(ii) It is a moot point whether or not Marryat was the author of this rather foolish little book. That he had, however, definite connection with it is suggested by the fact that on its first publication the “Metropolitan Magazine,” at that time closely identified with Marryat, devoted to it a three-quarter-page highly laudatory review, of which, after praising the introduction, the writer said: “Though no name is found on the title-page, it is evident that the work is from a practised and popular writer.” Further, if Marryat were not the author, it is difficult to understand the publishers' motive in reissuing it immediately after his death with his name on the title-page. If he deserves responsibility for the book, the manœuvre is comprehensible enough, especially on the part of a firm with whom he had severed relations in 1837, and thus deprived them of the profitable exploitation of his established reputation.
1836
RATTLIN THE REEFER. Edited by the author of Peter Simple. “All hands reef top-sails—Away, Aloft!” London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, Successor to Henry Colburn. 1836. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. xii + (ii) + 301 + (3). Note by Marryat stating his connection with the work occupies p. (iv). Publisher's advertisements occupy pp. (303) (304).
Vol. II. pp. viii + 300. No half-title to this volume.
Vol. III. pp. viii + 344. No half-title to this volume.
Each volume contains three full-page etched illustrations by A. Hervieu, of which one is a frontispiece and the other two in the course of the text. A list of illustrations for the three volumes occupies p. (xiii) of Vol. I. The illustrations are dated 1836. Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.
Note—This book, which was written by Edward Howard (see p. 100), was published on July 23, 1836. A second edition appeared on August 5 of the same year. A dramatic version by J. T. Haines (who also dramatized Jacob Faithful) was issued in February, 1893, as No. 2008 in French's Acting Editions of British Plays.
Two-thirds of the story appeared serially in the “Metropolitan Magazine” under the title, The Life of a Sub-Editor. Reviewing the book in its three-volume form, Marryat himself explained fully how and to what extent it had been transformed from a record of autobiographical fact to a frank experiment in fiction.