Bibliographic Notes on One Hundred Books Famous in English Literature

Chapter V: Part 5

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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)

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)

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)

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.

This Francis Newbery, as we have said, was nephew and
successor to John Newbery. The elder man combined a successful
business in the publishing of books with the sale of quack
medicines,--not an unusual thing in those days. His list of
nostrums contained over thirty medicines, among them being
Dr. James's Fever Powder, Dr. Steer's Oil for Convulsions, Dr.
Harper's Female Pills, and a certain Cordial Cephalic Snuff.
His book-selling ventures demand more than passing mention,
since he really introduced "the regular system of a Juvenile
Library, and gave children books in a more permanent form than
the popular chap-books of the period,"--delightful books of
which more than one writer has spoken with affection. The
general character of the stories, splendidly bound in flowered
and gilt Dutch papers, may be gathered from a few of their
titles: _The History of Little Goody Two Shoes_, _The Renowned
History of Giles Gingerbread_, and _Blossoms of Morality_.

Newbery's publishing ventures were not confined to children's
books, by any means; his name gains additional luster by
appearing on the title-pages of several of Goldsmith's works.
Francis was mostly a reflection of his enterprising uncle, but
his connection with the _Vicar of Wakefield_ will ever cause
him to be remembered.

Duodecimo.

COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _2 ll., 214 pp._ Volume II:
_1 l., 223 pp._

LAURENCE STERNE

(1713-1768)

The real journey immortalized in the story was made in
October, 1765; in December, 1767, two volumes were completed,
and on February 27, the work was published at five shillings
for the two volumes. On the eighteenth of March, Sterne died.

Yorick, in _Tristram Shandy_, was represented as an
Englishman, descended from the Yorick of Shakespeare, "a
fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy." Sterne also
used the pseudonym in his _Sermons by Mr. Yorick_, published
in 1760, so that the authorship of this book was probably
never in doubt. "The lively, witty, sensitive and heedless
parson," was, as Sir Walter Scott says, "the well-known
personification of Sterne himself."

Fitzgerald tells us in his biography of Sterne, that it was
the author's first thought to have the volume a stately quarto
with handsome margins, costing a half-guinea, but that he
finally decided to use the _Shandy_ size, which had become a
favorite with the public. The book, which is without ornament,
except for an engraving on copper of a coat of arms (Sterne's
book-plate), in the second volume, is a good specimen of the
best typography of the period. Large paper copies also
were issued. The first volume begins with a long list of
"Subscribers," the names starred being down for "Imperial
Paper."

Thomas Becket lived to be ninety-three years old, long enough,
as Charles Knight remarks, to see many revolutions in
literary taste; long enough, in fact, to see Sterne, his most
successful author, go out of fashion. He was an assistant to
Andrew Millar, before he became De Hondt's partner. It was
he who published the famous anonymous book, _The Pursuits of
Literature_ by Mathias, which had the distinction of running
into fourteen editions.

Duodecimo.

COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I, _xx, 203 pp._ Volume II,
2 _ll., 208 pp._

THE FEDERALIST

"The papers under the title of "Federalist," and signature of
"Publius," were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison,
and John Jay, in the latter part of the year 1787 and the
former part of the year 1788. The immediate object of them
was, to vindicate and recommend the new Constitution to the
State of New York, whose ratification of the instrument was
doubtful, as well as important. The undertaking was proposed
by A. Hamilton (who had probably consulted Mr. Jay and others)
to J. M., who agreed to take a part in it. The papers were
originally addressed to the people of N. York, under the
signature of a "Citizen of New York." This was changed for
that of "Publius," the first name of Valerius Publicola. A
reason for the change was, that one of the writers was not
a Citizen of that State; another, that the publication had
diffused itself among most of the other States. The papers
were first published at New York in a newspaper printed by
Francis Childs, at the rate, during great part of the time,
at least, of four numbers a week; and notwithstanding this
exertion, they were not compleated till a large proportion of
the States had decided on the Constitution. They were edited
as soon as possible in two small volumes, the preface to the
first volume, drawn up by Mr. Hamilton, bearing date N. York,
March, 1788...." This from Madison in a letter to Mr. Paulding
at Washington, dated July 24, 1818.

The first seven papers appeared under the title _The
F[oe]deralist. No. 1. To the People of the State of New York_,
in _The Independent Journal_, and many of the succeeding
numbers first came out in that paper: some were issued in _The
New York Packet_, two appeared in _The Daily Advertiser_, six
appeared simultaneously in two or more papers, and nine were
not published until the whole was collected in book form.

Mr. Paul Leicester Ford, in his _Bibliotheca Hamiltoniana_,
gives Jay credit for five numbers; "Madison numbers 10, 14, 37
to 48 inclusive; numbers 18, 19 and 20 are the joint work of
Madison and Hamilton; numbers 49 to 58, 62 and 63 are claimed
by both Madison and Hamilton; the rest of the numbers are by
Hamilton."

Duodecimo.

COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I, _vi, 227 pp._ Volume II, _vi,
384 pp._

TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT

(1721-1771)

_Roderick Random_, Smollett's first book, had appeared in
1748. The greater part of _Humphry Clinker_ was written in
the autumn of 1770, when its author was dying. He "had the
satisfaction of seeing his masterpiece, but not of hearing the
chorus of praise that greeted it."

Some copies of the first volume have, as in this instance, an
error in the date, 1671 being printed for 1771.

Collins, as we have seen, was associated with Francis Newbery
in the publication of _The Vicar of Wakefield_, and he was
also associated with nephew and uncle in the sale of Dr.
James's Fever Powder, and the manufacture of the celebrated
_Cordial Cephalic Snuff_. We are fortunate in having his
orderly and well-kept account books, in one of which is the
following entry, worthy of a place here, and at length:

From B. Collins' Publishing Book.

Account Of Books Printed, And Shares Therein.

No. 3. 1770 To 1785.

Humphrey Clinker: A Novel, 3 vols. 12mo.

Of which I have one moiety, in partnership with Mr. William
Johnston, London.

Duodecimo.

COLLATION: _Three volumes._

ADAM SMITH

(1723-1790)

It is doubtful if any English book were ever longer in being
put to press than this one. Mr. John Rae, in his life of
Smith, says he took twelve years to write it, and that it was
in contemplation twelve years before that. It was explicitly
and publicly promised in the concluding paragraph of _The
Theory of Moral Sentiments_, which appeared in 1759.

Nothing definite is known of the terms on which the author
parted with the work to his publishers, but it is thought to
have been sold outright. It is estimated that Strahan paid
five hundred pounds for the first edition, and that he
published later editions at half profit. The selling price of
the first edition was £1 16s. The edition was exhausted in six
months, but the number of copies is unknown.

Beginning as a printer, in which capacity we have already seen
him in connection with Dr. Johnson's Dictionary, Strahan rose
rapidly to eminence as a publisher, figuring prominently
in the ventures of Hume, Gibbon, Robertson, Blackstone,
and Blair. He introduced into his dealings with his clients
amenities unknown before. His pecuniary successes, as in this
case, enabled him to set up the coach which Dr. Johnson said
was a credit to literature.

Quarto.

COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _6 ll., 510 pp._ Volume II:
_2 ll., 587 pp._

EDWARD GIBBON

(1737-1794)

We are fortunate in having an account of the publication of
this work written by Gibbon himself. In June, 1775, he says:

"The volume of my history, which had been somewhat delayed by
the novelty and tumult of a first session, was now ready for
the press. After the perilous adventure had been declined by
my timid friend Mr. Elmsley, I agreed, on very easy terms,
with Mr. Thomas Cadell, a respectable bookseller, and Mr.
William Strahan, an eminent printer; and they undertook the
care and risk of the publication, which derived more credit
from the name of the shop than from that of the author. The
last revisal of the proofs was submitted to my vigilance;
and many blemishes of style, which had been invisible in
the manuscript, were discovered and corrected in the
printed sheet. So moderate were our hopes, that the original
impression had been stinted to five hundred, till the number
was doubled by the prophetic taste of Mr. Strahan. During this
awful interval I was neither elated by the ambition of fame,
nor depressed by the apprehension of contempt. My diligence
and accuracy were attested by my own conscience...."

It was on the 17th of February that the first volume of the
great work finally "declined into the World," as the author
expressed it. Its success was immediate. "I am at a loss how
to describe the success of the work without betraying the
vanity of the writer. The first impression was exhausted in a
few days; a second and third edition were scarcely adequate to
the demand, and the bookseller's property was twice invaded by
the pyrates of Dublin. My book was on every table, and almost
on every toilette...."

The second edition was called for in 1776. On May 20th Gibbon
writes to J. B. Holroyd:

"In about a fortnight I again launch into the World in the
shape of a quarto Volume. The dear Cadell assures me that he
never remembered so eager and impatient a demand for a second
Edition." And again in June he writes to the same: "The 1500
Copies are moving off with decent speed, and the obliging
Cadell begins to mutter something of a third Edition for next
year." This third edition did not, however, appear until 1782.

In June, 1780, we find our author busy revising and correcting
for the press the second and third volumes of the first
edition, both of which appeared the next year. Under date of
April 13, 1781, he writes to his stepmother:

"The reception of these two volumes has been very unlike that
of the first, and yet my vanity is so very dextrous, that I
am not displeased with the difference. The effects of novelty
could no longer operate, and the public was not surprised by
the unexpected appearance of a new and unknown author. The
progress of these two volumes has hitherto been quiet and
silent. Almost everybody that reads has purchased, but few
persons (comparatively) have read them; and I find that the
greatest number, satisfied that they have acquired a valuable
fund of entertainment, differ the perusal to the summer, the
country, and a more quiet period. Yet I have reason to think,
from the opinion of some judges, that my reputation has
not suffered by this publication. The Clergy (such is the
advantage of a total loss of character) commend my decency
and moderation: but the patriots wish to down the work and the
author."

The concluding volumes were delayed for various reasons as
Gibbon said to Lord Sheffield in July, 1786: "A book takes
more time in making than a pudding." In June, 1787, he says:
"I am building a great book, which, besides the three stories
already exposed to the public eye, will have three stories
more before we reach the roof and battlement," and promises
that, with the diligence and speed then exerted, he hopes to
be able to have the work ready for the press in August, or
perhaps July. In an earlier letter he says:

"About a month ago I had a voluntary, and not unpleasing
Epistle from Cadell; he informs me that he is going to print
a new octavo edition, the former being exhausted, and that the
public expect with impatience the conclusion of the excellent
work, whose reputation and sale increases every day, etc. I
answered him by the return of the post, to inform him of the
period and extent of my labours, and to express a reasonable
hope that he would set the same value on the three last as he
had done on the three former Volumes. Should we conclude in
this easy manner a transaction as honourable to the author
and bookseller, my way is clear and open before; in pecuniary
matters I think I am assured for the rest of my life of never
troubling my friends, or being troubled myself; a state to
which I aspire, and which I indeed deserve, if not by my
management, at least by moderation."

The publishers had allowed Gibbon two thirds of the profits
for the first volume, which amounted on the first edition
to £490. In a letter written in 1788, to his stepmother, he
refers again to his relations with Cadell: "The public, where
it costs them nothing, are extravagantly liberal; yet I will
allow with Dr. Johnson 'that booksellers in this age are not
the worst patrons of literature.'" Allibone tells us that
the historian's "profit on the whole is stated to have been
£6,000, whilst the booksellers netted the handsome sum of
£60,000."

The sixth volume was finished June 27, 1787, and was published
with the fourth and fifth in April, 1788. Gibbon says:

"The impression of the fourth volume had consumed three
months; our common interest required that we should move with
quicker pace, and Mr. Strahan fulfilled his engagement, which
few printers could sustain, of delivering every week three
thousand copies of nine sheets. The day of publication was,
however, delayed, that it might coincide with the fifty-first
anniversary of my own birthday: the double festival was
celebrated by a cheerful literary dinner at Mr. Cadell's
house, and I seemed to blush while they read an elegant
compliment from Mr. Haley."

John Hall, historical engraver to George III, and one of the
engravers of the plates for Alderman Boydell's collection,
executed the portrait of Gibbon, after Sir Joshua Reynolds,
which faces the title-page of our first volume. The plate was
issued separately in 1780, Cadell having "strenuously urged
the curiosity of the public" as a reason for its immediate
publication. It was most appropriate to introduce, as he did,
the vignettes emblematic of Rome.

Quarto.

COLLATION: _Six volumes._

RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN

(1751-1816)

The first performance of the play occurred May 8, 1777, at
the Drury Lane Theatre, which had been opened under Sheridan's
management the previous year. A publisher immediately offered
five hundred guineas for a corrected copy of the comedy, and
Sheridan promised to prepare it for the press; but Mr. W.
Fraser Rae tells us that when importuned for the revised
manuscript Sheridan "always replied that he had never been
able to satisfy himself as to the version which he wished
to be published, and the comedy, with any of his final
corrections, has not yet been given to the world."

The Ewling edition was printed from an acting copy which
Sheridan had given to his sister, Mrs. LeFanu of Dublin, who,
for one hundred guineas and free admission to the theater for
herself and family, had let it go to Mr. Roger of the Theatre
Royal. A dated edition appeared in Dublin in 1781.

The omission of the author's name from the title-page recalls
the foolish statement made by Dr. Watkins on the authority of
Isaac Reed, "that the play was written by a young lady, the
daughter of a merchant in Thames Street [whose name and the
number of whose house are judiciously withheld], that, at
the beginning of the season when Mr. Sheridan commenced
his management, the manuscript was put into his hands for
judgment, soon after which the fair writer, who was then in a
stage of decline, went to Bristol Hot Wells, where she died."

Duodecimo.

COLLATION: _vi, 93 pp., 1 l._

WILLIAM COWPER

(1731-1800)

In October, 1784, William Cawthorne Unwin,

"A friend whose worth deserves as warm a lay
As ever friendship penned,"

received from Cowper "four quires of verse" with the request
that it might be read by him and, if approved, conveyed to
Joseph Johnson, the publisher of Cowper's first volume.

"If, when you make the offer of my book [_The Task_], to
Johnson, he should stroke his chin, and look up at the ceiling
and cry 'Humph!', anticipate him, I beseech you, at once
by saying 'that you know I should be sorry that he should
undertake for me to his own disadvantage, or that my volume
should be in any degree pressed upon him. I make him the offer
merely because I think he would have reason to complain of
me if I did not.' But, that punctilio once satisfied, it is a
matter of indifference to me what publisher sends me forth."
Johnson, however, accepted.

"My imagination tells me," says Cowper to Unwin, "(for I know
you interest yourself in the success of my productions) that
your heart fluttered when you approached his door, and that it
felt itself discharged of a burthen when you came out again."

The "Advertisement," or preface, accounting for _The Task_, is
worth reprinting. It runs:

"The hiſtory of the following production is briefly this. A
lady, fond of blank verſe, demanded a poem of that kind from
the author, and gave him the SOFA for a ſubject. He obeyed;
and having much leiſure, connected another ſubject
with it; and purſuing the train of thought to which his
ſituation and turn of mind led him, brought forth at length,
inſtead of the trifle which he at firſt intended, a
ſerious affair--a Volume."

The lady, who was Cowper's friend, Lady Austin, was also
responsible for _John Gilpin_, for it was from her that
the poet first heard the tale. It is said that he wrote the
outline that night and sent it to _The Public Advertiser_,
anonymously, the next morning; but, in fact, it appeared in
November, 1782. It had a great success in the newspapers, and
in pamphlet form, and Henderson, the actor, gave it further
vogue by his recitations.

"I have not been without thoughts of adding 'John Gilpin' at
the tail of all," wrote Cowper, while _The Task_ was in press.
"He has made a good deal of noise in the world; and perhaps it
may not be amiss to show, that though I write generally with a
serious intention, I know how to be occasionally merry."

There was some discussion between the poet and the publisher,
as to the propriety of putting poems so different in character
into the same volume. The poet says to Mr. Newton: "I should
blame nobody, not even my intimate friends, and those who
have the most favorable opinion of me, were they to charge the
publication of John Gilpin, at the end of so much solemn and
serious truth, to the score of the author's vanity; and to
suspect that, however sober I may be upon proper occasions, I
have yet that itch of popularity that would not suffer me to
sink my title to a jest that had been so successful. But
the case is not such. When I sent the copy of the _Task_ to
Johnson, I desired, indeed, Mr. Unwin to ask him the question,
whether or not he would choose to make it a part of the
volume. This I did merely with a view to promote the sale of
it. Johnson answered, 'By all means.' Some months afterward,
he enclosed a note to me in one of my packets, in which he
expressed a change of mind, alleging, that to print John
Gilpin would only be to print what had been hackneyed in every
magazine, in every shop, and at the corner of every street.
I answered, that I desired to be entirely governed by his
opinion; and that if he chose to waive it, I should be better
pleased with the omission. Nothing more passed between us
on the subject, and I concluded that I should never have the
immortal honor of being generally known as the author of John
Gilpin. In the last packet, however, down came John, very
fairly printed, and equipped for public appearance. The
business having taken this turn, I concluded that Johnson had
adopted my original thought, that it might prove advantageous
to the sale; and as he had had the trouble and expense of
printing it, I corrected the copy, and let it pass."

The book appeared in June, having now grown into a volume of
poems, containing, as the title-page shows, four works, paged
continuously. It cost four shillings, in boards. The volume
was a great success, and two issues were made in the same
year. These show several variations, but chiefly in the
arrangement of the pages. A half-title, found in some copies,
and thought to belong only to late issues, reads: _Poems,
By William Cowper, Esq. Vol. II_. Herein we may possibly see
Johnson's afterthought to make the book a second volume to the
collection of _Poems_ issued in 1782, and referred to in the
advertisement on the last page: "Lately publiſhed by the
ſame Author, in one Volume of this Size. Price 4s. ſewed."
It would have been a shrewd plan thus to make the successful
later volume carry the unsuccessful earlier.

Cowper gave the copyright to Johnson, who afterward, when the
work proved so successful, would have allowed him to take back
his gift, but Cowper refused.

This Johnson was also the publisher of Horne Tooke, Fuseli,
Bonnycastle, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Miss Edgeworth. He, as
well as his successor, Rowland Hunter, was a dissenter, and
the building which he occupied, we are told, was "plain and
unadorned, befitting the head-quarters of the bookselling of
Protestant Dissent." Charles Knight, in _Shadows of the
Old Booksellers_, has a paragraph, which must be quoted in
connection with the appearance of Johnson's books.

"With wire-wove hot-pres'd paper's glossy glare,
Blind all the wise, and make the stupid stare."

The publisher of Cowper was an exception to his brother
publishers of that day, who are addressed in these lines.
Aikin says of him, "It is proper to mention that his true
regard for the interests of literature rendered him an enemy
to that typographical luxury which, joined to the necessary
increase of expense in printing, has so much enhanced the
price of new books as to be a material obstacle to the
indulgence of a laudable and reasonable curiosity to the
reading public."

It is quite certain that in making the _Task_ he did not sin
against these principles of philanthropy, even if he sinned
against many of the rules of good book-making.

Octavo.

COLLATION: _4 ll., 359 pp._

ROBERT BURNS

(1759-1796)

One of Burns's warmest friends, Gavin Hamilton, advised him to
publish his poems in order to get enough money to emigrate
to Jamaica, where it was hoped he would escape from the
complications incident upon his love affair with Jean Armour.
In the preface Burns tells us that none of the poems was
written with a view to publication, but as a counterpoise to
the troubles of the world.

The _Proposals For Publishing By Subscription, Scottish Poems,
By Robert Burns_, only one copy of which is known, appeared in
1786, and ran as follows: "The Work to be elegantly printed,
in one volume octavo. Price, stitched, Three Shillings. As the
Author has not the most distant mercenary view in publishing,
as soon as so many subscribers appear as will defray the
necessary expense, the work will be sent to Press." A stanza
of a poem by Alan Ramsay was followed by the agreement: "We
undersubscribers engage to take the above-mentioned work on
the conditions specified." The book went to press in June, and
appeared the last day of July. Six hundred and twelve copies
were printed; three hundred and fifty were taken by the
author's friends; and, by August 28, all but thirteen had been
sold. Burns cleared about twenty pounds.

In October a new edition of a thousand copies was suggested
by Burns, but the printer refused to proceed unless the author
would advance twenty-seven pounds, the price of the paper,
"But this, you know," says the luckless poet to Robert Aiken,
"is out of my power; so farewell hopes of a second edition
till I grow richer! an epocha, which, I think, will arrive at
the payment of the British National Debt."

Unlike Messrs. Dunlop and Wilson of Glasgow, to whom Burns is
said, without much authority, to have first offered the poem,
Wilson, the printer of the little volume, was not a great or
leading publisher; but he succeeded in making a volume that is
very charming in appearance, and not without reminders of the
French press-work of the period.

A copy of this book sold at the auction of the library of Mr.
A. C. Lamb of Dundee, in February, 1898, for the sum of five
hundred and seventy-two pounds, five shillings--"the most
amazing price ever realized for a modern book."

Octavo.

COLLATION: _240 pp._

GILBERT WHITE

(1720-1793)

"B. White" was Benjamin, next older brother of Gilbert, and
one of the chief publishers of books relating to natural
history. His interest in this book, therefore, must have
been more than usually great, an assumption justified by its
typographical appearance. It may, perhaps, be truly said
that, with the possible exceptions of Clarendon's History and
Percy's _Reliques_, it is the only work in our series having
special artistic merit.

Thomas Bensley was one of the first English printers to
turn his attention to printing as a fine art; and he may be
reckoned, with Bulmer, chief among the reformers of the
art. As Dibdin says, in the _Bibliographical Decameron_, he
"completed the establishment of a _self working_ press,
which prints on _both sides_ of the sheet by one and the same
operation--and throws off 900 copies in an hour! This really
seems magical. It is certainly without precedent." It was, no
doubt, with intent that Benjamin White gave the printing of
this book into such hands, and something of the sumptuousness
which afterward in Macklin's _Bible_ and Hume's _History of
England_ made Bensley famous may be seen in this work.

Our chief interest in the volume, as a piece of bookmaking,
centers in the illustrations, engraved by Peter Mazell and
Daniel Lerpinière. These comprise a vignette on the title-page
to _The Natural History_, with a line from White's own poem,
"The Invitation to Selbourne"; seven plates, one, the large
folding frontispiece, which is said to contain portraits of
four of White's friends; and a vignette on the title-page of
_The Antiquities_. They are all from drawings by a young Swiss
artist named Samuel Hieronymus Grimm, who settled in London in
1778, and was much employed in topographical work.

White's references to him in various letters give us quite
an insight into the details of making this delightful book.
Writing to Rev. John White, August 12, 1775, he says:

"Mr. Grimm, the Swiss, is still in Derbyshire; and is to
continue there and in Staffordshire 'til the end of the month.
I have made all the inquiry I can concerning this artist, as
it much behoves me to do. Mr. Tho. Mulso, and Brother Thomas,
and Benjamin, and Mr. Lort have been to his lodgings to see
his performances. They all agree that he is a man of genius;
but the two former say that he does hardly seem to stick
enough to nature; and that his trees are grotesque and
strange. Brother Benjamin seems to approve of him. They all
allow that he excels in grounds, water, and buildings. Friend
Curtis recommends a Mr. Mullins, a worker in oil-colours.
Grimm, it seems, has a way of staining his scapes with light
water-colours, and seems disposed much in scapes for light
sketchings; now I want _strong lights and shades_ and good
trees and foliage."

The inquiries seem, in the end, to have been satisfactory,
and by May the fifth of the next year the young man had been
engaged. An entry in _The Naturalists' Journal_, under date of
July 8, 1776, records: "Mr. Grimm, my artist, came from London
to take some of our finest views."

On August 9, 1776, he says:

"Mr. Grimm was with me just 28 days; 24 of which he worked
very hard, and shewed good specimens of his genius, assiduity,
and modest behaviour, much to my satisfaction. He finished
for me 12 views. He first of all sketches his scapes with a
lead-pencil; then he _pens_ them all over, as he calls it,
with india-ink, rubbing out the superfluous pencil-strokes;
then he gives a charming shading with a brush dipped in
indian-ink; and last he throws a light tinge of water-colours
over the whole. The scapes, many of them at least, looked
so lovely in their indian-ink shading, that it was with
difficulty the artist could prevail on me to permit him
to tinge them; as I feared those colours might puzzle the
engravers; but he assured me to the contrary."

In a letter to Mr. Samuel Barker, November 1, 1776, we find:

"In 24 days Mr. Grimm finished for me 12 drawings; the most
elegant of which are 1, a view of the village and hanger from
the short Lithe [the large folding frontispiece]; 2, a view of
the S. E. end of the hanger and its cottages, taken from
the upper end of the street; 3, a side view of the _old_
hermitage, with the hermit standing at the door, [the vignette
on the title-page]: this piece he is to copy again for Uncle
Harry; 4, a sweet view of the short Lithe and Dorton from the
lane beyond Peasecod's house. He took also two views of the
Church [opposite pp. 315, 323]; two views of my outlet; a view
of the Temple-Farm [opposite p. 342]; a view of the village
from the inside of the present hermitage; Hawkley hanger,
which does not prove very engaging; and a grotesque and
romantic drawing of the water-fall in the hollow bed of the
stream in Silkwood's vale to the N. E. of Berriman's house.
You need not wonder that the drawings you saw by Grimm did
not please you; for they were 3s. 6d. pieces done for a little
ready money; so there was no room for softening his trees, &c.
He is a most elegant colourist; and what is more, the use of
these fine natural stainings is altogether his own, yet his
pieces were so engaging in India-ink that it was with regret
that I submitted to have some of them coloured...." The plates
bear the legend, "Published Nov^r. 1. 1788 as the Act directs,
by B. White & Son."

The work appeared anonymously at the end of 1788, but it is
dated the next year. It was sold for one guinea, in boards.
Fifty copies were printed on large paper, with the plate on
page 3 in colors. Although it seems to have sold well, it was
the only edition issued during the author's lifetime. White
wrote to a friend in 1789: "My book is still asked for
in Fleet Street. A gent. came the other day, and said he
understood that there was a Mr. White who had lately
published two books, a good one and a bad one; the bad one
was concerning Botany Bay ['_A Voyage to New South Wales_,'
by John White (no relation), published in 1790], the better
respecting some parish."

The index, which White described when he was making it as
"an occupation full as entertaining as that of darning of
stockings," was criticised for not being full enough, a
criticism applicable to every edition issued since the first.

Quarto.

COLLATION: _1 l., v., 468 pp., 7 ll. Seven plates._

EDMUND BURKE

(1729-1797)

It was well known, long before the book appeared, that Burke
was at work upon this subject. As early as October, 1789,
he had written a letter expressing his opinion on the
revolutionary movement in France, and in this volume he
but gave in permanent form a more elaborate and careful
presentation of the same subject. Interest in the new volume
was in no way diminished, but rather increased by the delay;
and when the little book made its appearance, November 1, in
a modest unlettered wrapper of gray paper, selling for five
shillings, it created a profound impression. The King called
it "a good book, a very good book; every gentleman ought
to read it," and it ran into eleven editions, or eighteen
thousand copies, within a twelvemonth.

Our author and his publishers were well known to each other
at this time: they had issued his _A Vindication of Natural
Society_ in 1756; and he had been the conductor and chief
editor of the historical portion of their _Annual Register_
for a number of years.

Octavo.

COLLATION: _iv, 356 pp._

THOMAS PAINE

(1737-1809)

"Mr. Burke's Attack," as we have seen, appeared in November,
1790, and Paine immediately replied with the first part of
his "Answer." Joseph Johnson, who printed Cowper's _Task_,
and published for Horne Tooke, Fuseli, Bonnycastle and Miss
Edgeworth, began the work and issued a few copies, but he
became frightened at the serious outlook and gave it up. It
was then put into the hands of J. S. Jordan, of No. 166
Fleet Street, who reissued it March 13, 1791, under the
superintendence of three of Paine's friends, Paine himself
having in the meantime gone to Paris. There were a few
corrections in the spelling of some words, some passages were
softened, and a preface to the English edition, which Paine
sent back from Europe, was added to the new edition.

The success of the book was enormous, and it ran into edition
after edition. In a letter to Washington, to whom it was
dedicated, Paine says, under date of July 21, 1791:

"... I took the liberty of addressing my late work 'Rights of
Man', to you; but tho' I left it at that time to find its way
to you, I now request your acceptance of fifty copies as a
token of remembrance to yourself and my Friends. The work
has had a run beyond anything that has been published in
this Country on the subject of Government, and the demand
continues. In Ireland it has had a much greater. A letter I
received from Dublin, 10th of May, mentioned that the fourth
edition was then on sale. I know not what number of copies
were printed at each edition, except the second, which was ten
thousand....

"I have printed sixteen thousand copies; when the whole are
gone, of which there remain between three and four thousand,
I shall then make a cheap edition, just sufficient to bring in
the price of printing and paper as I did by Common Sense."

The earlier editions of the first part were made uniform
with Burke's _Reflections_, and sold, so we learn from the
half-title, for half a crown; the second edition sold for
three shillings; and the cheap edition, which was _Printed
For H. D. Symonds, Paternoster Row, M,DCC,XCII._, sold for
sixpence.

_The Gazetteer_ for January 25, contained the following
announcement: "Mr Paine, it is known, is to produce another
book this season. The composition of this is now past, and it
was given a few weeks since to two printers, whose presses it
was to go through as soon as possible. They printed about half
of it, and then, being alarmed by _some intimations_, refused
to go further. Some delay has thus occurred, but another
printer has taken it, and in the course of the next month it
will appear. Its title is to be a repetition of the former,
'The Rights of Man,' of which the words 'Part the Second,'
will show that it is a continuation."

The volume was the same size as the first part, and contained
178 pages, selling, as the half-title tells us, for three
shillings. It was dedicated to Lafayette. This part was also
issued by Symonds in a cheap edition, uniform with the first
part, which sold for sixpence.

The printer alarmed by the "intimations" was Chapman. He had
offered successively, at different stages of the publication,
£100, £500, and £1000, for the work, but Paine preferred to
keep it in his own hands, fearing, perhaps, that this was
a government attempt to suppress the book. From a financial
point of view he was wise, since, on July 4, he handed over
to the Society for Constitutional Information, £1000, which he
had already received from sales. After Chapman's withdrawal,
Jordan took up the printing, but with the understanding
that if questioned he should say that Paine was author and
publisher, and would personally answer for the work.

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Bibliographic Notes on One Hundred Books Famous in English LiteratureChapter V: Part 5

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