On this page

• Text (2)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    June 2,1890 Tlie Publishers' Circular 69...

  • 

    ' THE A UTHOR. > # We have to give a cor...

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    A The Hint First To Edition Byron Of ' E...

    b ever himself , a fifth edition with considerable was prepared care for the but press on 1 y , ; ,

    the thfi eve eve 01 of publication Duplication , , orders orders were were ssent ent to to Cawthorn to commit the whole impression to the flames . One copy seems , to have escaped ,

    and was discovered by Byron in 1816 , who scribbled annotations in its margins . The first of his MS . notes appears on the fly-leaf /

    and runs thus : — ' The - . _ - binding ax of tfcis volume «/ , is — ~— considerably «/ too valuable for the _ contents ___ - ;

    and nothing but the consideration of its being the proper X J . ty of another prevents X me from

    consigning this miserable record of misplaced anger and indiscriminate acrimony to the flames . ' From this rescued copy of the burnt

    fifth edition was taken the text of the poem a 3 it appeared in the Complete Works of Byron , issued by Murray . We have reason

    to believe that Cawthorn did carry out the wishes of Lord Byron , and that the new edition was destroyed % / ; but we doubt very asmuch that

    the sale of the Satire was in any way stopped . It would rather appear , from the evidence before us , that a great number of copies

    subsequently found their way to the public from Cawthorn ' s shop , ostensibly as remainders of previous editionsbut in reality new books

    fresh from the press , . The sale of ' English Bards and Reviewers ' was presumably

    discontinued in the early part of 1812 , at the express orders of its author . This date it will be well to bear in mind in considering the following .

    The top Byron volume on the table before me as I write is , to all appearances , a veritable first edition of the Satire . The text and

    printing are those of the genuine first issue on paper bearing the water-mark * E . & P ., 1805 ;' butholding the leaves of this book to the

    light , , we find < S . & C . Wise , 1812 / evidence that the paper M . Awas not manufactured till after

    t the ill th sale ree of years the book after th was e b stopped ook was , supposed in fact , not to be printed . Next come four copies of the

    * third X ' edition , sM bearing Cawthorn A . f s name on the title-page , together with the date 1810 .

    Th 4 'Ivy e wa Mill ter- , 1808 ks / in th 4 Pine e paper & Thomas , respec , ti 18127 velv , Ivy Mill , 1817 / and ' J . & It . Ansell 1818 /

    so that out of the fouronlone has , claim to be rightly considered , an y actual third any edition . The ¦ rema i ining cop h i y is a * fourth «¦ / with

    Caw-1 ~ " - ~ ^^ ™» ^^ ^ m ^ " ^^^ ^^ r ^ ^* # ^ *^ ^™ ^^ ^ m—r " g —~ - ~™~ - ^^^~ *^ m * ~^^ w * ^^ - ^ 0 ^ ^^ h » ¦ " » ^ " ~ ¦ ^^ «™ - * ~» - » » paper thorn ' s is name marked ^^^^ still , W and . Pickering the date & 1811 Co . . 1810 The . '

    A L yet Cawthorn wrote to B yron ? , in , 1814 , that they were publishing * English Bards ' in

    Murray Ireland ; to w inquire hereupon into the the matter author , because requested it

    must be stopped . ' Perhaps Byron collectors their would fourth do well editions to examine of 4 the Eng water lish Bards -marks and in

    Scotch Reviewers / and not to depend

    altogether on the variations of the text !

    June 2,1890 Tlie Publishers' Circular 69...

    June 2 , 1890 Tlie Publishers' Circular 699

    ' The A Uthor. > # We Have To Give A Cor...

    ' THE A UTHOR . > # We have to give a cordial welcome to the

    b first y — Mr number - . — Walter - - ^ - ¦ ¦—• - ^ — of • ¦ Besant the - ^ - » - ¦ - ^ f- ^ ~ above - ~ - — , 'g to — — be - — magazine r- published ^— — -. _ -- ,,-- -. , conducted -- monthl - --- _ .- .- — -,-- — y _

    by Mr . A . P . Watt for , and aa the organ of , ducted * * The hv A Walter uthor' : Beeant the Organ . ( Alexander of the Society P . Watt of Authors , Paternoster . (

    Jonaquaro , Jfi . u . )

    ' The A Uthor. > # We Have To Give A Cor...

    tains the Incorporated besides the Society of 24 Authors of . ' It matter conwrapper

    of interest , , including the , announcements pages of several firms of publishersand a list of books

    by members of the Societ , y published since the commencement of the present year . We

    Edi would tor , suggest the advisability , for the in consideration future of including of the

    all bers Eng of lish the books Society in th being is list o , , those perhaps XT b y , mem dis-

    or tinguished some other from mark the . others by different type The opening article mentions that the

    publication ' is founded to be the organ of literary men and women of all kinds . . .

    and it will become a public record of transactions conducted in the interests of literature which have hitherto been secretlostand

    hidden d m ^ ft ^ m for ^ K the M want of such an organ , . , ' We _^>_ ^^ confess that the meaning of the last few lines

    seems to us somewhat obscure . We must hope that those who hitherto have been in the habit of conducting 1— ' by •/ stealth transactions in the

    interests of literature may not be put to the blush by suddenly finding them fame . We must thank the writer of the article

    for some very interesting , though somewhat startling facts . ' As a matter of fact there is very little speculation indeed in publishing . . . .

    The ordinary risk run in the production of books is , as a rule , next to nothing . For , firstthe author is seldom paid except by

    resul , ts ; next , the author , when i a house con - sents to "take the risk 1 / ' isfor the most part

    one who commands a certain , sale . ' Surel y in , the former case the stationerprinterand

    binder , whom the unspeakable , publisher , has not yet f succeeded in persuading X J to accept X pay A . % i-

    ment by results , have been forgotten ; in the latter the very numerous authors who have not yet made any name at allbut can write

    well , are disregarded . , The whole matter is summed up on page X CJG

    perfectly correctly , in the statement that the commercial value of a book is ' the number of copies which the public will take' ; and on

    pajre A . 8 that 'It is alway . s risky to ' prophesy . ' This is just the point that makes the production of books as speculative A . as the production M . of

    plays . Until a publisher who brings out works at his own risk can tell the number of any iven book it that will be f \ J sold KM V / \ A or a man * . the

    g ti . M . f \~ J ft M . f < S V / V V * % . m % J 1 VM . A . M . ^ J M , « V ^ ft . «< V M . M . A « JV ft M ager * JV ^ L V V A A V number of n ghts a new play will run , these businesses cannot be otherwise than specu A .-

    lative . Another ' patent fact is the enrichment of publishers '; we cannot call to mind at the moment any eminent English

    publisher of immense wealth v , but it seems to S us uch that businesses the boot is Ri rather vingt on ons the ? ( established other leg .

    1710 ) , Longmans' ( 1720 ) , and John Murray ( 1708 ) , have descended from father to son since their foundationand the heads of them ,

    though no doubt in very , comfortable circum- stances , are much in the same position as the - founders ----- of their houses ; while we see

    membankers bers of other railway trades contractors , such as success spinners ful br or ew their ers ,

    immediate , descendantswith , seats in the , House of Lords and gigantic fortunes , .

    However , the gist of the whole article is

• Citation
  • Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), June 2, 1890, page 699, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_02061890/page/11/