portrait of its founder. I connected Mr.
Pickwick with a club, because of the original suggestion; and
I put in Mr. Winkle expressly for the use of Mr. Seymour."
The work came out in twenty parts (parts nineteen and twenty
were bound together), beginning in April, 1836, and ending
with November, 1837. They were covered in light green paper
bordered with a design by Seymour, and engraved by John
Jackson, a pupil of Bewick and Hervey. The title reads, _The
Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club_ [_Five lines_] _Edited
by "Boz. With Illustrations...."_
The publication of the second number was delayed by the
suicide of Seymour, whose mind gave way from overwork. This
sad event was announced to the public in a note, and an
apology was offered for the reduction of the number of plates
from four to three. "When we state that they comprise Mr.
Seymour's last efforts, and that on one of them, in particular
(the embellishment of the Stroller's Tale), he was engaged
up to a late hour of the night preceding his death, we feel
confident that the excuse will be deemed a sufficient one."
The third and succeeding numbers contained two plates each.
Those in the third part were originally executed by Robert
Buss, who learned to etch in order to produce them. But he
gave up the work, and his plates were replaced in later
issues by others by Hablot K. Browne, or "Phiz," who did the
remaining plates. The last or double part contained three
plates and an engraved title-page. With it subscribers
received also the printed title-page, dedication, preface,
contents, Directions to the Binder and Table of Errata.
In the eighteenth number, dated September 29, 1837, the
following important announcement appears:
"The subscribers to this work and the trade are respectfully
informed that Nos. XIX. and XX. (with titles, contents, &c.)
will be published together on 1^{st} of November; and that the
complete volume, neatly bound in cloth, price one guinea, will
be ready for delivery by the 14^{th} of that month, and for
which country producers are requested to send early orders to
their respective agents."
The venture was almost a failure at first, and it was not
until the appearance of Sam Weller, with the fifth number,
that the bookbinder, who had prepared four hundred copies of
the first number, was obliged to increase the supply. From
this time on, the demand grew until the enormous output of
forty thousand was reached with the fifteenth number.
There are differences in the various accounts of the amount
Dickens was to receive for his work. A letter from the
publishers to him mentions their terms as nine guineas a
sheet for each part consisting of a sheet and a half; fifteen
guineas a number was the sum as stated by Mr. Edward Chapman
to Mr. Forster; and Dickens himself, in a letter to Miss
Hogarth, afterwards his wife, says, fourteen pounds a month.
During publication, he received in checks from the publishers
£3000. In 1837 Chapman & Hall agreed that after five years he
should have a share in the copyright, on consideration that
he write a similar book for which he was to receive £3000,
besides having the whole copyright after five years. Forster
thinks the author received, in all, £25,000, while the
publishers' profits during the three years from 1836 to 1839
are said to have amounted to £14,000 on the sale of the work
in numbers alone.
Chapman & Hall issued the book in volume form in 1837, at
twenty-one shillings.
Mr. Frederic G. Kitton says:
"There are probably not more than a dozen copies of the first
edition of "Pickwick" in existence. An examination of a number
of impressions presumably of this edition results in the
discovery of slight variations both in plates and text. These
are especially noticeable in the illustrations, for, owing to
the enormous demand, the plates were re-etched directly they
showed signs of deterioration in the printing, and "Phiz," in
reproducing his designs, sometimes altered them slightly. The
earliest impressions of the work may be distinguished by
the absence of engraved titles on the plates, and by their
containing the _original_ etchings by Seymour and Buss, not
"Phiz's" _replicas_ of them."
Octavo.
COLLATION: _xiv pp., 1 l., 609 pp. Forty-five plates, including
engraved title-page._
THOMAS CARLYLE
(1795-1881)
79. Sartor Resartus. | In Three Books. | Reprinted for Friends from
Fraser's Magazine. | [Quotation] London: | James Fraser, 215 Regent
Street. | M.DCCC.XXXIV.
Carlyle went up to London with _Teufelsdröckh_ in his satchel,
to find a publisher for it. He put much confidence in the help
of his friend Francis Jeffrey, the lord advocate, who exerted
himself chiefly to establish relations between the author and
John Murray.
Mrs. Carlyle, at home in Craigenputtoch, received the
following letter from her husband, August 11, 1831:
"... After a time by some movements, I got the company
dispersed, and the Advocate by himself, and began to take
counsel with him about 'Teufelsdröckh.' He thought Murray, in
spite of the Radicalism, would be the better publisher; to him
accordingly he gave me a line, saying that I was a genius and
would likely become eminent;... I directly set off with this
to Albemarle Street; found Murray out; returned afterwards
and found him in, gave an outline of the book, at which the
Arimaspian smiled, stated also that I had nothing else to
do here but the getting of it published, and was above all
anxious that his decision should be given soon...."
On the 22d he wrote again:
"On Saturday morning I set out for Albemarle Street. Murray,
as usual, was not in; but an answer lay for me--my poor
'Teufelsdröckh,' wrapped in new paper, with a letter stuck
under the packthread. I took it with a silent fury, and walked
off. The letter said he regretted exceedingly, etc.; all his
literary friends were out of town; he himself occupied with a
sick family in the country; that he had conceived the finest
hope, etc. In short, that 'Teufelsdröckh' had never been
looked into; but that if I would let him keep it for a month,
he would _then_ be able to say a word, and by God's blessing a
favorable one.
"I walked on through Regent Street and looked in upon James
Fraser, the bookseller. We got to talk about 'Teufelsdröckh,'
when, after much hithering and thithering about the black
state of trade, &c., it turned out that honest James would
publish the book for me on this principle: if I would give
_him_ a sum not exceeding 150 l. sterling! 'I think you had
better wait a little,' said an Edinburgh advocate to me since,
when he heard of this proposal. 'Yes,' I answered, 'it is
my purpose to wait to the end of eternity for it.' 'But the
public will not buy books.' 'The public has done the wisest
thing it could, and ought never more to buy what they call
books.'
"Spurning at destiny, yet in the mildest terms taking leave of
Fraser, I strode through the street carrying 'Teufelsdröckh'
openly in my hand.... Having rested a little, I set out again
to the Longmans, to hear what they had to say."
The Longmans, "honest, rugged, punctual-looking people," said
little to the point, however, and then, through Lord Jeffrey's
efforts in his behalf, Murray offered as follows: "The short
of it is this: Murray will print an edition (750 copies) of
Dreck on the half-profit system (that is, I getting _nothing_,
but also giving nothing); after which the sole copyright of
the book is to be mine...."