Bibliographic Notes on One Hundred Books Famous in English Literature

Chapter III: Part 3

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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?)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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:

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)

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_.

EDMUND WALLER

(1606-1687)

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:

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)

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)

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.

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)

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)

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)

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:

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.

The chief point of interest in all these variations lies in
the fact that Peter Parker, not Simmons, issued the first
volumes. As we have pointed out above, the theory has been
advanced that the owner of the copyright was timid about
avowing his connection with the poet. A more natural reason
would seem to be that he was unable to print the book at
first, through losses, in the Fire perhaps, of presses and
types. Such a theory would seem to derive weight from the fact
that the issues of 1668 and 1669 which bear his name do not
give an address, and it is not until the second edition
of 1674 that we find him "next door to the Golden Lion in
Aldersgate-ſtreet."

The original selling price of the volume was three shillings.
The prices now vary according to the sequence of the
title-pages. A copy of the first issue sold in New York in
1901 for eight hundred and thirty dollars.

The volume has no introductory matter, but begins at once with
the lines "Of Mans Firſt Diſobedience"; Simmons added the
following note to the second edition: "There was no Argument
at firſt intended to the Book, but for the ſatisfaction of
many that have deſired it, is procured." The printer adopted
a very useful custom in numbering the lines of the poem. He
set the figures down by tens in the margin, within the double
lines that frame the text.

Quarto. The first edition with the first title-page.

COLLATION: _Two leaves without signatures; A-Z, and Aa-Vv2,
in fours. Without pagination._

JOHN BUNYAN

(1628-1688)

In 1672 Bunyan was released from the gaol, which, possibly
with a brief interval, had been his "close and uncomfortable"
home for twelve years; and Ponder, who, for his connection
with his famous client, was called "Bunyan's Ponder," entered
the imperishable story, written in "similitudes," at the
Stationers' Hall, December 22, 1677. The customary fee of
sixpence being duly paid, early in the following year the
book was licensed, and soon after published at one shilling
sixpence.

Its success was very great: the first year saw a second
edition, and the year following a third, each with important
additions.

Southey stated, in 1830, when he put out a new edition of the
book, that there was no copy of the first edition known, but
since then five have been unearthed, two of which are perfect.

The portrait of Bunyan engraved by Robert White makes our copy
unique. It shows the author lying asleep over a lion's den,
while above him Christian is represented on his journey. Until
1886, when this volume was brought to light, the third edition
was supposed to be the first to have a picture of the author;
but now it seems quite certain that other volumes of the first
edition may, like this, have had the print. In the edition
of 1679, the label of the city from which the Pilgrim
was journeying, called "Vanity" here, was changed to
"Destruction."

The price paid for this volume, when it was sold at auction in
1901, was fourteen hundred and seventy-five pounds.

The second part of the _Pilgrim's Progress_ appeared in 1684.
It depends more upon reflected than intrinsic merit; but
copies of the first edition are even rarer than those of the
first edition of the first part.

Octavo.

COLLATION: _A-Q3, in eights. Portrait._

JOHN DRYDEN

(1631-1700)

The Earl of Shaftesbury, here typified as Achitophel for his
share in the conspiracy to place the young Duke of Monmouth,
Absalom, on the throne, was committed to the Tower in July,
1681; and this satire appeared in November, just before the
Grand Jury acquitted him. Notwithstanding the lateness of the
work, its success was unprecedented. We are told that Samuel
Johnson's father, a bookseller of Litchfield, said that he
could not remember a sale of equal rapidity, except that of
the reports of the Sacheverell trial.

The author's name does not appear in the book; nor yet in the
second edition, to which Tonson added two unsigned poems "To
the unknown author."

Jacob Tonson, the publisher of the work, was one of the
notable figures in the annals of book-publishing in England,
and his name is inseparably connected with some of the most
important literary ventures of the period: with those of
Milton, Addison, Steele, Congreve, but above all with those of
Dryden. Basil Kennett wrote in 1696: "Twill be as impossible
to think of Virgil without Mr. Dryden, as of either without
Mr. Tonson." He was so poor when he began business that he
is said to have borrowed the twenty pounds necessary to the
purchase of the first play of Dryden's that he published; but,
thanks to his shrewdness, and to the success of his ventures,
he died in affluent circumstances, having fully earned the
title of "prince of booksellers." He was the founder of the
famous Kit-Cat Club, and in spite of Dryden's ill-tempered
lines,

"With leering looks, bull-faced and freckled fair,
With two left legs, with Judas-coloured hair,
And frowsy pores that taint the ambient air,"

he was not unliked by his clients and friends.

The only decoration in the book consists of a head-band
preceding the poem, and an initial letter. In some copies the
head-band is pieced out to the width of the type page with
small ornaments.

Folio.

COLLATION: _Two leaves without signatures; B-I, in twos._

JOHN LOCKE

(1632-1704)

Locke's two previous works had been issued anonymously; but
this book, while it has no name on the title-page, has the
author's name signed at the foot of the dedication to Thomas,
Earl of Pembroke; a dedication of such fulsome compliment that
even Pope, who called Locke his philosophic master, is said to
have thought he could never forgive it. In the first edition,
that appeared early in the year, the dedication is not dated,
but "Dorset Court, May 24, 1689," appears in all the following
issues.

Basset paid thirty pounds for the copyright of the work, and
later agreed to give six bound copies of every subsequent
edition, and ten shillings for every sheet of additional
matter.

Some copies of the first edition have the imprint: _Printed
for Tho. Baſſet, and ſold by Edw. Mory | at the Sign
of the Three Bibles in St. Paul's Church-Yard. MDCXC._ They
probably belong to an earlier issue: the two _ss_ in _Essay_,
which were here printed upside down, were set right in
the title-pages of the issue facsimiled; and the group
of printer's ornaments, here placed irregularly, were
straightened in our copy.

In August, 1692, Locke writes: "I am happy to tell you that
a new edition of my book is called for, which, in the
present turmoil of the protestant world, I consider very
satisfactory." The month of September, 1694 brought the book
again before the public, and by the year 1800 twenty different
editions had been published.

The first edition was full of faults that the second aimed
to correct. "Beſides what is already mentioned, this
Second Edition has the Summaries of the several § §. not only
Printed, as before, in a Table by themſelves, but in the
Margent too. And at the end there is now an Index added.
Theſe two, with a great number of ſhort additions,
amendments, and alterations, are advantages of this Edition,
which the bookseller hopes will make it ſell. For as to the
larger additions and alterations, I have obliged him, and he
has promiſed me to print them by themſelves, ſo that the
former Edition may not be wholly loſt to thoſe who
have it, but by the inſerting in their proper places the
paſſages that will be imprinted alone, to that
purpoſe, the former Book may be made as little defective as
poſſible."

The amendments and alterations were printed on separate slips
of paper, which were given to purchasers of the first edition
to be pasted into their copies; certainly an ingenious if
not altogether satisfactory way of keeping abreast with the
author's mind. It must have been considered useful, however,
for the same plan was resorted to with the fourth edition.

"Our friend Dr. Locke, I am told, has made an addition to his
excellent 'Essay,' which may be had without purchasing the
whole book," said the thrifty Evelyn to the careful Pepys,
who replied: "Dr. Locke has set a useful example to future
reprinters. I hope it will be followed in books of value." A
copy of the book in the Bodleian Library, which has its little
slips all carefully pasted in, has a note on the fly-leaf,
written by its owner:

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