"I have been told of one
Who being ask'd for bread,
In its stead
Returned a stone.But here we manage better.
The Stone we ask
To do its task,
And it returns us every letter.Wm. Combe, January 23, 1817."
"This is the first impression of Ackermann's Lithographic press."
Combe was so intimately connected with Ackermann's establishment, that there can be no doubt of the fact that the paper I have, was truly the very first impression in Lithography in England. The poetic scrap was no doubt Combe's own, and the facsimile shews that it was in Combe's writing.
Robt. Cole.
52, Upper Norton Street.
Sterne's Autograph.—As mentioned by A. C. K. in "Current Notes" for January, p. 2, as occurring on the title page [2] of his "Tristram Shandy," is not I believe often met with, but I doubt much its having been written for the gratification of particular friends, to whom copies of the work were presented.
I have two (the title pages only) in my possession.
Robert Cole.
52, Upper Norton Street.
[ [2] G. W.'s respected Correspondent A. C. K. said "at the head of the first chapter in some or one of the volumes" of a few of the first editions.