Bibliographic Notes on One Hundred Books Famous in English Literature

Chapter VI: Part 6

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The fears of the printers proved anything but groundless.
The persecution, by imprisonment or fines, of those who were
connected with the publishing (printing and selling) of the
book would "astonish you", as Dr. Currie writes in 1793, "and
most of these are for offences committed many months ago. The
printer of the _Manchester Herald_ has had seven different
indictments preferred against him for paragraphs in his paper;
and six _different_ indictments for selling or disposing of
six different copies of Paine--all previous to the _trial_
of Paine. The man was opulent, supposed worth 20,000 l.; but
these different actions will ruin him, as they were intended
to do."

Octavo.

COLLATION: _1 l., 162 pp._

JAMES BOSWELL

(1740-1795)

Boswell had published, the year before, two specimens of his
work: _The Celebrated Letter from Samuel Johnson, LL.D.,
to Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, now first
published, with notes by James Boswell, Esq._, and _A
Conversation between His Most Sacred Majesty George III, and
Samuel Johnson, LL.D., illustrated with observations by
James Boswell, Esq._ They were probably issued to secure the
copyright, and sold for half a guinea apiece.

The whole matter of publication of the _Life_ was a source of
no small worry to our author. He was plunged, at that time,
in pecuniary difficulties due to the purchase of an estate for
£2500, and it seemed as if he might be obliged to accept the
offer of Robinson, the publisher, of £1000 for the copyright
of his beloved book. "But it would go to his heart," he said,
"to accept such a sum, which he considered far too low", and
he avoided the difficulty by borrowing the money. All of these
things made him very low-spirited:

"I am at present," he says, "in such bad spirits that I
have fear concerning it--that I may get no profit, nay, may
lose--that the public may be disappointed, and think that I
have done it poorly--that I may make many enemies, and
even have quarrels. But perhaps the very reverse of all may
happen."

He worked very hard over all the details connected with the
making of the book. "I am within a short walk of Mr. Malone,
who revises my 'Life of Johnson' with me. We have not yet
gone over quite a half of it, but it is at last fairly in the
press. I intended to have printed it upon what is called an
_English_ letter, which would have made it look better. I have
therefore taken a smaller type, called _Pica_, and even upon
that I am afraid its bulk will be very large." He gave much
thought to the title-page, and we are told that it was a long
time before he could be perfectly satisfied. This statement,
we are compelled to assume, refers to the literary composition
of the title, rather than to the construction of the page:
upon the latter he might have worked much longer and still
have been dissatisfied.

The work was at last delivered to the world May sixteenth (the
"Advertisement" is dated April twentieth), and was sold
for two guineas a copy. So successful was it that by August
twenty-second, 1200 out of the edition of 1700 copies were
disposed of, and the whole edition was exhausted before the
end of the year. A supplement was issued in 1793, at one
guinea; and a second edition with eight additional sheets
appeared in July of the same year.

With all Boswell's fussiness many mistakes crept into the
printing, and the book abounds in wrong paging, omission of
pages, and other things "of which," says Fitzgerald, "the
great exemplar is the first Shakespeare Folio." So bad were
these errors, indeed, that it was found necessary to issue a
small quarto volume of forty-two pages to correct them. This
pamphlet is sometimes bound up with the second edition. It is
entitled: _The | Principal Corrections and Addition | To The
First Edition Of | Mr. Boswell's Life | Of | Dr. Johnson. |
London: | Printed by Henry Baldwin, | For Charles Dilly In The
Poultry. | MDCCXCIII. | [Price Two Shillings and Sixpence.]_
"A Chronological Catalogue of the Prose Works of Samuel
Johnson, L.L.D.," is printed at the end.

Charles Dilly, the bookseller, was well known in his day.
Beloe speaks of him as "the queer little man ... characterized
by a dryness of manner peculiarly his own." He and his elder
brother, John, were famous not only for their successful
publishing ventures, but for their dinners as well. Boswell
speaks of "my worthy booksellers and friends, Messrs. Dilly,
in the Poultry, at whose hospitable and well covered table I
have seen a greater number of literary men than at any other,
except that of Sir Joshua Reynolds."

The engraved portrait of Doctor Johnson by James Heath, after
the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1756, which forms the
frontispiece to the first volume, bears the inscription:
"Samuel Johnson. From the original Picture in the
Poſseſsion of James Boswell, Esq. Publiſh'd April 10,
1791, by C. Dilly." A plate of facsimiles of Dr. Johnson's
handwriting, and another showing a "Round Robin, addreſsed
to Samuel Johnson, L.L.D., with FacSimiles of the Signatures,"
add to the interest of the second volume. Both plates were
engraved by H. Shepherd.

Quarto.

COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _xii pp., 8 ll., 516 pp._
Volume II: _1 l., 588 pp. Portrait. Two plates._

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

(1770-1850)

AND

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

(1772-1834)

In Cottle, the Bristol bookseller and poet, Wordsworth and
Coleridge found a friend whose appreciation of their genius
took a practical form. As early as 1795 we learn from a letter
of Coleridge to Thomas Poole that "Cottle has entered into an
engagement to give me a guinea and a half for every hundred
lines of poetry I write, which will be perfectly sufficient
for my maintenance, I only amusing myself on mornings; and all
my prose works he is eager to purchase." When the two poets
planned to issue a book in which Coleridge should show
"the dramatic treatment of supernatural incidents," while
Wordsworth should try to give the charm of novelty to "things
of ever[y] day," it was Cottle who bought it. He says: "A
visit to Mr. Coleridge at Stowey has been the means of my
introduction to Mr. Wordsworth, who read me many of his
Lyrical Pieces, when I perceived in them a peculiar but
decided merit. I advised him to publish them, expressing a
belief that they would be well received. I further said that
he should be at no risk; that I would give him the same sum
which I had given Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey, and that it
would be a gratifying circumstance to me to usher into the
world, by becoming the publisher of, the first volumes of
three such poets as Southey, Coleridge and Wordsworth--a
distinction that might never again occur to a provincial
publisher."

He gave Wordsworth thirty guineas for the copyright, and
issued the book with the following imprint: _Bristol: Printed
by Biggs and Cottle, for T. N. Longman, Paternoster Row,
London, 1798_. But this imprint did not remain upon the
title-page of the whole edition, for Cottle tells us that the
sale was so slow, and the severity of most of the reviews so
great, that its progress to oblivion seemed ordained to be as
rapid as it was certain. He parted with the largest proportion
of the five hundred at a loss, to Mr. Arch, a London
bookseller, who bound up his copies with a new title-page
bearing his name. The copies of the earlier issue are very
rare.

Shortly after the transfer, Cottle retired from business,
selling all his copyrights to Longman and Rees, far-sighted
publishers, both of whom were also Bristol men. In the
transfer the copyright of the _Lyrical Ballads_ was down in
the bill as worth nothing, whereupon Cottle begged the receipt
for the thirty guineas, and presented it to Wordsworth.

The work was entirely anonymous, with nothing to show that it
was a joint production. Coleridge's poem, _The Nightingale_,
inserted at the last minute, in place of _Lewti_, makes an
extra leaf between pages 68 and 69. It is numbered 69 (the
verso is blank), but no apparent confusion results since
the original page 69 is not numbered, in accordance with the
printer's scheme of numbering.

We catch an interesting glimpse of this poet-publisher in a
letter of Coleridge's to Robert Southey, written under date of
July 22, 1801:

"Poor Joseph! he has scribbled away both head and heart. What
an affecting essay I could write on that man's character! Had
he gone in his quiet way on a little pony, looking about him
with a sheep's-eye cast now and then at a short poem, I do
verily think from many parts of the "Malvern Hill," that he
would at last have become a poet better than many who have had
much fame, but he would be an Epic, and so

'Victorious o'er the Danes, I Alfred, preach,
Of my own forces, Chaplain-General.'"

Duodecimo.

COLLATION: _viii, 68 pp., 1 l., 69-210 pp., 1 l._

WASHINGTON IRVING

(1783-1859)

Early in the year 1809 a notice in the newspapers, headed
"Distressing," announced the disappearance from his lodgings
of a "small elderly gentleman" named Knickerbocker; and
another notice, signed Seth Handaside, landlord of the
Independent Columbian Hotel, Mulberry Street, reads:

"Sir:--You have been good enough to publish in your paper a
paragraph about Mr. Diedrich Knickerbocker, who was missing
so strangely from his lodgings some time since. Nothing
satisfactory has been heard of the old gentleman since; but
a _very curious kind of a written book_ has been found in his
room in his own handwriting. Now I wish you to notice him, if
he is still alive, that if he does not return and pay off his
bill, for board and lodging, I shall have to dispose of his
Book, to satisfy me for the same."

On December 6, 1809, the actual publication of the work is
announced in the _American Citizen_:

"IS THIS DAY PUBLISHED,
BY INSKEEP AND BRADFORD--NO. 128 BROADWAY
A HISTORY OF NEW YORK.

In 2 vols. duodecimo--price 3 dollars.

"Containing an account of its discovery and settlement, with
its internal policy, manners, customs, wars, &c., &c., under
the Dutch government, furnishing many curious and interesting
particulars never before published, and which are gathered
from various manuscripts and other authenticated sources, the
whole being interspersed with philosophical speculations and
moral precepts.

"This work was found in the chamber of Mr. Diedrich
Knickerbocker, the old gentleman whose sudden and mysterious
disappearance has been noticed. It is published in order to
discharge certain debts he has left behind."

In this way Irving chose to introduce his satire to the world.
The book was put to press in Philadelphia instead of in New
York, in order the more easily to preserve its anonymous
character.

The pretence that it was a serious history was carried even
into the dedication "To the New York Historical Society," and
the work may really be described as a practical joke in book
form.

The volumes sold well, and, on the whole, were well received.
Some members of the old Dutch families of the state saw in
them a reflection upon their ancestors that they found it hard
to overlook, and Irving himself describes their indignation
against him. Mr. Pierre M. Irving tells us that he heard
his uncle say that the avails of the first edition of _The
History_ amounted to about three thousand dollars.

A narrow folded plate, in the first volume, is entitled, "New
Amsterdam (Now New-York) As it appeared about the year 1640,
while under the Dutch Government". A legend beneath the
engraving adds: "Copied from an ancient Etching of the same
size, Published by Justus Danckers at Amsterdam". The view is
often missing, being much sought after by print collectors.

Duodecimo.

COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _xxiii, 268 pp._ Volume II:
_1 l., 258 pp. Folded plate._

GEORGE GORDON BYRON,

SIXTH BARON

(1788-1824)

Robert Charles Dallas, a "well-meaning, self-satisfied, dull,
industrious man," Byron's friend, having read with enthusiasm
"a new attempt in the Spenserian stanza," which Byron brought
back from Italy with him, undertook to find a publisher for
it. William Miller, who afterward sold out to John Murray,
refused it on the ground that it contained "sceptical
stanzas," and that it attacked Lord Elgin as a "plunderer." To
this criticism Byron's reply is characteristic:

"REDDISH'S HOTEL, July 30th, 1811.

"SIR: I am perfectly aware of the justice of your remarks,
and am convinced that, if ever the poem is published, the same
objections will be made in much stronger terms. But as it was
intended to be a poem on _Ariosto's plan_, that _is_ to _say_
on _no plan_ at all, and, as is usual in similar cases, having
a predilection for the worst passages, I shall retain those
parts, though I cannot venture to defend them. Under these
circumstances I regret that you decline the publication, on
my own account, as I think the book would have done better in
your hands; the pecuniary part, you know, I have nothing to do
with. But I can perfectly conceive, and indeed _approve_
your reasons, and assure you my sensations are not
_Archiepiscopal_* enough as yet to regard the rejection of
my Homilies."

Murray, to whom the manuscript was next carried, was more than
willing to undertake the publication of the poem. He offered
six hundred pounds for the copyright of the first two cantos;
but Byron, refusing to keep the money himself, presented it to
the needy Dallas. Dallas was the intermediary, at first, as we
learn from Byron's letter to him dated August 21, 1811: "I
do not think I shall return to London immediately, and shall
therefore accept freely what is offered courteously--your
mediation between me and Murray." Again, in a letter to
Murray, August 23, 1811, he says: "My friend, Mr. Dallas,
has placed in your hands a manuscript poem written by me in
Greece, which he tells me you do not object to publishing."

The relations between Murray and Byron form one of the most
interesting chapters in the history of bookselling, redounding
equally to the credit of each. In a letter to the publisher,
dated September 5, 1811, the poet says: "The time seems to be
past when (as Dr. Johnson said) a man was certain to 'hear
the truth from his bookseller,' for you have paid me so many
compliments, that if I was not the veriest scribbler on earth,
I should feel affronted." Murray in one letter asked him to
"obviate" some expressions concerning Spain and Portugal, "and
with them, perhaps, some religious feelings which may deprive
me of some customers amongst the _Orthodox_," but Byron
refused to change anything, saying: "As for the '_Orthodox_'
let us hope they will buy, on purpose to abuse--you will
forgive the one if they do the other."

The following extracts give us an insight into our author's
feelings about the appearance and make-up of his book.
Speaking of its form, he says: "He [Murray] wants to have
it in a quarto, which is a cursed unsaleable size; but it is
pestilent long, and one must obey one's publisher." And to
Murray himself he writes in answer to a very natural question:
"... The printer may place the notes in his _own way_, or any
_way_, so that they are not in _my way_. I care nothing about
types or margins."

The use of the poet's name on the title-page caused some
discussion, as we see from a letter to Dallas already quoted:
"I don't think my name will answer the purpose, and you must
be aware that my plaguey Satire will bring the north and south
Grub Street down upon the _Pilgrimage_;--but, nevertheless, if
Murray makes a point of it, and you coincide with him, I
will do it daringly; so let it be entitled 'By the author of
_English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_...." There was another
reason why he did not want his name to appear: "Has Murray
shown the work to any one? He may--but I will have no traps
for applause ... I much wish to avoid identifying _Childe
Harold's_ character with mine, and that, in sooth, is my
second objection to my name appearing in the title-page."
Later, however, as we see, he gave way on this point.

We are indebted to Smiles, in his memoirs of John Murray, for
a vivid picture of Byron as a book-maker.

"He afterwards looked in [at 32, Fleet Street] from time
to time, while the sheets [of _Childe Harold_] were passing
through the press, fresh from the fencing rooms of Angelo and
Jackson. He used to amuse himself by renewing his practice of
_Carte et Tierce_, with his walking-cane directed against the
book-shelves, while Murray was reading passages from the poem
with occasional ejaculations of admiration, on which Byron
would say, 'You think that a good idea, do you, Murray?'
Then he would fence and lunge with his walking stick at some
special book which he had picked out on the shelves before
him. As Murray afterwards said, 'I was often very glad to get
rid of him!'"

The poem, that is, two Cantos of it, was published March 1,
1812, in an edition of five hundred copies, which were
all sold in three days. We hear from Elizabeth, Duchess of
Devonshire, that "the subject of conversation, of curiosity,
of enthusiasm, almost, one might say, of the moment is not
Spain, or Portugal, Warriors or Patriots, but Lord Byron!" "He
returned," she continues, "sorry for the severity of some
of his lines (in the _English Bards_), and with a new poem,
_Childe Harold_, which he published. This poem is on every
table, and himself courted, visited, flattered, and praised
whenever he appears. He has a pale, sickly, but handsome
countenance, a bad figure, and, in short, he is really the
only topic almost of every conversation--the men jealous of
him, the women of each other."

Thomas Davison, the printer of the book, was also responsible
for many of the volumes of Campbell, Moore and Wordsworth,
but he is known chiefly for his fine edition of Whitaker's
_History of Richmondshire_, Rogers's _Italy_, and Dugdale's
_Monasticon Anglicanum_. Timperley speaks of the singular
beauty and correctness of his works, which brought about him
a "connection" of the most respectable publishers of the day,
and he adds: "By improvements which he made in printing
ink, (a secret of which he had for a long time the exclusive
possession) and other merits, he acquired great celebrity; and
few indeed of his competitors, could approach the characters
of what issued from his press."

"For equal accuracy and beauty, let the palm be extended to
Davison and Moyes," cries Mr. Dibdin in _The Bibliographical
Decameron_. In a note he adds: "Mr. Davison is both an
excellent and an elegant printer. His _Gil Blas_, published
by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, and Co. is quite worthy of the
beautiful engravings with which that edition is adorned: but
his _Arabian Nights_, by Scott, 1811, in 6 octavo volumes, is,
to my eye, a more exquisite performance."

Early in their intercourse Murray had said to Byron: "Could
I flatter myself that these suggestions were not obtrusive,
I would hazard another, in an earnest solicitation that your
lordship would add the two promised Cantos, and complete the
_Poem_." But the volume containing the third Canto was not
issued until 1816, when Murray paid £2000 for it. The fourth
Canto, in a much thicker volume, came out two years afterward,
and for this £2100 were received by the poet. The second
volume sold for 5s. 6d., and the last for 12s.

Byron must have carried his point about the size, for these
last volumes were issued in octavo.

Quarto.

COLLATION: _vi pp., 1 l., 226 pp. Facsimile._

* Alluding to Gil Blas and the Archbishop of Grenada.

JANE AUSTEN

(1775-1817)

Egerton published _Sense and Sensibility_ in 1811, while
_Pride and Prejudice_ (originally named _First Impressions_),
which had been finished in August, 1797, was first offered by
Miss Austen's father to Cadell, the famous publisher, in the
following letter:

"Sir,--I have in my possession a manuscript novel, comprising
3 vols., about the length of Miss Burney's 'Evelina.' As I am
well aware of what consequence it is that a work of this sort
sh^{d} make its first appearance under a respectable name, I
apply to you. I shall be much obliged, therefore, if you will
inform me whether you choose to be concerned in it, what will
be the expense of publishing it at the author's risk, and
what you will venture to advance for the property of it, if on
perusal it is approved of. Should you give any encouragement,
I will send you the work.

"Steventon, near Overton, Hants.

"1^{st}. Nov. 1797."

Cadell refused the book without reading it, and it was finally
carried to Egerton, who accepted the story and made it into an
attractive volume, although Gifford, who afterward read it for
Murray with a view to publishing _Emma_, tells us that it
was "--wretchedly printed, and so pointed as to be almost
unintelligible."

_Mansfield Park_ and _Emma_, like her two earlier novels, were
issued anonymously during Miss Austen's lifetime. Though the
author's name was an open secret, it did not appear in any of
her books until the year after her death, when her brother,
Henry Austen, announced it in a short biographical notice
prefixed to _Northanger Abbey_ and _Persuasion_.

One hundred and fifty pounds were received from the sale of
_Sense and Sensibility_, and less then seven hundred pounds
from the sale of all four books issued before the two novels
of 1818.

The work, "my own darling child," as Miss Austen called it,
appeared in January, and she says of it: "There are a few
typical errors; and a 'said he,' or a 'said she,' would
sometimes make the dialogue more immediately clear; but 'I
do not write for such dull elves' as have not a great deal
of ingenuity themselves. The second volume is shorter than I
could wish; but the difference is not so much in reality, as
in look."

Duodecimo.

COLLATION: _Three volumes._

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

(1772-1834)

Coleridge, writing to his wife, April 4, 1803, says: "To-day I
dine again with Sotheby. He had informed me that ten gentlemen
who have met me at his house desired him to solicit me to
finish the 'Christabel,' and to permit them to publish it for
me; and they engaged that it should be in paper, printing,
and decorations the most magnificent thing that had hitherto
appeared. Of course I declined it. The lovely lady shan't come
to that pass! Many times rather would I have it printed at
Soulby's on the true ballad paper. However, it was civil, and
Sotheby is very civil to me."

It was not until May 8, 1816, that the still unfinished poem
of _Christabel_ was offered to Murray, who, upon Byron's
recommendation, so Lamb tells us, agreed to take it, paying
seventy guineas for it, "until the other poems shall be
completed, when the copyright shall revert to the author."
_Christabel_ is in two parts. The "three parts yet to come,"
and which Coleridge in the Preface said he hoped would be
finished in the present year, never appeared. _Kubla Khan; Or
A Vision In A Dream_ is prefaced by a short introduction.
The seventy guineas Coleridge turned over to a needy friend.
Murray also gave "£20 for permission to publish the other
fragment of a poem, _Kubla Khan_, but which the author should
not be restricted from publishing in any other way that he
pleased."

We may not pass over this book, modest as it is in appearance,
without giving a quotation from the voluble Dibdin on the
merits of its printer and his press, "The Shakespeare Press."
"Trivial as the theme may appear," says he, "there are some
very reasonable folks who would prefer an account of this
eminent press to the 'History of the Seven Years War:' and I
frankly own myself to be of that number. Nor is it--with due
deference be it said to William Bulmer & Co.--from the
least admiration of the _exterior_ or _interior_ of this
printing-office that I take up my pen in behalf of it; but
because it has effectually contributed to the promotion of
belles-lettres, and national improvement in the matter of
puncheon and matrix."

Dibdin might have said more, without exaggeration; some of
the chief glories of English typography came from the hands of
William Bulmer & Co., works like the edition of Shakespeare
of Alderman Boydell; _The Poetical Works of John Milton_, in
three volumes, with engravings after designs by R. Westall;
Goldsmith's _Traveller_ and _Deserted Village_, with
engravings upon wood by Thomas Bewick; Somerville's _Chase_,
with engravings by John and Thomas Bewick; Forster's edition
of _The Arabian Nights' Entertainments_ in five volumes, with
illustrations after Smirke's designs; and last, but not least,
Dibdin's own _Bibliotheca Spenceriana_. Specimens of printing
such as these justify Bulmer's claim that great strides had
been taken toward raising the art from the depths to which it
had fallen.

One is tempted to wonder if the ten gentlemen friends of
Sotheby, smitten by the mania for this new-found mode of
expression in book-making, could have had it in mind to issue
_Christabel_ with designs by Bewick, or Westall, or Smirke.

Octavo.

COLLATION: _vii, 64 pp., 2 ll._

SIR WALTER SCOTT

(1771-1832)

Constable offered "The Author of Waverley" £700 for its
copyright; but was told that the sum was too little if the
book succeeded, and too much if it failed. The success of
the novel, when it appeared, July 7, 1814, was enormous. One
thousand copies were sold in the first five weeks, and
six editions were necessary within the year. The whole
English-reading world waited for another book from the same
pen. _Ivanhoe_ appeared, December 18, 1819, and Mr. Leslie
Stephen says that it was "Scott's culminating success in a
book-selling sense, and marked the highest point both of his
literary and social prosperity."

The "Waverley novels" had been issued in duodecimo, but this
volume marked a change to a new size. The paper was finer than
hitherto, and the press-work much better. The price, too, was
raised from eight shillings the volume to ten. These changes
were made, Lockhart tells us, to assist the impression, which
it was thought best to create, that _Ivanhoe_ was by a new
hand; but "when the day of publication approached, [Constable]
remonstrated against this experiment, and it was accordingly
abandoned." The sale of the novel, in the early editions,
amounted to 12,000 copies. Its popularity to-day is as great
as ever.

Scott's persistence in keeping up his anonymity is well known.
In agreements with Constable a clause was introduced making
the publisher liable to a penalty of £2000 if the author's
name were revealed.

A survey of Scott's publishing ventures would hardly be
complete without a word concerning this publisher with whom
his fortunes were so inseparably connected. Curwen says: "From
1790 to 1820 Edinburgh richly deserved the honorable title of
'Modern Athens.' Her University and her High School, directed
by men preëminently fitted for their duties ... attracted and
educated a set of young men, unrivalled, perhaps, in modern
times for genius and energy, for wit and learning. Nothing,
then, was wanting to their due encouragement but a liberal
patron, and this position was speedily occupied by a publisher
who, in his munificence and venturous spirit, soon outstripped
his boldest English rival--whose one fault was, in fact,
that of always being a Mæcenas, never a tradesman." By his
liberality to writers, Constable transformed the publishing
business, and practically put it upon a new basis. He made it
possible for authors to do away with aristocratic patrons, and
to stand upon their own merits. Scott had good reason to say,
even after his disastrous participation in Constable and Co.'s
failure, "Never did there exist so intelligent and so liberal
an establishment."

Octavo.

COLLATION: _Three volumes._

JOHN KEATS

(1795-1821)

The poems in this volume represent the labor of a little over
a year and a half--that is, from March, 1818, to October,
1819,--and were all written after the publication of
_Endymion_. The book was issued in the beginning of July,
and was the third, and, as it proved, the last of the poet's
works. "My book is coming out," said he, "with very low hopes,
though not spirits, on my part. This shall be my last trial;
not succeeding, I shall try what I can do in the apothecary
line." It was not lack of success, however, that led him to
discontinue the publishing line.

Among the "other poems" mentioned on the title-page is
_Hyperion. A Fragment_. The publishers, who seem to have
cordially appreciated Keats's genius, refer to it in a
special "Advertisement" placed after the title-page, and dated
Fleet-Street, June 26, 1820:

"If any apology be thought necessary for the appearance of the
unfinished poem of Hyperion, the publishers beg to state
that they alone are responsible, as it was printed at their
particular request, and contrary to the wish of the author.
The poem was intended to have been of equal length with
Endymion, but the reception given to that work discouraged the
author from proceeding."

The volume was issued in light brown paper-covered boards, at
7s. 6d., and our poet says in a letter to Charles A. Brown:
"My book has had good success among the literary people, and
I believe has a moderate sale." And again he writes on this
subject to Mr. Brown, August, 1820: "The sale of my book is
very slow, though it has been very highly rated. One of
the causes, I understand from different quarters, of the
unpopularity of this new book, is the offence the ladies take
at me. On thinking that matter over, I am certain that I have
said nothing in a spirit to displease any woman I would care
to please; but still there is a tendency to class women in my
books with roses and sweetmeats,--they never see themselves
dominant."

On the verso of the title-page of some copies, and at the
end of the book, we find _London: Printed by Thomas
Davison, Whitefriars_, a guarantee for the excellence of the
typography, the key-note of which is struck in the admirably
arranged title-page.

Duodecimo.

COLLATION: _3 ll., 199 pp._

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

(1792-1822)

Charles Ollier, the publisher, received the following
interesting letter from Shelley, dated at Pisa, June 8, 1821:

"Dear Sir,--You may announce for publication a poem entitled
"Adonais." It is a lament on the death of poor Keats, with
some interposed stabs on the assassins of his peace and of
his fame; and will be preceded by a criticism on "Hyperion,"
asserting the due claims which that fragment gives him to
the rank which I have assigned him. My poem is finished, and
consists of about forty Spenser stanzas. I shall send it you,
either printed at Pisa, or transcribed in such a manner as
it shall be difficult for the reviser to leave such errors as
_assist_ the obscurity of the "Prometheus." But in case I send
it printed, it will be merely that mistakes may be avoided;
[so] that I shall only have a few copies struck off in the
cheapest manner."

The latter course was finally decided upon. The manuscript was
sent to the printer at Pisa on June 16, 1821, and the first
finished copy, in a blue, ornamented paper wrapper, was
received July 13. This was not slow work, and the more
remarkable when it is known that there are very few printer's
errors in the book. This accuracy is due to the great pains
Shelley took in revising the proofs.

The volume, and especially the untrimmed copies measuring
10×7-1/2 inches, are beautiful in appearance. There is a
certain marked peculiarity in the typography, however, which
is explained by Mr. Forman in this way: "The frequent dashes,
which seem to have exactly the value usual with Shelley, are
all double the usual length, except in two instances. The fact
is that, in Shelley's bold writing, these dashes _were_ very
long: the English printers would understand this; but Didot's
people seem to have followed them literally; and the book
being boldly printed, this peculiarity would not be likely to
strike Shelley in revising."

The name of the press at Pisa is not given; the fact that the
"Types of Didot" were used does not of course necessarily mean
that the Didots had an office there, as Mr. Forman would seem
to imply.

In the preface Shelley speaks as if he had changed his mind
about issuing the criticism of _Hyperion_ with this volume, as
he planned to do in the letter to Ollier. "It is my intention
to subjoin to the London edition of this poem, a criticism
upon the claims of its lamented object to be classed among the
writers of the highest genius who have adorned our age." No
London edition is known, however.

The poem was first printed in England in the columns of
the _Literary Chronicle_ for December 1, 1821, where it was
appended to a review; but in this form stanzas XIX to XXIV
were omitted. The earliest separate reprint bears the impress
_Cambridge: Printed by W. Metcalfe, and sold by Messrs. Gee &
Bridges, Market-Hill_. MDCCCXXIX.

Two quotations from an interesting unpublished letter,
belonging to a member of the Grolier Club, show that Ollier,
who had been the publisher of most of Shelley's works, had
copies of the Pisa book for sale, shortly after it was
issued; the letter is addressed to "Meſs^r. Ollier & Co.,
Booksellers Vere Street, Bond St., London, Angleterre," and
reads:

"Bagni. July 27. 1821

"DEAR SIR

"I send you the bill of lading of the box containing Adonais:
and I send also a copy to yourself by M^r. Gisborne who
probably will arrive before the Ship.... The work I send you,
has been seen in print by M^r. Gisborne, & has excited, as it
must in every one, the deepest interest.

"Dear Sir, Yours very truly

"P. B. SHELLEY."

Quarto.

COLLATION: _25 pp._

CHARLES LAMB

(1775-1834)

"Poor Elia," says Lamb in a letter to the publisher, Taylor,
under date of July 30, 1821, "Poor Elia, the real (for I am
but a counterfeit), is dead. The fact is, a person of that
name, an Italian, was a fellow-clerk of mine at the South
Sea House thirty (not forty) years ago, when the characters
I described there existed, but had left it like myself many
years; and I, having a brother now there, and doubting how he
might relish certain descriptions in it, I clapt down the name
of Elia to it, which passed off pretty well, for Elia himself
added the function of an author to that of a scrivener, like
myself.

"I went the other day (not having seen him for a year) to
laugh over with him at my usurpation of his name, and found
him, alas! no more than a name, for he died of consumption
eleven months ago, and I knew not of it.

"So the name has fairly devolved to me, I think, and 'tis all
he has left me."

In this way our author himself accounts for the pseudonym,
which, by the way, he says should be pronounced "Ellia."

The _London Magazine, London: Printed for Baldwin, Cradock,
And Joy_, was established in January, 1820; but Taylor and
Hessey did not become its proprietors until July of the
following year, when Taylor, who was something of a writer
himself, especially on monetary subjects, acted as editor,
with Thomas Hood as sub-editor. John Scott, whom Byron
described as "a man of very considerable talents and of great
acquirements," had been called to the editorship when Lamb
began his essays, and William Hazlitt was on the staff.

The first of the series appeared in the August number,
1820, and the papers continued until October, 1822, when,
twenty-seven having been issued, they, with one other called
_Valentine's Day_, which had appeared in the _Indicator_ for
February, 1821, were collected to form this volume.

When the book was in press Lamb thought to use a dedication,
which he wrote and sent to Taylor with the following note,
dated December 7, 1822:

"Dear Sir--I should like the enclosed Dedication to be
printed, unless you dislike it. I like it. It is in the olden
style. But if you object to it, put forth the book as it is;
only pray don't let the printer mistake the word _curt_ for
_curst_.

C. L.

"On better consideration, pray omit that Dedication. The
Essays want no Preface: they are _all Preface_. A Preface is
nothing but a talk with the reader; and they do nothing else.
Pray omit it.

"There will be a sort of Preface in the next Magazine, which
may act as an advertisement, but not proper for the volume.

"Let Elia come forth bare as he was born."

The label on the paper-covered boards gives the price of the
volume as 9s. 6d., a fairish price for the neat, but in no way
remarkable piece of book-making which Thomas Davison executed
for the publishers.

Some copies of the first edition show a variation in the
imprint: Messrs. Taylor and Hessey having opened a new shop at
13, Waterloo Place, this address was printed in a line below
the old one. Occasion was also taken, at this time, to furnish
the book with a half-title.

Octavo.

COLLATION: _iv, 341 pp._

SAMUEL PEPYS

(1633-1703)

To the information given on the title-page, the noble editor
adds some further facts in a preface. He says that the six
volumes, closely written in short-hand by Pepys himself, had
formed a part of the collection of books and prints bequeathed
to Magdalen College, where they had remained unexamined (from
the date of Pepys's death) until the appointment of Lord
Braybrooke's brother, George Neville, afterwards called
Grenville, as master of the College. Under Neville's auspices
they were deciphered by Mr. Smith, whom his lordship had not
the pleasure of knowing.

Pepys used short-hand for his notes because he often had
things to say which he did not think fit for all the world to
know; and Lord Braybrooke found it "absolutely necessary" to
"curtail the MS. materially." The complete journal, all that
it is possible to print, was not issued until 1893.

Colburn, the publisher, known for his successful ventures, and
especially for the series called _Colburn's Modern Standard
Novelists_ and _The Literary Gazette_, containing works by
Bulwer Lytton, Lady Morgan, Captain Marryat, and others, had
been so fortunate with an issue of Evelyn's _Diary_ that he
was led into the present undertaking. With this edition, which
sold at six pounds six shillings, and with two succeeding
editions selling at five guineas, he is reputed to have made a
handsome profit on the twenty-two hundred pounds paid for the
copyright.

The large volumes with their broad margins are handsome
specimens of the excellent typographical work of the Bentleys.
They are embellished with two illustrations in the text,
and thirteen engraved plates. A frontispiece portrait of the
author, after the painting by Kneller, was engraved by T.
Bragg, and a smaller portrait used as a head-piece to the
Life is signed _R. W. ſculp_. This last is a copy of one of
Pepys's book-plates; it has the motto "Mens cujusque is est
Quisque" above the oval frame, and "Sam. Pepys. Car. Et.
Iac. Angl. Regib. A. Secretis Admiraliæ" in two lines below.
Another book-plate used by the Secretary is copied on the
title-page. Of the remaining portraits, one was engraved by
John Thomson, while five were the work of R. Cooper, who also
engraved the "View of the Mole at Tangier" and the "View of
Mr. Pepys' Library." The other plates, including one showing
facsimiles of Pepys's short- and long-hand; two of pedigrees,
and a folded map, are signed "Sid^y. Hall, Bury Str^t.
Bloomsb^y."

Some copies of the book on fine paper, with beautiful
impressions of the plates, are marked in red on the half-title
page, "Presentation Copies."

Quarto.

COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _1 l., xlii, 498, xlix pp._
Volume II: _2 ll., 348, vii, 311 pp. Seven portraits. Six plates._

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER

(1789-1851)

_The Pioneers_ was the first of _The Leather Stocking Tales_.
It appeared in 1823, and was an immediate success; more than
3500 copies are said to have been sold before noon of the
day of publication. This was reason enough for following the
custom of the English novelists of putting on the title-page,
not the name of the author, but the name of his first success.
_The Last of the Mohicans_ appeared February 4, 1826, and was
also a prodigious success.

The surprising meagerness of bibliographical facts concerning
Cooper's works is, Professor Lounsbury says in his life of
the novelist, characteristic of a reticence and dislike of
publicity which extended to all his dealings. "The size of the
editions has never been given to the public. The sale of 'The
Pioneers' on the morning of its publication has already been
noticed, and there are contemporary newspaper statements to
the effect that the first edition of 'The Red Rover' consisted
of five thousand copies, and that this was exhausted in a few
days. But it was only from incidental references of this kind,
which can rarely be relied upon absolutely, that we, at this
late day, are able to give any specific information whatever.

"He was unquestionably helped in the end, however, by what in
the beginning threatened to be a serious if not insuperable
obstacle. He was unable to get any one concerned in the book
trade to assume the risk of bringing out 'The Spy.' That had
to be taken by the author himself. In the case of this novel,
we know positively that Cooper was not only the owner of the
copyright, but of all the edition; that he gave directions
as to the terms on which the work was to be furnished to the
booksellers, while the publishers, Wiley & Halsted, had
no direct interest in it, and received their reward by a
commission. It is evident that under this arrangement his
profits on the sale were far larger than would usually be the
case. Whether he followed the same method in any of his later
productions, there seems to be no method of ascertaining.
Wiley, however, until his death, continued to be his
publisher. 'The Last of the Mohicans' went into the hands
of Carey & Lea of Philadelphia, and this firm, under various
changes of name, continued to bring out the American edition
of his novels until the year 1844."

Henry Charles Carey, son of Matthew Carey, was as celebrated
for his writings on political economy as for his connection
with this publishing house, which was one of the largest in
the country.

Duodecimo.

COLLATION: _Two volumes._ Volume I: _262 pp._ Volume II: _260 pp._

WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR

(1775-1864)

These volumes were issued in three or more styles of binding:
paper-covered boards, straight-grain dull green cloth, and
half roan with brown glazed paper boards all with paper
labels. The publishers' advertisements, two leaves at the end
of Vol. II. are the same with each style of binding.

This work was written by Landor during his residence at
Fiesole, but it was published after his return to England. His
own choleric temperament and irascible manner unfitted him for
personal dealings with publishers, as he had found from past
experiences, and so the arrangements for this publication were
intrusted to his friend Mr. G. P. R. James, the novelist, who
sold the manuscript to Saunders and Otley for £100.

The following unpublished letter of Landor's, belonging to
a member of the Grolier Club, is interesting as referring to
this transaction.

"MY DEAR SIR:

"When I offered my Pericles to MM. Saunders & Otley I did not
suppose there was more than enough for one volume, the size of
the Examination of Shakspeare. They told you it would form two
volumes of that size. Knowing that I had material for thirty
pages more, I said that if they would make the first vol: 300
pp. I would take care that the second should not fall short
of it more than a dozen pages. Now I have sent them not thirty
but a hundred--and they tell me to-day that there is not
remaining, for the second volume, more than 175 pp. I have,
you perceive, already sent above one third more than what I
calculated the whole at, when you had the kindness to make the
agreement for me.

"In reply to their letter I have said that, if they will give
me fifty pounds more, I will send one hundred more pages, 50
within three weeks, 50 more in the three following; and if
this does not appear equitable to them I leave it entirely to
you. I shall then have given them 200 pp. for fifty pounds,
when I offered them only 285 for a hundred. It will be my
business to take care that the remainder shall fall as
little short as possible of the preceding. I have furthermore
stipulated for twenty copies. Many of these will take nothing
from the profits, as more than a dozen will be given to people
who certainly would not have bought them, and who are not
likely to lend them.

"A friend has offered me some pheasants, which I have desired
to be sent to you. I hope they will please the young lion with
their plumage. The first of Feb. I set out for Clifton: an old
favorite of mine for winter and spring. I have requested MM
Saunders to favour me with two (I should be glad of three)
copies of the first volume as my friend Ablett's birthday is
on the 31 of this month, and mine on the 30, and I have three
friends to whom it would delight me to give them before I
leave Wales. With best compliments to Mrs. James, believe me
ever,

"Yrs very sincerely

"W. S. LANDOR

"LLAMBEDR, Jan. 18 [1836]

"I have seen the last sheet of Vol. I, but not the short
Preface sent from London.

"How can you complain of your English. There is hardly a fault
to be found in the 3 volumes. I have read them a second time.

"G. P. R. James, Esq.

"1 Lloyds Buildings

"Blackheath

"London"

The work appeared during the early part of 1836, and though
it was received with much praise by his friends, and had many
favorable reviews, the sale dragged. In October of the same
year, Landor, in one of his letters to Forster, refers to an
unfavorable review which appeared in _Blackwood_: "... I am
not informed how long this Scotchman has been at work about
me, but my publisher has advised me, that he loses £150. by my
_Pericles_. So that it is probable the Edinburgh Areopagites
have condemned me to a fine in my absence; for I never can
allow any man to be a loser by me, and am trying to economise
to the amount of this indemnity to Saunders and Otley...."
The money was in fact paid back, and yet, curiously enough,
as Forster relates, Landor not only forgot, three years later,
that he had received a payment for the copyright, but even
that he himself had sent back the money, and was making
further remittances to satisfy the supposed loss. This was
stopped by a statement from Mr. Saunders, to which Landor
refers in a letter to Forster: "Never, in the course of
my life, was I so surprised as at the _verification_ of my
account with Saunders; for such it is. Certain I am that no
part of the money was ever spent by me, nor can I possibly
bring to mind either the receiving or the returning of it...."

The first American edition of _Pericles and Aspasia_, in
two volumes, was published by Carey, Philadelphia, 1839, the
second English edition in 1849, and there have been frequent
editions since, both in England and in America.

Duodecimo.

COLLATION: _Two Volumes._ Volume I: _viii, 299 pp._
Volume II: _viii, 343 pp._

CHARLES DICKENS

(1812-1870)

An advertisement in the _Times_ for March 26, 1836, reads:

"THE PICKWICK PAPERS.--On the 31st of March will be published,
to be continued monthly, price One Shilling, the first number
of the Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, containing
a faithful record of the Perambulations, Perils, Travels,
Adventures, and Sporting Transactions of the Corresponding
Members. Edited by Boz. Each monthly Part embellished with
four Illustrations by Seymour. Chapman & Hall, 186 Strand, and
of all booksellers."

Robert Seymour, a caricaturist, and the illustrator of such
works as _The Odd Volume_, _The Looking Glass_, and _Humorous
Sketches_, had been employed by Chapman and Hall to illustrate
a comic publication called _The Squib Annual_; and this
led him to suggest that he should make a series of Cockney
sporting plates which could be furnished with letter-press.
Hall applied to Dickens, then an unknown newspaper man, for
the text, a "something which should be a vehicle for certain
plates to be executed by Mr. Seymour." Dickens says of this
proposition: "I objected.... My views being deferred to, I
thought of Mr. Pickwick, and wrote the first number; from the
proof-sheets of which Mr. Seymour made his drawing of the
Club and his happy portrait of its founder. I connected Mr.
Pickwick with a club, because of the original suggestion; and
I put in Mr. Winkle expressly for the use of Mr. Seymour."

The work came out in twenty parts (parts nineteen and twenty
were bound together), beginning in April, 1836, and ending
with November, 1837. They were covered in light green paper
bordered with a design by Seymour, and engraved by John
Jackson, a pupil of Bewick and Hervey. The title reads, _The
Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club_ [_Five lines_] _Edited
by "Boz. With Illustrations...."_

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Bibliographic Notes on One Hundred Books Famous in English LiteratureChapter VI: Part 6

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