JOHN BALLANTYNE
From the original painting by John Ballantyne, R.S.A.
It has often been a matter of surprise that Scott, with his family pride, his fame, and his money, should have adopted such means of adding to his income. He seems to have been ashamed in some measure of this mercantile speculation, as all the arrangements were kept a profound secret—Scott being always considered the mere patron and friend of the Ballantynes. He evidently thought he would derive profit from a business guided by a man of knowledge like himself, and confounded the aspirations of an author with the expectations of a merchant.
Scott was now at the zenith of his fame as a poet. Immense sums had been given by other publishers for his works, still more splendid offers were made to him for further productions, and it would seem probable that the idea of sharing the profits of author, publisher, and printer had presented itself to his mind in this way. Accordingly, the first work published by John Ballantyne, and printed, of course, by James Ballantyne, was “The Lady of the Lake,” for writing which the sum of £3000 was placed to Scott’s credit in the publisher’s books. After the business was fairly begun, Scott, greatly to the annoyance of Constable, almost wholly withdrew himself from the premises of the latter in the High Street, and directed his steps to the cheerful and handsome rooms of John Ballantyne in Hanover Street. They formed a convenient resting-place in his daily journeys to and from Parliament Square, and contained a store of his favourite black-letter volumes. No doubt, also, considering the extreme degree to which party spirit was carried in those days, he would find himself pleasantly free from the band of Edinburgh Whigs who frequented Constable’s premises in the Old Town.
But the publishing firm in Hanover Street, begun in pique, was never prosperous. Scott’s goodness of heart led him to help on many books which he ought to have known could never be successful. These included a ponderous “History of the Culdees,” by his friend Dr. Jamieson; a poor edition of Beaumont and Fletcher, by Henry Weber; three volumes of the Poems of Anna Seward, already referred to; a bulky collection of the Tixall Poetry and Letters; and, worse than all, the Edinburgh Annual Register, for which he himself did much work, but which left the firm with about £1000 a year on the wrong side of the ledger. Besides all this, John Ballantyne proved an indifferent and irregular book-keeper; and it was in vain that Scott repeatedly wrote letters of remonstrance to him, though in doing so he frequently made the bookseller’s habits the subject rather of his jokes than of his indignation. John was happy-go-lucky in his methods, and as Mr. Andrew Lang says, “was like the proverbial spendthrift who can never be induced to give his benevolent kinsfolk a full schedule of his debts.” The consequence was that the business was neglected and allowed to drift; and in 1813, when it was wound up, a great amount of useless stock had been accumulated, which was partly cleared off by forced sales to Constable and others. Scott by this time had resumed friendly relations with Constable, whose partner Hunter was now out of the firm. The printing business at Paul’s Work was sadly hampered by these publishing transactions, and Constable himself was seriously injured by the burden of almost unsaleable stock, which he had to take over as part of the price he agreed to pay for the copyright of forthcoming works by Scott, and much of which he had afterwards to sell to other booksellers at a heavy loss to himself.[18]
Archibald Constable was one of the most sagacious men who have ever followed the profession of publisher.[19] Though he made no pretensions to literature, he was well skilled in it generally, and was of most essential service to Scott on many occasions. He came from Fife, served his apprenticeship with Peter Hill, and then set up for himself in a “small way” in a shop forming part of the Royal Exchange buildings, next door to Allan’s Close, High Street. It was a mere box of a place, but as his business increased he enlarged his premises by opening a communication with the tenement behind. At first he devoted his attention to the collection of old and rare books, and the sign above his door had in large letters, “Scarce Books.” Shortly after he began business the public were amused one morning to find the preposition “of” inserted in the sign, advertising that the bookseller was “Scarce of Books.”
While struggling on, he gained the affections of the daughter of Mr. Willison, a well-known printer of Edinburgh. This connection seems to have arisen through the medium of the Edinburgh Review, which Constable published, and which Willison printed.[20] He discountenanced the match, but the young lady consulted her own inclinations, and the marriage took place soon after. The printer became reconciled, and gave his son-in-law considerable assistance; but the publication of the Review was the chief means of Constable’s advancement, and his little shop gradually became the rendezvous of the learned of Edinburgh.
After the failure of the publishing and bookselling company, John Ballantyne became a literary and art auctioneer in the Hanover Street premises. For this kind of work he was specially qualified; and he conducted it with marked success, particularly in the disposal of literary property. The auction rooms became a fashionable lounge. A periodical which he issued in connection with his business was called the Sale Room, written very much after the style of the Spectator. It was rather a dull concern, however, and had little success; although one of its numbers contained a humorous poem by Scott called “The Sultan of Serendib, or The Search after Happiness,” and another had an article by Lockhart signed “Christopher Corduroy,” which first drew Scott’s attention to that writer.
The first number of the Sale Room was issued on Saturday, Jan. 4, 1817, and contained the following introductory paragraph, presumably by John Ballantyne:
“An architect of great skill and experience was wont to say, that he found less difficulty in giving the plan of a gentleman’s seat than in devising a lodge for the termination of his avenue. We are much mistaken if a similar difficulty has not been felt by most periodical essayists. The first appearance before the public is like the entrance of a bashful person into a ceremonious company, and in both cases the French proverb applies, Ce n’est que le premier pas qui coûte. And how often have we seen such a person, qualified both to entertain and enjoy society, suffering during a whole evening under the too acute feeling of some awkwardness or inadvertent solecism, which he supposes himself to have committed on his first entrance. But the case of the essayist is still harder. The utmost that can be expected from a member of fashionable society is, that he shall present himself with the ordinary ease and grace of men of good breeding; and those who affect peculiarity, or marked singularity of manners, are in our day, as in Congreve’s, set down among the Lord Froths and Mr. Brisks, the solemn or lively coxcombs of society. But here the metaphor no longer holds; for, in this department of literature, mediocrity, however void of affectation, or even if marked by elegance, is insufficient to produce any impression on the public. It is expected of us, not only that we should be eloquent, but that we shall be new; not only that we should be correct, but that we shall be striking; and that our lucubrations should promise to combine originality with the humour of Addison, the learning of Cumberland, and the pathos of the Man of Feeling. Aware of the difficulty, not indeed of making such promises, but of giving the public any sound reason to think that it was in our power to keep them, we were somewhat tempted to elude the task of announcing our pretensions in an opening number; and, like the worthy Irishman, who, on finding the second month of attendance at the fencing-school was rated at a lower fee than that which preceded it, requested to take the second month first, we had half resolved to publish No. II. of The Sale Room before No. I.”