Table Of ContentTHE MOST DISREPUTABLE TRADE
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The Most
Disreputable Trade
Publishing the Classics of English Poetry
1765–1810
THOMAS F. BONNELL
1
3
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1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
ForEmily
Acknowledgements
Thetrailofmyindebtednessisalongone.Iamgratefultoeverylibrarianwho
accommodatedmyresearch,howevernumeroustheitemsIwishedtoexamine.
‘You need to see them all?’ was asked more than once with requests involving a
68-or124-volumecollection,butthebooksalwayscame.
I visited the British Library, the Senate House Library at the University
of London, the Bodleian Library and John Johnson Collections at Oxford
University, the Cambridge University Library, the Liverpool City Library, the
NationalLibraryofScotland,theScottishRecordOffice,theAdvocatesLibrary,
the Edinburgh City Library, the Edinburgh City Archives, the University of
Edinburgh Library, the Glasgow University Library, the Mitchell Library, the
University of Aberdeen Library, the Aberdeen Public Library; the National
LibraryofIreland,andTrinityCollegeLibrary;thelibrariesattheUniversityof
Chicago,NorthwesternUniversity,theUniversityofMichigan,theUniversityof
Minnesota,theUniversityofIowa,OhioUniversity,DukeUniversity,Princeton
University, Columbia University, Yale University (the Beinecke, Sterling, Med-
ical,andLewisWalpoleLibraries),HarvardUniversity(theHoughton,Widener,
and Law Libraries), the Henry Ransom Research Center at the University of
Texas at Austin; the New York Public Library, the Boston Public Library, the
Cleveland Public Library; the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Newberry
Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Library of Congress where, in
viewofthedauntingnumberofcallslipstobeprocessed,Iwasallowedtoenter
the stacks and work from the shelves. For the assistance I received everywhere
I am deeply thankful, though special mention is warranted for the late Hugh
Amory, Charles Benson, Iain Beavan, Iain Brown, Tom Ford, Jim Green, Brian
Hillyard, Tom Horrocks, Richard Ovenden, Alice Schreyer, and the late Lady
EcclesofFourOaksFarm.
For help with my illustrations I am grateful to Nathan Lunstrum, Greg
D’Haeze, and Denise Massa. Except where otherwise noted, the items pictured
aremyown.
AlongthewaymyworkwassupportedbyanNEHFellowship(year-long)and
Stipend(summer),grantsfromtheBibliographicalSocietyofAmericaandfrom
theKeough-NaughtonInstituteforIrishStudiesatNotreDameinconjunction
withtheAmericanSocietyforEighteenth-CenturyStudies,andaMellonFellow-
ship at the Library Company of Philadelphia. I have also received grants from
Saint Mary’s College, where the good services of Jill Hobgood in Interlibrary
Loan,andfruitfulcollaborationswithformerstudentsKathleenUrdaandRenée
Young,mustalsobegratefullynoted.
Acknowledgements vii
Two of my chapters are revisions of articles. Chapter 4 has been reworked
from ‘John Bell’s Poets of Great Britain: The “Little Trifling Edition” Revisted’,
Modern Philology, 85 (1987), 128–52, and Chapter 5 from ‘Patchwork and
Piracy: John Bell’s “Connected System of Biography” and the Use of Johnson’s
Prefaces’,StudiesinBibliography,48(1995),193–228.
By post, e-mail, and phone I have pestered friends and other kind souls for
information, including Nancy Birkrem, C. Y. Ferdinand, Bob Hohl, Samuel
Huang, Lisa Libby, Gavin Murdoch, Eric Nye, Richard Oram, Mark Purcell,
Cathy Rodriguez, Ruth Rogers, Tim Sauer, Eleanore Stewart, and Jim Tierney.
Somehavegenerouslyallowedmetolookatorborrowbooksintheirpossession.
For similar help, whether indulging me via e-mail, alerting me to items of
interest,orlettingmesitdownwithstockintheirshops,Iamindebtedtoseveral
bookdealersandauctioneers,includingStuartBennett,JamesBurmester,James
Cummins, Éammon de Búrca, Christopher Edwards, Alan Grant, Gary Kane,
PatrickMarrin,andAlanRankin.
At various stages I have benefited from the advice of Bruce Redford, James
Raven, Rick Sher, and the anonymous readers for OUP, and am indebted to
MargaretEzell,JimFuchs,KenPrice,andRichardG.Petersonfortheirencour-
agementalongtheway.Andfortheirboundlessgenerosityandrepeatedactsof
assistanceineverycategoryimaginable,IambeholdentoMichaelF.Suarez,SJ,
BillZachs,ChrisFox,andDavidVanderMeulen.
TwoofthepeopleImostwishedtoreadmyworkarenowgone.GwinKolb
and David Fleeman were dear, wise friends, and their deaths have deprived me
ofthechancetohearthemtellmewhattheythink.
Wordscannotrepaytheloveandsupportofmyparents,andIfondlyrecallmy
father’s help at the very outset in photographing the plates in Bell’s Poets at the
UniversityofMinnesota.Andmygreatestblessingwashavingbeenabletocount
ontheunfailinglove,patience,andhumorofmywifeEmily,andtheinspiration
ofourdaughterZoë,whoislifeitself.
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Contents
ListofTables xi
ListofIllustrations xii
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction:ANewSensibilityforClassics 1
1. OurNativeClassics,CompleteandUniform 7
AftertheGreekandRomanClassics 9
AClassicalApolloforBritannia 19
Diff’rentSortsofFarefromaMiscellany 24
CopyrightandCanon 30
AReputableTrade—orPitiful,Beggarly,Precarious? 34
2. TheElzevirsofGlasgow:RobertandAndrewFoulis 39
GiltbyAssociation 41
TheCharacterofaUniversity-Printer 46
EnterprisingScotsmenandtheImpartialBriton 51
AnElzevirforEnglishPoetry 55
ReadersGladtohavethem 62
3. WilliamCreechandJohnBoyle:TheClassicsSpreadAcrossScotland 68
TheMostCelebratedBritishPoets 70
AsGreataPirateastheWorst 75
Beattie’sPlaceamongthatFraternity 81
AllthatisValuableoftheWholeEnglishPoets 87
TheBestSchemestheMostRuinous 90
4. JohnBell’sLittleTriflingEditionRevisited 97
IntheElzeverianStile 98
PicturesoftheHighestAuthority 106
TheProgressofPiracy 116
TheBrilliancyofitsReception 124
BooksellersPrintinguponOneAnother 130
5. Johnson’sPrefacesandBell’sConnectedSystemofBiography 134
TheMagnumNomen 135
AnApologytothePartners 140
ThatPartwhichyoumightCallPiracy 144
Bell’sUseofJohnson’sPrefaces 153
AdditionalMaterialsInterwoven 158
