Bibliographic Notes on One Hundred Books Famous in English Literature

by Henry Watson Kent

"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."