The most disreputable trade: publishing the classics of English poetry, 1765-1810 PDF
Preview The most disreputable trade: publishing the classics of English poetry, 1765-1810
THE MOST DISREPUTABLE TRADE This page intentionally left blank The Most Disreputable Trade Publishing the Classics of English Poetry 1765–1810 THOMAS F. BONNELL 1 3 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26DP OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwidein Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto Withofficesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress intheUKandincertainothercountries PublishedintheUnitedStates byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork ©ThomasF.Bonnell2008 Themoralrightsoftheauthorshavebeenasserted DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker) Firstpublished2008 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress, orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment, OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover andyoumustimposethesameconditiononanyacquirer BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Dataavailable TypesetbySPIPublisherServices,Pondicherry,India PrintedinGreatBritain onacid-freepaperby BiddlesLtd.,King’sLynn,Norfolk ISBN 978–0–19–953220–9 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 ForEmily Acknowledgements Thetrailofmyindebtednessisalongone.Iamgratefultoeverylibrarianwho accommodatedmyresearch,howevernumeroustheitemsIwishedtoexamine. ‘You need to see them all?’ was asked more than once with requests involving a 68-or124-volumecollection,butthebooksalwayscame. I visited the British Library, the Senate House Library at the University of London, the Bodleian Library and John Johnson Collections at Oxford University, the Cambridge University Library, the Liverpool City Library, the NationalLibraryofScotland,theScottishRecordOffice,theAdvocatesLibrary, the Edinburgh City Library, the Edinburgh City Archives, the University of Edinburgh Library, the Glasgow University Library, the Mitchell Library, the University of Aberdeen Library, the Aberdeen Public Library; the National LibraryofIreland,andTrinityCollegeLibrary;thelibrariesattheUniversityof Chicago,NorthwesternUniversity,theUniversityofMichigan,theUniversityof Minnesota,theUniversityofIowa,OhioUniversity,DukeUniversity,Princeton University, Columbia University, Yale University (the Beinecke, Sterling, Med- ical,andLewisWalpoleLibraries),HarvardUniversity(theHoughton,Widener, and Law Libraries), the Henry Ransom Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin; the New York Public Library, the Boston Public Library, the Cleveland Public Library; the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Newberry Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Library of Congress where, in viewofthedauntingnumberofcallslipstobeprocessed,Iwasallowedtoenter the stacks and work from the shelves. For the assistance I received everywhere I am deeply thankful, though special mention is warranted for the late Hugh Amory, Charles Benson, Iain Beavan, Iain Brown, Tom Ford, Jim Green, Brian Hillyard, Tom Horrocks, Richard Ovenden, Alice Schreyer, and the late Lady EcclesofFourOaksFarm. For help with my illustrations I am grateful to Nathan Lunstrum, Greg D’Haeze, and Denise Massa. Except where otherwise noted, the items pictured aremyown. AlongthewaymyworkwassupportedbyanNEHFellowship(year-long)and Stipend(summer),grantsfromtheBibliographicalSocietyofAmericaandfrom theKeough-NaughtonInstituteforIrishStudiesatNotreDameinconjunction withtheAmericanSocietyforEighteenth-CenturyStudies,andaMellonFellow- ship at the Library Company of Philadelphia. I have also received grants from Saint Mary’s College, where the good services of Jill Hobgood in Interlibrary Loan,andfruitfulcollaborationswithformerstudentsKathleenUrdaandRenée Young,mustalsobegratefullynoted. Acknowledgements vii Two of my chapters are revisions of articles. Chapter 4 has been reworked from ‘John Bell’s Poets of Great Britain: The “Little Trifling Edition” Revisted’, Modern Philology, 85 (1987), 128–52, and Chapter 5 from ‘Patchwork and Piracy: John Bell’s “Connected System of Biography” and the Use of Johnson’s Prefaces’,StudiesinBibliography,48(1995),193–228. By post, e-mail, and phone I have pestered friends and other kind souls for information, including Nancy Birkrem, C. Y. Ferdinand, Bob Hohl, Samuel Huang, Lisa Libby, Gavin Murdoch, Eric Nye, Richard Oram, Mark Purcell, Cathy Rodriguez, Ruth Rogers, Tim Sauer, Eleanore Stewart, and Jim Tierney. Somehavegenerouslyallowedmetolookatorborrowbooksintheirpossession. For similar help, whether indulging me via e-mail, alerting me to items of interest,orlettingmesitdownwithstockintheirshops,Iamindebtedtoseveral bookdealersandauctioneers,includingStuartBennett,JamesBurmester,James Cummins, Éammon de Búrca, Christopher Edwards, Alan Grant, Gary Kane, PatrickMarrin,andAlanRankin. At various stages I have benefited from the advice of Bruce Redford, James Raven, Rick Sher, and the anonymous readers for OUP, and am indebted to MargaretEzell,JimFuchs,KenPrice,andRichardG.Petersonfortheirencour- agementalongtheway.Andfortheirboundlessgenerosityandrepeatedactsof assistanceineverycategoryimaginable,IambeholdentoMichaelF.Suarez,SJ, BillZachs,ChrisFox,andDavidVanderMeulen. TwoofthepeopleImostwishedtoreadmyworkarenowgone.GwinKolb and David Fleeman were dear, wise friends, and their deaths have deprived me ofthechancetohearthemtellmewhattheythink. Wordscannotrepaytheloveandsupportofmyparents,andIfondlyrecallmy father’s help at the very outset in photographing the plates in Bell’s Poets at the UniversityofMinnesota.Andmygreatestblessingwashavingbeenabletocount ontheunfailinglove,patience,andhumorofmywifeEmily,andtheinspiration ofourdaughterZoë,whoislifeitself. This page intentionally left blank Contents ListofTables xi ListofIllustrations xii Abbreviations xiii Introduction:ANewSensibilityforClassics 1 1. OurNativeClassics,CompleteandUniform 7 AftertheGreekandRomanClassics 9 AClassicalApolloforBritannia 19 Diff’rentSortsofFarefromaMiscellany 24 CopyrightandCanon 30 AReputableTrade—orPitiful,Beggarly,Precarious? 34 2. TheElzevirsofGlasgow:RobertandAndrewFoulis 39 GiltbyAssociation 41 TheCharacterofaUniversity-Printer 46 EnterprisingScotsmenandtheImpartialBriton 51 AnElzevirforEnglishPoetry 55 ReadersGladtohavethem 62 3. WilliamCreechandJohnBoyle:TheClassicsSpreadAcrossScotland 68 TheMostCelebratedBritishPoets 70 AsGreataPirateastheWorst 75 Beattie’sPlaceamongthatFraternity 81 AllthatisValuableoftheWholeEnglishPoets 87 TheBestSchemestheMostRuinous 90 4. JohnBell’sLittleTriflingEditionRevisited 97 IntheElzeverianStile 98 PicturesoftheHighestAuthority 106 TheProgressofPiracy 116 TheBrilliancyofitsReception 124 BooksellersPrintinguponOneAnother 130 5. Johnson’sPrefacesandBell’sConnectedSystemofBiography 134 TheMagnumNomen 135 AnApologytothePartners 140 ThatPartwhichyoumightCallPiracy 144 Bell’sUseofJohnson’sPrefaces 153 AdditionalMaterialsInterwoven 158
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