17. WILLIAM MARTIN, 1790
[680] George Nicol was born in 1741, and was for many years bookseller to King George III. He married a niece of the first Alderman Boydell in 1787. The idea of the Boydell Shakespeare originated with him. He was a prominent member of the literary clubs of his day, and a personal friend of the Duke of Roxburghe. He died in 1829, aged 88.
[681] A history of this celebrated Press would almost involve a history of fine printing in the first quarter of the present century. Dibdin, in the second volume of his Bibliographical Decameron, has given a list of its most famous impressions. Bulmer was a personal friend of Thomas Bewick, the engraver, many of whose blocks were cut for his books. He spared no pains to render the typography of his press the most correct and beautiful England had hitherto known. He retired in 1819, leaving Mr. Wm. Nicol, only son of his friend George Nicol, to carry on the business. Mr. Bulmer died Sept. 9, 1830, in his 74th year, greatly honoured and respected.
[682] The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare. Revised by G. Steevens. London: 1792–1802. 18 parts in 9 vols. Atlas folio. With 100 engravings.
[683] Bibl. Decam., ii, 384.
[684] The Poetical Works of John Milton, with a life of the Author by William Hayley. London: 1794–7. 3 vols. Folio.
[686] Bibl. Decam., ii, 384.
[687] Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell. London: 1795. 4to. This work was illustrated with woodcuts by Bewick. It is said that George III ordered his bookseller to procure the blocks of the engravings for his inspection, that he might convince himself they were wood and not copper.
[688] Typographia, p. 311.
[689] Nichols, Illust. Lit., viii, 485.
[690] Musæus. The Loves of Hero and Leander. (Greek and English.) London. Printed by W. Bulmer & Co. Typis Gulielmi Martin. 1797. 4to. This work was privately printed by Mr. Bulmer for Mr. Grosvenor Bedford, the translator.
[691] The Press: a Poem. Published as a Specimen of Typography by John M cCreery. Liverpool: printed by J. M cCreery. Houghton Street, 1803. 4to.
[692] Typographical Antiquities, &c., greatly enlarged, with copious notes, by T. F. Dibdin, London: 1810–12–16–19. 4 vols. 4to. The work was not completed. The first volume was not printed at the Shakespeare Press.
[693] Bibliotheca Spenceriana; or, a Descriptive Catalogue of Books printed in the XV Century, and of many valuable First Editions in the Library of George John, Earl Spencer. London: 1814–15. 4 vols. 8vo.
[694] The Bibliographical Decameron; or, Ten Days’ Pleasant Discourse upon Illuminated Manuscripts, and Subjects connected with early Engraving, Typography and Bibliography. London, 1817. 3 vols, 8vo.
[695] Amongst which were the early publications of the Roxburghe Club, instituted by Earl Spencer, in 1812, for the republication of rare books or unpublished MSS. M. Renouard censures Bulmer for the use of worn type in the Edition of Ben Jonson’s Works, 1816. 9 vols. 8vo. “L’habile M. Bulmer aurait dû jeter à la fonte les caractères usés dont il a fait usage pour cette volumineuse édition, et les libraires entrepreneurs n’auroient pas dû lui en permettre l’emploi.”
[696] Illust. Lit., viii, 485.
[697] An early specimen of Thorowgood’s shows a Black, the matrices of which, it is stated, “were purchased by Messrs. Fry & Steele at the breaking up of the Cleveland Row Foundry.” As, however, Messrs. Fry & Steele’s partnership terminated about 1808, we consider the whole statement doubtful.