THE HOLY BIBLE

Few books present greater difficulties to the bibliographer than this, the first "Authorized" or King James Version of the Bible. Many copies bearing the same date, and seemingly alike, have distinct differences in the text, in the ornamental head- and tail-pieces, and in the initial letters. But the most striking difference lies in two forms of the title-page. One of these, a copper-plate engraving, signed C. Boel fecit in Richmont, represents an architectural framework having large figures of Moses and Aaron in niches on either side of the border and seated figures of St. Luke and St. John, with their emblems, at the bottom: above are seated figures of St. Matthew and St. Mark, and St. Peter and St. Paul holding the Agnus Dei, while behind them are various saints and martyrs. The title reads:

The style of Boel's work is quite like that of the Sadelers, to whose school he belonged, and it resembles in its general effect some of the title-pages made by those artists for Plantin's famous Antwerp press.

The other title-page is seen in the facsimile. It is printed with a woodcut border which represents above, the Evangelists Matthew and Mark, the Adonai, Lamb, and Dove in cartouches, while below are found St. Luke and St. John, the Lamb on the altar, and the cherub's head, Barker's ornament. The tents and shields of the Twelve Tribes are represented in twelve round panels on the left side, and the Twelve Apostles, similarly framed, on the right. The signatures

and

are seen at the bottom of the title panel. This border, like the great primer black letter of the text, had been previously used by Christopher Barker, in an edition of the "Bishops Bible," published in 1585, and by Robert in 1602; afterward, in an edition of the New Testament (Royal Version) published in 1617, and also in other works. While more finished in execution, the design is similar in idea to one often used by Barker, notably in a Bible printed in 1593, and bears some resemblance to a border found in Plantin's "Great Bible."

The copper-plate title is sometimes found with what is called the first issue of the work, sometimes with the second, and sometimes with the editions of 1613 and 1617. It has been suggested that it was intended to be used with the woodcut border always found with the New Testament in both issues, and usually ascribed to the second, although "there is no ground for supposing that it was always issued with it." That Boel took the motive of the tents and shields of the Tribes for a minor detail in his border, is a point worthy of notice because this fact might, with some reason, be used to prove that inasmuch as his engraving was made some time after the unknown wood-engraver's border, it could hardly have appeared with the first issue.

We quote the following from W. I. Loftie's A Century of Bibles:

"Mr. Fry has compared together 70 copies of the Bible of 1611. By observing how many of them were exactly alike he was able to determine their order of publication. Twenty-three copies were found to present the same peculiarities. Two only varied from the 25 and from each other, in 8 leaves, 2 in one and 6 in the other. Of the remaining 45, 40 were mixed with leaves from other editions, but 38 contained leaves of the same edition. Mr. Fry's conclusions were as follows:—One issue is unmixed except 2 copies in 25: the other is made up (1) with reprints, (2) with parts of the first issue, (3) with preliminary leaves from 3 other editions: he therefore infers that the two issues were distinct and that the issue which presented the fewest instances of admixture was the first. His conclusions seem unassailable; it is therefore assumed to be proved in this list, that the issue of which he examined 25 copies so nearly alike, is the first, and is entitled to the honour of being called the Editio Princeps of the version."

The chief differences in the collation of what is called the second issue with the first are these: "The fifth leaf is Sig. B. in the preliminary matter: Kalendar C, C2, C3, and followers. In the first page of the Dedication OE is printed for OF and in the eighth line CHKIST for CHRIST. In the 'Names and order of the Bookes' there are three lines printed in red: I Chronicles, is misprinted I Corinthians, and II Chronicles, II Corinthians. The chief errors of the first issue are corrected, but the repetition in Ezra iii. 5, remains. Exodus ix. 13, Let my people goe that they may ſerve thee, for serve me. S. Matthew xxvi. 36, Then commeth Judas with them unto a place called Gethſemane, for Then cometh Jeſus. The initial P. in Psalm 112, contains a woodcut of Walsingham's crest."

Robert Barker's name calls for more than passing notice, since he it was who, more than any one else after the forty-seven translators, was responsible for the production of the Authorized Version. On January 3, 1599, the court of assistants of the Stationers' Company recognized the letter patent of Queen Elizabeth granting Robert Barker the reversion for life, after his father's death, of the office of Queen's Printer, with the right of printing English Bibles, Books of Common Prayer, statutes and proclamations. Christopher Barker, the father, who was also Queen's Printer, made an interesting report in December, 1582, on the printing patents which had been granted from 1558-1582, and in it he speaks of his own rights. Mr. Edward Arber, in quoting the report, calls it a masterly summary, whose importance and authority as a graphic history of English printing, it would be hardly possible to exaggerate. In "A note of the offices and other speciall licenses for printing, graunted by her maiestie to diuerse persons; with a coniecture of the valuation" he says: "Myne owne office of her Maiesties Printer of the English tongue gyven to Master Wilkes, (and which he had bought) is abbridged of the cheefest comodities belonging to the office, as shall hereafter appeare in the Patentes of Master Seres and Master Daye: but as it is I haue the printing of the olde and newe testament, the statutes of the Realme, Proclamations, and the booke of common prayer by name, and in generall wordes, all matters for the Churche."

If the monopoly of printing the Bible brought its gains it also brought its risks. Christopher Barker in his report goes on to speak of this:

"The whole bible together requireth so great a somme of money to be employed, in the imprinting thereof; as Master Jugge kept the Realme twelve yere withoute, before he Durst adventure to print one impression: but I, considering the great somme I paide to Master Wilkes, Did (as some haue termed it since) gyve a Desperate adventure to imprint fouer sundry impressions for all ages, wherein I employed to the value of three thousande pounde in the term of one yere and a halfe, or thereaboute: in which tyme if I had died, my wife and children had ben vtterlie vndone, and many of my frendes greatlie hindered by disbursing round sommes of money for me, by suertiship and other meanes...."

Robert was not without a like experience. The King, it is claimed, never paid a penny towards the great work. Indeed, William Ball, writing in 1651, says: "I conceive the sole printing of the bible, and testament, with power of restraint in others, to be of right the propriety of one Matthew Barker, citizen and stationer of London, in regard that his father paid for the emended or corrected translation of the bible, 3,500 l.: by reason whereof the translated copy did of right belong to him and his assignes."

Whether the great expense connected with its production ruined him, or whether, as Mr. Plomer suggests, he had been living beyond his means, Barker's last days were involved in financial difficulties, and he died in the King's Bench prison.

Some of the ornament in the book, particularly that used with the coat-of-arms of the King, the genealogical tables, the map, and some few head-bands and initial letters, again recall the work done for Plantin, and lead us to think that that great printer's books had not been without their influence upon the Barkers. The Tudor rose, the thistle, harp and fleur-de-lis are combined in different ways in initials and head-bands; the head-band of the archers, which was afterward used in the folio edition of Shakespeare's works, and is found in many other books, appears; and a large number of unrelated and commonplace initials and type-metal head-bands bring to mind the fact that Barker had come into the possession of material formerly belonging to John Day and Henry Bynneman.

Folio. Black letter. Double columns.

Collation: A, six leaves; B, two leaves; C, one leaf; A2-A6; D, four leaves; A-C, in sixes; two leaves without signatures; A-Ccccc6, in sixes; A-Aa6, in sixes.

BENJAMIN JONSON
(1573?-1637)

This book, especially as we see it in the copies printed on large paper, is a handsome specimen of typography. It reflects great credit upon its printer, Stansby, who was an apprentice and then successor to John Windet, and himself a master printer. Such work entitles him to a front rank among the printers of the reign of James I.

Jonson is said to have prepared the plays for the press, himself, and one or two matters of editing, which seem unusually careful when compared with other folio collections, certainly appear to show the author's hand. At the end of each play, for instance, is a statement telling when it was first acted, and by whom, whether the king's or the queen's servants. The names of the actors are also given, as well as the "allowance". The volume embraces nine plays, and Epigrammes, The Forest, Entertaynements, Panegyre, Maſques and Barriers. There is no introductory note by the printer, and we are not told how Stansby came into the right to print those plays which had been previously issued by other printers or publishers.

In some copies all of the plays have separate printed titles, while in others there are one, two, or more wood-cut borders showing a lion and a unicorn, a lily, rose and thistle, and a grape-vine twined around columns at the side.

All of the works not included in the first were intended for a second volume, which, however, did not appear until after Jonson's death, in 1640, when it was printed for Richard Meighen, the bookseller, by Bernard Alsop and Thomas Fawcet. The title reads: The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The second Volume Containing These Playes, Viz. 1 Bartholomew Fayre. 2 The Staple of Newes. 3 The Divell is an Asse.... This title, it will be seen, mentions only three plays, which are thought to have been issued somewhat earlier than 1640, perhaps as a supplement to the first volume. The book, as it is usually bound, however, contains three more plays and a fragment of a fourth.

There are variations in the imprint of the first volume, some reading, London, Printed by William Stansby, and again others, London printed by W. Stansby, and are to be ſould by Rich: Meighen. The imprints of the large paper copies in the British Museum and Huth libraries both read like that of the copy facsimiled. The large paper copies, it should be noted, are on whiter and finer paper of an entirely different water-mark. The copies with Meighen's name show traces of the erasure of our form; a fact leading to the supposition that they are later in issue. This matter is complicated, however, by certain striking variations in the text itself. The last two pages of Meighen's copies, containing The Golden Age, show a transposition of parts affecting the whole literary value of the ending of the masque.

Mr. Walter Wilson Greg, in his List of English Plays, 1900, gives the Stansby-Meighen copies the place of the first issue, calling the Stansby copies a reissue, with the imprint reëngraved.

It seems reasonable to suppose, in view of the fact that he was the seller of the second volume also, that Meighen became connected with Stansby after the first copies of the first volume were published. The appearance of his name in the imprint of Volume I. would mark the beginning of such a partnership; and this partnership would naturally be continuous, and not interrupted, as it would appear to be if copies bearing Stansby's name alone came after the Stansby-Meighen imprint, and before the 1640 volume.

"Guliel Hole fecit" is signed to the elaborate title-page engraved on copper. This monumental structure, with its representations of Tragicomœdia, Satyr, Pastor, Tragœdia, Comœdia, Theatrum, Plaustrum, and Visorium, shows such a considerable knowledge of Roman antiquities that we are inclined to think that Jonson himself may have had something to do with the making of it. A similar thought arises in looking at the pages engraved by Hole for Chapman's Homer, and one would like to know how far that author, steeped in his Classics, influenced the engraver. It may be a fair speculation, how far Jonson and Chapman may have influenced the development of book illustration.

It is a point worthy of notice that the execution of the figures in this engraving is decidedly inferior to that of the Chapman title.

Gerard Honthorst's portrait of Jonson, engraved by Robert Vaughan, whose frontispieces and portraits are found in many books of the period, is inserted in this copy. The engraving was probably issued, in its first state, as a separate print. In a second state it was prefixed to the second edition of the first volume, Printed by Richard Biſhop, and are to be ſold by Andrew Crooke, in 1640.

The famous lines,

"O could there be an art found out that might

Produce his shape soe lively as to Write,"

follow eight lines of Latin, beneath the oval frame.

Folio.

Collation: Portrait and title-page, 2 leaves; A-Qqqq4, in sixes.

ROBERT BURTON
(1577-1640)

In the preface, the author tells why he used the pseudonym "Democritus Junior." Democritus, he says, as described by Hippocrates and Diogenes Laertius, was "a little wearyiſh olde man, very melancholy by nature, averſe from company in his latter times, and much giuen to ſolitarineſſe," who undertook to find the seat of melancholy. "Democritus Iunior is therefore bold to imitate, and becauſe he left it unperfect, to proſecute and finiſh, in this Treatiſe." In "The Concluſion of the Author to the Reader," three leaves at the end of the volume, signed "Robert Burton," and dated "From my Studie in Chriſt Church, Oxon, Decemb 5. 1620," he says:

"The laſt Section ſhall be mine, to cut the ſtrings of Democritus viſor, to vnmaſke and ſhew him as he is ... Democritus began as a Prologue to this Trage-comedie, but why doth the Author end, and act the Epilogue in his owne name? I intended at firſt to haue concealed my ſelfe, but ſecunde cogitationes &c. for ſome reaſons I haue altered mine intent, and am willing to ſubſcribe...."

Later editions, and there were eight during Burton's lifetime, omit the conclusion, and show other alterations. The success of the book, as may be seen from this large number of editions, was great. Wood says that Cripps, the bookseller, made a fortune out of the sale of it, yet he received only a half share of the profits; the other half, belonging to the author, was made over by him in his will to members of the college and to various Oxford friends. "If anie bookes be lefte lett my executors dispose of them, with all such bookes as are written with my owne handes, and half my Melancholy copie, for Crips hath the other halfe."

In course of time the Anatomy was almost forgotten, and Lowndes tells us it owes its revival to Dr. Johnson, who observed that it "was the only book that ever took him out of bed two hours sooner than he wished to rise."

Lichfield and Short were university printers whose press will be chiefly remembered in connection with the production of this masterpiece. The book is ornamented with a few type-metal head- and tail-pieces, and a large initial and a woodcut head-band at the beginning.

Quarto.

Collation: a-f4, in eights; A-Ddd₄, in eights.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
(1564-1616)

The bibliographical history of this most famous book has been written so completely by Mr. Sidney Lee that little remains to be said. The following notes aim only at recounting the facts suggested by a reading of the title-page.

Venus and Adonis, printed in 1593, and Lucrece, printed in 1594, were the only works of Shakespeare published during his lifetime with his consent and coöperation; but sixteen of his plays were printed in quarto size, by various publishers, without his permission.

The plays here collected, in folio form, are thirty-six in number, and include sixteen hitherto unpublished,—all the plays, in fact, except Pericles. John Heming and Henry Condell, friends and fellow-actors of the dramatist, were professedly responsible for the edition, as appears in their dedication to the Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery:

"... that what delight is in them, may be euer your L.L. the reputation his, & the faults ours, if any be committed, by a payre ſo carefull to ſhew their gratitude both to the liuing, and the dead...." But the chief part of the real editorship is thought to have devolved upon the publisher, Edward Blount of The Bear, Paul's Churchyard, one of the firm pecuniarily responsible for the enterprise. His name and that of Isaac Jaggard, the printer, appear upon the title-page, as the licensed printers, but in the colophon we read that the book was "printed at the charges" of William Jaggard, printer to the City of London, and father to Isaac, Ed. Blount, "I. Smithweeke," or Smethwick, bookseller under the Dial, in St. Dunstan's Churchyard, and William Aspley, bookseller of The Parrots, Paul's Churchyard.

The "true originall copies" were probably found in the sixteen unauthorized quarto volumes, previously printed, the playhouse or prompt-copies, and in transcripts of plays in private hands. Heming and Condell touch on this matter in their address "To the great Variety of Readers": "It had bene a thing, we confeſſe, worthie to haue bene wiſhed, that the Author himſelfe had liu'd to haue ſet forth, and ouerſeen his owne writings; But ſince it hath bin ordain'd otherwiſe, and he by death departed from that right, we pray you do not envie his Friends, the office of their care, and paine, to haue collected & publiſh'd them; and ſo to haue publiſh'd them, as where (before) you were abus'd with diuerſe ſtolne, and ſurreptitious copies, maimed, and deformed by the frauds and ſtealthes of iniurious impoſtors, that expoſed them; even thoſe are now offer'd to your view cur'd, and perfect of their limbes; and all the reſt, abſolute in their numbers as he conceiued thẽ."

The edition, as published, is thought to have numbered five hundred copies. About two hundred are now known, but of these less than twenty are in perfect condition. The price of the volume when issued was one pound, and the highest price so far paid is seventeen hundred and twenty pounds.

The book is not a fine specimen of typography; it contains numerous errors of all kinds, and the printer's ornaments are all such as are frequently met with in books issued before and after this date. This is especially and strikingly true of the large head-band of the archers which we have already noticed in the Bible of 1611, and of the large tail-piece used after twenty-five of the plays. The other head-pieces and initial letters are of commonplace character, and show much wear. The portrait, too, by Martin Droeshout, a young Flemish artist,

"Wherein the Grauer had a ſtrife

With Nature, to out-doo the life:"

as Jonson assures us in his famous verses "To the Reader," is, as might be expected, hard and stiff, but it was undoubtedly done from a painting that has more claims to be considered "from the life" than any other. With all its technical faults, it "is intrinsically the most valuable volume in the whole range of English literature."

Folio.

Collation: One leaf without signature; A, eight leaves; A-Z, Aa-Cc2, in sixes; a, two leaves; Aa3-Aa6, b-g, in sixes; gg, eight leaves; h-x, in sixes; ¶, ¶¶, in sixes; ¶¶¶, one leaf; aa-ff, in sixes; gg, two leaves; gg-zz, aaa-bbb, in sixes.

JOHN WEBSTER
(1580?-1625?)

The play was first acted about 1612.

A list of the actors' names is given on the verso of the title-page, and among them stands out that of Richard Burbage, who created the part of the Duke. The part of the Duchess was played by a boy named R. Sharpe.

It is the only play of Webster's presented on the modern stage. Miss Glyn played in it in 1851, and Miss May Rorke in 1892.

The first edition is called by Dyce, the most correct of the quartos.

Quarto.

Collation: A-N, in fours. Without pagination.

PHILIP MASSINGER
(1583-1640)

This comedy retained its popularity longer than any other of Massinger's plays, and has often been revived upon the modern stage.

"E. P." was Elizabeth Purslowe, the widow of George Purslowe, who this year began to carry on "at the east end of Christ church" the business followed there by her husband since 1614. The printer's mark is the one used by the famous family of French printers, the Estiennes.

Seile, whose labors covered a period of twenty years, was one of the many publishers of Massinger's books.

Quarto.

Collation: A-M2, in fours. Without pagination.

JOHN FORD
(1586-1639)

The words "Fide Honor" are an anagram of Ford's name. Entered on the Stationers' Register March 28, 1633.

Quarto

Collation: A, three leaves; B-K, in fours. Without pagination.

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
(1564-1593)

Marlowe probably wrote the play not earlier than 1588, because the line in the opening speech of Machevill, "And now the Guize is dead," refers to the Duc de Guise, the organizer of the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew, who died in that year. The tragedy was acted many times before it was entered in the Stationers' Register by the two publishers, Nicholas Ling and Thomas Millington, in 1594; but for some reason it was not printed even then. When finally issued in the form shown here, it was under the editorship of Thomas Heywood, the dramatist, who explains his connection with the work in his dedication to Thomas Hammon:

"This Play, compoſed by ſo worthy an Authour as Mr. Marlo; and the part of the Jew preſented by ſo vnimitable an Actor as Mr. Allin, being in this later Age commended to the Stage: As I vſher'd it into the Court, and preſented it to the Cock-pit, with theſe Prologues and Epilogues here inſerted, ſo now being newly brought to the preſſe I was loth it ſhould be publiſhed without the ornament of an epistle...."

Quarto.

Collation: A-K2, in fours. Without pagination.

GEORGE HERBERT
(1593-1643)

Izaak Walton wrote the well-known account of the circumstances connected with the printing of The Temple. He tells how Herbert, upon his death-bed, received a visit from a Mr. Edmond Duncon, and how he confided to him the manuscript to be delivered to Nicholas Ferrar of Little Gidding. These are his words:

"... Having said this, he did, with so sweet a humility as seemed to exalt him, bow down to Mr. Duncon, and with a thoughtful and contented look, say to him, 'Sir, I pray deliver this little book to my dear brother Farrer [Ferrar], and tell him he shall find in it a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have passed betwixt God and my soul ... desire him to read it; and then, if he can think it may turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul, let it be made publick; if not, let him burn it, for I and it are less than the least of God's mercies.' Thus meanly did this humble man think of this excellent book, which now bears the name of The Temple, or Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations...."

The small volume was entered for license soon after the poet's death, but was at first refused by the Vice-Chancellor. Izaak Walton is again our informant of the circumstance:

"And this ought to be noted, that when Mr. Farrer sent this book to Cambridge to be licensed for the press, the Vice-Chancellor would by no means allow the two so much-noted verses,

'Religion stands a tiptoe in our land,

Ready to pass to American strand,'

to be printed; and Mr. Farrer would by no means allow the book to be printed and want them. But after some time and some arguments for and against their being made publick, the Vice-Chancellor said, 'I knew Mr. Herbert well, and know that he had many heavenly speculations, and was a divine poet; but I hope the world will not take him to be an inspired prophet, and therefore I license the whole book.' So that it came to be printed without the diminution or addition of a syllable since it was delivered into the hands of Mr. Duncon, save only that Mr. Farrer hath added that excellent preface that is printed before it."

There were two editions of the book in the same year, and beside these, two copies are known, like the first edition in every particular, except the title-page, which is not dated, and reads as follows:

Grosart thinks that the undated copies were limited to a very few, issued as gifts to intimate friends.

Thomas Buck appears to have held the office of printer to the University from 1625 for upward of forty years. During that period he had several partners besides Daniel, with all of whom he quarrelled. Daniel was appointed on July 24, 1632, and the next year, or the year when Herbert's book was published, entered into an agreement by which he received one-third of the profits of the office, while Buck received two-thirds.

Duodecimo.

Collation: ¶, four leaves; A-I2, in twelves.

JOHN DONNE
(1573-1631)

An entry in the Registers of the Stationers' Company shows the book to have been regularly licensed, though somewhat delayed owing to the doubts of the censor concerning the Satires and certain of the Elegies.

"13^o Septembris 1632

"John Marriott. Entred for his Copy vnder the handes of Sir Henry Herbert and both the Wardens a booke of verses and Poems (the five satires, the first, second, Tenth, Eleaventh and Thirteenth Elegies being excepted) and these before excepted to be his, when he bringes lawfull authority ... vj^d.

"written by Doctor John Dunn."

But in 1637, after two editions had been published, the poet's son, who had a somewhat unsavory reputation, addressed a petition to the Archbishop of Canterbury stating that it had been put forth "withoute anie leaue or Authoritie," and, as a result, the Archbishop issued the following order, December 16, 1637.

"I require ye Parties whom this Petition concernes not to meddle any farther with ye Printing or Selling of any ye pretended workes of ye late Deane of St. Paules, saue onely such as shall be licensed by publike authority, and approued by the Petitioner, as they will answere ye contrary to theyr perill. And this I desire Mr. Deane of ye Arches to take care."

In view of this discussion, Marriot's note in "The Printer To The Understanders," which is not found in all copies, and which, since it is printed on two extra leaves, was evidently an afterthought for late issues, takes on an added interest. It would be difficult to say whether his apologies touching on all these matters were actuated by the noble spirit in which he claims he printed the book, or to ward off anticipated criticism. One is almost tempted to try and read between the lines when he exclaims:

"If you looke for an Epiſtle, as you haue before ordinary publications, I am ſory that I muſt deceive you; but you will not lay it to my charge, when you shall conſider that this is not ordinary ..., you may imagine (if it pleaſe you) that I could endeare it unto you, by ſaying, that importunity drew it on, that had it not beene preſented here, it would haue come to us beyond the Seas (which perhaps is true enough,) that my charge and paines in procuring of it hath beene ſuch, and ſuch. I could adde hereunto a promiſe of more correctneſſe, or enlargement in the next Edition, if you ſhall in the meane time content you with this....

"If any man (thinking I ſpeake this to enflame him for the vent of the Impreſſion) be of another opinion, I ſhall as willingly ſpare his money as his judgement. I cannot looſe ſo much by him as hee will by himſelfe. For I ſhall ſatiſfie my ſelfe with the conſcience of well doing, in making ſo much good common.

"Howſoeuer it may appeare to you, it ſhall ſuffice me to enforme you that it hath the beſt warrant that can bee, publique authority and private friends."

The younger Donne's petition is supported by the appearance of the book itself, which was edited in a very careless fashion, without any attempt at order or relation. But, on the other hand, as Mr. Edmund Gosse has pointed out, Marriott and his edition really do seem to have had the support of the best men among Donne's disciples and friends: King, Hyde, Thomas Browne, Richard Corbet, Henry Valentine, Izaak Walton, Thomas Carew, Jasper Mayne, Richard Brathwaite and Endymion Porter, all of whom, beside several others, combined to write the Elegies mentioned on the title-page.

The printer, "M. F.," was Miles Flesher, or Fletcher, successor to George Eld, and one of the twenty master printers who worked during this most troublous period, following the famous act of July 11, 1637. He also printed for Marriott the second edition of 1635 in octavo, and the third of 1639, which, in the matter of contents, is practically the same as the second.

Marriott's first reference in the lines of the "Hexaſtichon Bibliopolæ" which follows "The Printer To The Understanders,"

"I See in his laſt preach'd, and printed booke,

His Picture in a ſheete; in Pauls I looke,

And ſee his Statue in a ſheete of ſtone,

And ſure his body in the graue hath one:

Thoſe ſheetes preſent him dead, theſe if you buy,

You haue him living to Eternity,"

refers to the portrait engraved by Martin Droeshout, issued with Death's Duell, in 1632. The whole verse seems to be an apology for the lack of a portrait in this volume. Donne was abundantly figured afterward. The Poems, printed in 1635, and again in 1639, contained his portrait at the age of eighteen, engraved by Marshall; Merian engraved him at the age of forty-two, for the Sermons of 1640; and Lombart produced the beautiful head for the Letters of 1651.

Quarto.

Collation: Title, one leaf; A-Z, Aa-Zz, and Aaa-Fff3, in fours.

SIR THOMAS BROWNE
(1605-1682)

26. Religio, | Medici. | Printed for Andrew Crooke. 1642. Will: Marſhall. ſcu.

This is thought to be the earlier of two anonymous editions published in the same year, and without the author's sanction, as we learn from the third edition published in the following year, entitled A true and full coppy of that which was moſt | imperfectly and Surreptitiously printed before | under the name of: Religio Medici. In the preface Browne says over his signature: "... I have at preſent repreſented into the world a ful and intended copy of that Peece which was moſt imperfectly and surreptitiouſly publiſhed before." He repeats the complaint of surreptitious publication in a letter to Sir Kenelm Digby, in which he begs the latter to delay the publication of his "Animadversions upon ... the Religio Medici" which "the liberty of these times committed to the Press."

The chief points of difference between the two surreptitious editions have been pointed out by Mr. W. A. Greenhill in his facsimile edition of the book, printed in 1883. The form of some of the capital letters is occasionally different; the issue which he calls A, and to which our copy belongs, has pp. 190, the other, B, 159; A has 25 lines to a page—B, 26; and the lines in A are shorter than those in B. After comparing these with the authorized version, Mr. Greenhill says:

"It will appear from the above collection of various readings that the alterations made by the Author in the authorized edition consisted chiefly in the correction of positive blunders, made (as we know from an examination of the existing MSS.) quite as often by the copyist as by the printer. But he also took the opportunity of modifying various positive and strongly worded propositions by the substitution of less dogmatic expressions, or the insertion of the qualifying words, I think, as some will have it, in some sense, upon some grounds, and the like." "Upon the whole," Mr. Greenhill thinks Browne "had good reason to complain bitterly that the book was published, not only without his knowledge and consent, but also in a "depraved and 'imperfect' form."

The curious coincidence that all three editions, spurious and authorized, were issued by the same publisher, who used the engraved title-page by William Marshall for each, only changing the imprint, gave rise to the hypothesis that, if Sir Thomas did not authorize, he did not prevent the publication of the early editions. In fact, Dr. Johnson (though he professes to acquit him) favored the view "that Browne procured the anonymous publication of the treatise in order to try its success with the public before openly acknowledging the authorship."

The effect of the work certainly justified any fears the author may have had. It excited much controversy and was placed in the Index Expurgatorius of the Roman Church. But from the publisher's point of view, it was a great success. Eleven editions appeared during Browne's lifetime, it was reprinted over and over again, and it provoked over thirty imitations of its scope or title. It was translated into Latin, Dutch, French and German.

The emblematic fancy of Marshall has represented on the engraved title-page of this volume, a hand from the clouds catching a man to hinder his falling from a rock into the sea. The picture bears the legend "à coelo salus," which was afterward erased, not, we will hope, because of lack of faith in the sentiment expressed. The title was also rubbed out.

Duodecimo.

Collation: Engraved title, one leaf; A-M, in eights.

EDMUND WALLER
(1606-1687)

The "Workes" of this poet "nursed in parliaments" consist of poems and speeches. The book was probably issued early in the year, having, as we see from the title-page, been licensed in December, 1644. There are copies identical in every other respect, that show a block of printer's ornament instead of the "Imprimatur," and still others with quite a new title-page, which reads: Poems,| &c. | Written By | Mr. Ed. Waller | of Beckonſfield, Eſquire; lately a | Member of the Honourable | House of Commons. | All the Lyrick Poems in this Booke | were ſet by Mr. Henry Lavves Gent. | of the Kings Chappell, and one of his | Majeſties Private Muſick. | Printed and Publiſhed according to Order. | London, | Printed by T. W. for Humphrey Moſley, at the | Princes Armes in Pauls Church- | yard. 1645.

New poems have been added to this last issue, and "The Table" of contents has been inserted between the poems and speeches. There is also an Epistle "To my Lady," and "An advertiſement to the Reader" wherein we read:

"This parcell of exquiſit poems, have paſſ'd up and downe through many hands amongſt perſons of the beſt quallity, in looſe imperfect Manuſcripts, and there is lately obtruded to the world an adulterate Copy, surruptitiouſly and illegally imprinted, to the derogation of the Author, and the abuſe of the Buyer. But in this booke they apeare in their pure originalls and true genuine colours."

We may with reasonableness see in the first variation a publisher's trick to make his book appear to have had a quick sale; while the second might indicate a transfer of the unsold sheets from Walkley to Moseley, who for some reason, perhaps an agreement arrived at with the poet, considered himself to be the authorized publisher.

Later in the same year, Moseley issued a reprint, which omitted the Speeches, and a new edition in octavo with a title-page which now reads:

The volume has been entirely reprinted.

The Speeches appear again, but the rest of the contents remain as before. Mr. Beverly Chew, in an article on "The First Edition of Waller's Poems," says: "It is this edition that is generally called the 'first authorized edition,' but it is quite evident that all of the editions of this year stand about on the same level so far as the author is concerned." Not until the edition of 1664 do we read on the title-page, "Never till now Corrected and Published with the approbation of the Author."

Octavo.

Collation: Title, one leaf, B-H, in eights.

FRANCIS BEAUMONT
(1584-1616)
AND
JOHN FLETCHER
(1579-1625)

These two dramatists, between whom "there was a wonderfull consimility of phancy," and who shared everything in common, were inseparably connected in their writings. No collected edition of their plays appeared before this posthumous one, which is dedicated to Philip, Earl of Pembroke, by ten actors, and is introduced to the reader by James Shirley, the dramatist, who speaks of the volume as "without flattery the greatest Monument of the Scene that Time and Humanity have produced." This, too, notwithstanding the fact that Shakespeare's Works had appeared twenty-four years before.

This edition appears to have been due to Moseley's enterprise. He tells us in a frank address called "The Stationer to the Readers":

"'T were vaine to mention the Chargeableneſſe of this VVork; for thoſe who own'd the Manuſcripts, too well knew their value to make a cheap eſtimate of any of theſe Pieces, and though another joyn'd with me in the Purchaſe and Printing, yet the Care & Pains were wholly mine...."

Commenting upon the fact stated on the title-page that the plays had not been printed before, he says: "You have here a New Booke; I can ſpeake it clearely; for of all this large Uolume of Comedies and Tragedies, not one, till now, was ever printed before...." "And as here's nothing but what is genuine and Theirs, ſo you will find here are no Omiſſions; you have not onely All I could get, but all that you muſt ever expect. For (beſides thoſe which were formerly printed) there is not any Piece written by theſe Authours, either Joyntly or Severally, but what are now publiſhed to the VVorld in this Volume. One only Play I muſt except (for I meane to deale openly) 'tis a Comedy called the VVilde-gooſe-Chase, which hath beene long lost...."

Nothing which throws light upon the history of printing at this time is more interesting than the Postscript added at the end of the commendatory verses by Waller, Lovelace, Herrick, Ben Jonson and others, and immediately after a poem by Moseley himself ending, "If this Booke faile, 'tis time to quit the Trade." ...

"... After the Comedies and Tragedies were wrought off, we were forced (for expedition) to ſend the Gentlemens Verſes to ſeverall Printers, which was the occaſion of their different Character; but the Worke it ſelfe is one continued Letter, which (though very legible) is none of the biggeſt, becauſe (as much as poſſible) we would leſſen the Bulke of the Volume."

This matter of size seems to have been the cause of no little solicitude and care. Speaking of adding more plays to the volume, he says:

"And indeed it would have rendred the Booke ſo Voluminous, that Ladies and Gentlewomen would have found it ſcarce manageable, who in Workes of this nature muſt firſt be remembred."

There are thirty-six plays in the collection: as the stationer tells us in the preface to the reader quoted above, all those previously printed in quarto are included, except the Wild Goose Chase, which had been lost. It is added at the end of the volume with a separate title-page dated 1652.

The following epigram by Sir Aston Cockain, addressed to the publishers, the two Humphreys, is not without interest in this connection as showing that the difficulties arising from the joint authorship were early sources of perplexity:

"In the large book of Plays you late did print

(In Beaumonts and in Fletchers name) why in't

Did you not juſtice? give to each his due?

For Beaumont (of thoſe many) writ in few:

And Maſſinger in other few; the Main

Being ſole Iſſues of ſweet Fletchers brain.

But how come I (you ask) ſo much to know?

Fletchers chief boſome-friend inform'd me ſo.

. . .. . . . . .. . . . . .

For Beaumont's works, & Fletchers ſhould come forth

With all the right belonging to their worth."

Moseley, in his address as stationer, says of the portrait of Fletcher by William Marshall, which bears the inscriptions, "Poetarum Ingeniosissimus Ioannes Fletcherus Anglus Episcopi Lond: Fili." "Obijt 1625 Ætat 49": "This figure of Mr. Fletcher was cut by ſeveral Originall Pieces, which his friends lent me; but withall they tell me, that his unimitable Soule did ſhine through his countenance in ſuch Ayre and Spirit, that the Painters confeſſed it, was not eaſie to expreſſe him." The nine lines of verse beneath the portrait are by Sir John Birkenhead. The portrait is found in two states, distinguishable by the size of the letters in Birkenhead's name. Although he was very ambitious to get a portrait of Master Beaumont, his search proved unavailing.

There are a few woodcut head-bands, varied with others made of type metal, in the front part of the book, but the last part is severely plain.

Folio. The first collected edition.

Collation: Portrait; A, four leaves; a-c, in fours; d-g, in twos; B-L2, in fours; Aa-Ss, in fours; Aaa-Xxx, in fours; 4A-4I, in fours; 5A-5X, in fours; 6A-6K, in fours; 6L, six leaves; 7A-7G, in fours; 8A-8C, in fours; *Dddddddd, two leaves; 8D-8F, in fours.

ROBERT HERRICK
(1591-1674)

A volume entitled "The seuerall Poems written by Master Robert Herrick" was entered by Master Crooke for license April 29, 1640, but was not published. The Hesperides was the first work of the poet to be printed, except some occasional contributions to collections of poems. It is dedicated in a metrical epistle to the most illustrious and most hopeful Charles, Prince of Wales, afterward Charles II.

This part was not issued, as far as is known, except with the Hesperides to which the author evidently intended it to be affixed, if we may judge by the lines toward the end of the first part: "Part of the work remains; one part is past."

The year of publication had seen Herrick dispossessed of his living at Dean Prior by the predominant Puritan party, and it has been suggested that he was glad to take this means of gaining an income. His use of the form, "Robert Herrick, Esquire," was, it is thought, a wise move on the part of the publishers, since a book by the "Reverend," or "Robert Herrick, Vicker" would have been less likely to meet with favor.

Neither Williams nor Eglesfield was a bookseller of importance, and the printer is entirely unknown. He may have withheld his name for fear of the judgment suggested by Herrick at the head of his column of Errata:

"For theſe Tranſgreſsions which thou here doſt ſee,

Condemne the Printer, Reader, and not me;

Who gave him forth good Grain, though he miſtook

The Seed; ſo ſow'd theſe Tares throughout my Book."

Copies vary in the imprint, some reading London, Printed for John Williams and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be ſold by Tho. Hunt, Bookſeller in Exon, 1648; and several differences of spelling, capitalization and punctuation also occur. These variations have given rise to a discussion that aims to determine the sequence of issues; but thus far it serves only to prove that constant editorial tinkering took place at the press-side.

William Marshall, whose prolific graver (Strutt says he used only that tool) produced portraits, frontispieces, title-pages, and other decorations of a certain charm, even if dry and cramped in style, had in Herrick a subject of more than usual difficulty. As if conscious of his shortcomings he attempts to make atonement by the emblematic flattery of Pegasus winging his flight from Parnassus, the Spring of Helicon, loves and flowers, which he adds to lines signed I. H. C. and W. M.

Octavo.

Collation: Four leaves (without signatures): B-Z and Aa-Cc, in eights, Aa-Ee, in eights.

JEREMY TAYLOR
(1613-1667)

The remarkably well-designed title-page engraved by Robert Vaughan, which precedes the printed title, bears the imprint, London printed for R: Royſton | in Ivye lane. 1650. and some copies have the following imprint on the title-page: London, | Printed for Richard Royſton at the | Angel in Ivie-Lane. | MDCL. Royston was the royal bookseller, and publisher of Eikon Basilike, which ran through fifty editions in the single year 1649. Taylor's work was also a popular venture, and reached a fourteenth edition in 1686.

This edition contains "Prayers for our Rulers," which recalls the fact that these were stirring times when the book was published. Charles had been beheaded in January of the previous year, and Cromwell won his victory at Worcester, where Ash had his shop, in the year following. It was not without some worldly wisdom of living, then, that our author used the above heading, and later, when times were changed, altered it so as to make it read, "For the King."

Duodecimo.

Collation: Frontispiece; ¶, twelve leaves; A-S4, in twelves.

IZAAK WALTON
(1593-1683)

31. The | Compleat Angler | [Six lines, Quotation.] London, Printed by T. Maxey for Rich. Marriot, in | S. Dunſtans Church-yard Fleetſtreet, 1653.

In the Perfect Diurnall, as well as in other broad-sheets, the following advertisement appeared from Monday, May 9, to Monday, May 16, 1653:

"The Compleat Angler or the Contemplative Man's Recreation, being a Diſcourſe of Fish and Fishing, not unworthy the peruſal of moſt Anglers, of 18 pence price. Written by Iz. Wa. Alſo the known Play of the Spaniſh Gipſee, never till now publiſhed. Both printed for Richard Marriot, to be ſold at his ſhop in St. Dunſtans Church-yard, Fleet Street." Walton could hardly have expected his work to be anonymous when his very distinctive initials appeared so plainly in the advertisement. And even though they are not printed on the title-page of the book, they are signed to the dedication to his most honoured friend, Mr. John Offley of Madeley Manor, and at the end of the address "To the Reader of this Discourse: but eſpecially To the honeſt Angler." The name was added to the title in the fifth or 1676 edition, called The Universal Angler.

Contemplative men did indeed find the work not unworthy their perusal, and Marriot, who seems to have been fortunate in the books he published, alone issued five editions during the life of the author. Between then and now we may count no less than one hundred and thirty different imprints. At Sotheby's, in 1895, a copy of this eighteen-pence book sold for four hundred and fifteen pounds, an earnest of its rarity and of the eagerness with which it is sought.

Concerning the engraved cartouche with the first part of the title, on the title-page, and the six illustrations of fish engraved in the text, the author says "To the Reader of this Discourse": "And let me adde this, that he that likes not the diſcourſe ſhould like the pictures of the Trout and other fiſh, which I may commend, becauſe they concern not myſelf." No name is given to show whose work they may be; they are sometimes ascribed to Pierre Lombart, a Frenchman resident in London, and employed by book-publishers to illustrate their books. But on the other hand we must not forget that Vaughan and Faithorne were both making illustrations for books at this time. There is reason for calling attention to the belief, formerly current, that the engravings were done on plates of silver, a notion which, as Thomas Westwood remarks, is sufficiently disproved by their repeated use in no less than five editions of The Compleat Angler, and the same number of Venable's Experienc'd Angler.

Henry Lawes, the musician, and the author of several works, wrote the music to "The Anglers' Song For two Voyces, Treble and Baſſe," which occupies pages 216 and 217. The right-hand page is printed upside down for the greater convenience of the singers, who could thus stand facing one another. Lawes used a similar arrangement in his Select Ayres and Dialogues, published the same year as the Angler.

Octavo.

Collation: A-R3, in eights.

SAMUEL BUTLER
(1612-1680)

Although "written in the time of the late Wars," Hudibras was not licensed to be printed until November 11, 1662, two years after the reëstablishment of the monarchy, when a satire on Puritanism could no longer give offense to the ruling party. On the contrary, the satisfaction which it gave to the King and court had much to do with the great success it achieved. Butler himself records the royal favor:

"He never ate, nor drank, nor slept,

But 'Hudibras' still near him kept;

Nor would he go to church or so,

But 'Hudibras' must with him go."

Marriot, the successful publisher of Walton's Angler and some of Donne's books, issued the first part in three different forms, large octavo, like our copy, small octavo, and duodecimo; the last two sizes being sold for a lower price than the former, to meet the popular demand for the work. Besides these there is another edition, in three issues of the same date, which has no name of printer or publisher in the imprint, although, like Marriot's copies, it bears the license, "Imprimatur. Jo: Berkenhead, Novemb. 11, 1662." If it were not for this imprimatur, the following notice, which appeared in the Public Intelligencer for December 23, 1662, would make it seem certain that the nameless edition was really spurious:

"There is stolen abroad a most false imperfect copy of a poem called Hudibras, without name either of printer or bookseller, as fit for so lame and spurious an impression. The true and perfect edition printed by the author's original, is sold by Richard Marriot under St. Dunstan's church in Fleet Street; that other nameless is a cheat, and will not abuse the buyer as well as the author, whose poem deserves to have fallen into better hands." But the presence of the regular license brings us to the very probable theory that Marriot may have issued both editions; the first without his name because he was unwilling to allow it to appear until the fortune of the book seemed certain.

Singularly enough, Marriot did not issue The Second Part. By the Authour of the Firſt, which came out the next year in two sizes, octavo and small octavo, Printed by T. R. for John Martyn, and James Alleſtry, at the Bell in St. Pauls Church Yard. Ten years later we find the volume being issued by Martyn and also by Herringman.

The Third and laſt | Part. | Written by the Author | Of The | First and Second Parts. | London, | Printed for Simon Miller, at the Sign of the Star | at the Weſt End of St. Pauls, 1678. was only published in one size, the octavo. We get an idea of the great interest the book created, when, after a lapse of so many years, this last part ran into a second edition in a twelvemonth.[*]

Mr. Pepys is our authority for the cost of the spurious book. He says, in his Diary on Christmas Day, 1662: "Hither come Mr. Battersby; and we falling into a discourse of a new book of drollery in verse, called Hudebras, I would needs go find it out, and met with it at the Temple: it cost 2s. 6d. But when I came to read it, it is so silly an abuse of the Presbyter Knight going to the warrs, that I am ashamed of it; and by and by, meeting at Mr. Townsend's at dinner, I sold it to him for 18d." He afterward tried to read the second part, so we learn from his notes dated November 28, 1663; but which issue he used we shall never know. He says:

"... To Paul's Church Yarde, and there looked upon the second part of Hudibras, which I buy not, but borrow to read, to see if he be as good as the first, which the world do cry so mightily up, though it hath not a good liking in me...."

Octavo.

Collation: Title; A-R, in eights.

[*] It should be noted that some copies of the volume have the record of the license and some have none.

JOHN MILTON
(1608-1674)

Milton began his great epic in 1658, and is said to have finished it in 1663. It was licensed after some delay, occasioned by the hesitation of the deputy of the Archbishop of Canterbury over the lines:

"As when the Sun, new ris'n

Looks through the Horizontal Misty Air

Shorn of his Beams, or from behind the Moon

In dim Eclips, disastrous twilight sheds

On half the Nations, and with fear of change

Perplexes Monarchs."

He may, as Professor Masson has pointed out, have had difficulty in finding a publisher able and willing to venture upon the printing of a work by one "whose attacks on the Church and defenses of the execution of Charles I. were still fresh in the memory of all, and some of whose pamphlets had been publicly burnt by the hangman after the Restoration." Few probably of those whose shops had centered around Paul's Churchyard, the very heart of the book-trade, could have done so, for they were, if not ruined, certainly inconvenienced by the loss of their stock and shops in the Great Fire of the year before. It is small wonder that Simmons, to whom, through some agency or other, the poet did come, drove a hard bargain when the agreement for the copyright was entered into, April 27, 1667. The original of this agreement came into the possession of the Tonsons, the proprietors of the copyright, and was finally presented to the British Museum by Samuel Rogers, who acquired it from Pickering the publisher. "Milton was to receive 5 l. down, and 5 l. more upon the sale of each of the first three editions. The editions were to be accounted as ended when thirteen hundred copies of each were sold 'to particular reading customers,' and were not to exceed fifteen hundred copies apiece. Milton received the second 5 l. in April, 1669, that is 15 l. in all. His widow in 1680 settled all claims upon Simmons for 8 l. and Simmons became proprietor of the copyright, then understood to be perpetuated."

The book made its appearance at an unfortunate time. London had barely recovered from the Plague of 1665 (during which eighty printers had died, wherein is seen another reason for the difficulty in finding a publisher), and the great district devastated by the Fire was still only partly rebuilt. It was not surprising that the 1200 copies which are thought to have made the first edition did not have a brisk sale; these were not exhausted for at least eighteen months, and a second impression was not put out for four years.

The copies of the first printing may be divided into several classes, according to the title-pages they bear. These all differ from one another in several more or less important particulars, but the text of the work is identical in all cases, except for a few typographical errors. Two titles, supposed to be the earliest, were Licenſed and Entred according | to Order, and have the imprint:

On these the poem is seen to be by "John Milton," and the only difference between them lies in the type used for Milton's name, one being of a smaller size than the other. A third title-page, having a similar imprint but dated 1668, has "The Author J. M." A fourth has "The Author John Milton," the license has given place to a group of fleurs-de-lis, and the imprint reads:

London, | Printed by S. Simmons, and to be ſold by S. Thomſon at | the Biſhopſ-Head in Duck-lane, H. Mortlack, at the | White Hart in Weſtminſter Hall, M. Walker under | St. Dunſtans Church in Fleet-ſtreet, and R. Boulter at | the Turks-Head in Biſhopſgate ſtreet, 1668.

Two new title-pages were used in 1669, differing only in the type. The imprint reads:

London, | Printed by S. Simmons, and are to be ſold by | T. Helder at the Angel in Little Brittain. | 1669.

Beside these there are others. Early bibliographers claimed that eight or even nine variations existed, but later investigation has failed to verify more than six.

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

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

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

The first edition with the first title-page.

Collation: Two leaves without signatures; A-Z, and Aa-Vv2, in fours. Without pagination.

JOHN BUNYAN
(1628-1688)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Octavo.

Collation: A-Q3, in eights. Portrait.

JOHN DRYDEN
(1631-1700)

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

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

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

"With leering looks, bull-faced and freckled fair,

With two left legs, with Judas-coloured hair,

And frowsy pores that taint the ambient air,"

he was not unliked by his clients and friends.

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

Folio.

Collation: Two leaves without signatures; B-I, in twos.

JOHN LOCKE
(1632-1704)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Here is observable the honesty of the great Mr. Locke in printing for the purchasers of this edition the improvements made in the second."

Folio.

Collation: A, four leaves; [a], two leaves; B-Z, Aa-Zz, and Aaa-Ccc, in fours.

WILLIAM CONGREVE
(1670-1729)

This was the last of Congreve's plays to be performed upon the stage. It was presented by Betterton's company, but was a failure. "The unkind Reception this excellent comedy met with," said Charles Wilson, "was truly the Cauſe of Mr. Congreve's juſt Reſentment; and upon which, I have often heard him declare, that he had form'd a ſtrong Reſolution never more to concern himſelf with Dramatic Writings."

Quarto.

Collation: A, three leaves; a, two leaves; B-N2, in fours.

EDWARD HYDE
FIRST EARL OF CLARENDON
(1609-1674)

Begun in April, 1641, and finished during the period of Clarendon's exile, which extended from 1667 until his death, the History was prepared for printing under the direction of Laurence Hyde, Earl of Rochester, who received assistance from Dr. Henry Aldrich, Dean of Christ Church, and Thomas Sprat, Bishop of Rochester. Rochester wrote the introduction and dedications.

On the verso of the title-page of the first volume we find "Imprimatur. Ro. Hander Vice-Can. Oxon. Apr. 29. 1702."; the second volume is signed "Guil Delaune Vice-Can, Oxon. Sept. 15, 1703," and the third, by Delaune, "Octob. 16, 1704."

There is no dedication to the first volume, which begins at once with the preface; but the second and third volumes are dedicated to the queen. In the last two volumes a proclamation by her Majesty, dated June 24, 1703, states that: "whereas Our Truſty and Wellbeloved William Delaune, Doctor in Divinity, and Vice-Chancellor of Our Univerſity of Oxford, has humbly preſented unto US, in the behalf of the ſaid Univerſity, that They have at Great Expence already Publiſhed One Volume of the late Earl of Clarendon's Hiſtory, and intend in a ſhort time to Publiſh the Second and Third Volumes for Compleating the Work; and the ſole Right of the Copy of the ſaid Work being Veſted in Our Univerſity of Oxford, and They having humbly beſought US to Grant Them Our Royal Priviledge and Licence for the ſole Printing and Publiſhing the ſame for the Term of Fourteen Years; ... do therefore hereby Give and Grant ... the same." This refers to the fact that Clarendon, who had been chancellor of the University from 1660 until he went into exile, provided in his will that the profits from the sale of copies of the History should belong to the University and should be expended in erecting a building for the exclusive use of the Press, founded in "1468."

Previously, and at the time of the printing of the book, the work of the University Press was done in the "Theatre," a view of which is given at the left of the figure of Minerva, in the vignette on the title-page. This was the Sheldonian Theatre, built from designs by Christopher Wren, at the expense of Archbishop Gilbert Sheldon, who succeeded Lord Clarendon as chancellor. It was opened in 1669, and was used for various academic purposes, as well as for the home of the Press. Clarendon's design was fulfilled in 1713; and the Clarendon Building, as it was called, was occupied until it was outgrown, and the Clarendon Press, for under this name it was now equally well known, was removed once more, in 1830, to its present quarters.

The vignette, with its interesting glimpse of the buildings near the Theatre, is signed "delin

urg. ſculp. Univ. Ox.," in the first two volumes, and "delin

urghers ſculpt, Univ. Ox. 1704," in the third, where the plate also shows other signs of having been gone over or reëngraved.[*] Beside these vignettes, the work is ornamented with ambitious copper-plate head- and tail-pieces, and initial letters, some unsigned, but probably all by Burg. A portrait of Clarendon occurs as a frontispiece in each of the three volumes. It is after the painting by Sir Peter Lely, and was engraved in 1700 by Robert White, a prolific producer of portraits framed with borders that, in most cases, were less tasteful than this one, with its mace, bag, and coat-of-arms. The inscription reads: "Edward Earle of Clarendon, Lord High Chancellor of England, and Chancellor of the Univerſity of Oxford. An^o. Dñi 1667."

The plate for the third volume has been much worked over, if not entirely redrawn in a slavish copy. White's name is erased, and Burg's appears in its stead. Some copies of all three volumes of the first edition are dated 1704; while others show a confusion of dates, and the portraits do not follow the order here described.

Folio. Large paper copy.

Collation: Three volumes. Three portraits.

[*] P. L. Lamborn used a similar idea for an ornament which he engraved for the Cambridge University Press about 1761.

THE HOLY BIBLE

BENJAMIN JONSON(1573?-1637)

ROBERT BURTON(1577-1640)

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE(1564-1616)

JOHN WEBSTER(1580?-1625?)

PHILIP MASSINGER(1583-1640)

JOHN FORD(1586-1639)

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE(1564-1593)

GEORGE HERBERT(1593-1643)

JOHN DONNE(1573-1631)

SIR THOMAS BROWNE(1605-1682)

EDMUND WALLER(1606-1687)

FRANCIS BEAUMONT(1584-1616)ANDJOHN FLETCHER(1579-1625)

ROBERT HERRICK(1591-1674)

JEREMY TAYLOR(1613-1667)

IZAAK WALTON(1593-1683)

SAMUEL BUTLER(1612-1680)

JOHN MILTON(1608-1674)

JOHN BUNYAN(1628-1688)

JOHN DRYDEN(1631-1700)

JOHN LOCKE(1632-1704)

WILLIAM CONGREVE(1670-1729)

EDWARD HYDEFIRST EARL OF CLARENDON(1609-1674)

BENJAMIN JONSON
(1573?-1637)

ROBERT BURTON
(1577-1640)

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
(1564-1616)

JOHN WEBSTER
(1580?-1625?)

PHILIP MASSINGER
(1583-1640)

JOHN FORD
(1586-1639)

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
(1564-1593)

GEORGE HERBERT
(1593-1643)

JOHN DONNE
(1573-1631)

SIR THOMAS BROWNE
(1605-1682)

EDMUND WALLER
(1606-1687)

FRANCIS BEAUMONT
(1584-1616)
AND
JOHN FLETCHER
(1579-1625)

ROBERT HERRICK
(1591-1674)

JEREMY TAYLOR
(1613-1667)

IZAAK WALTON
(1593-1683)

SAMUEL BUTLER
(1612-1680)

JOHN MILTON
(1608-1674)

JOHN BUNYAN
(1628-1688)

JOHN DRYDEN
(1631-1700)

JOHN LOCKE
(1632-1704)

WILLIAM CONGREVE
(1670-1729)

EDWARD HYDE
FIRST EARL OF CLARENDON
(1609-1674)