Page:A dictionary of printers and printing.djvu/931

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HISTORY OF PRINTING.

respecting the oonoexion of the author with his publisher, or to assign to each the exact degree of blame incidental to him, for the production of their common ruin.* It appears, however, to be ascertained, that sir Walter Scott, in his eagerness for the purchase of land, and at the same time to maintain the style of a considerable countrygentleman,incurred obligations to Messrs. Constable and Company, for money or accep- tances, upon the prospect of works in the course of being written, or which the author only designed to write, and was thus led, by a princi- ple of gratitude, to grant counter-acceptances to the bookselling house, to aid in its relief from those embarrassments, of which he was himself partly the cause. It is impossible otherwise to account for sir Walter Scott having incurred liabilities to the creditors of that house, to the amount of £72,000, while of its profits he had not the prospect of a single farthing. On the failure of Messrs. Constable and Company, in

1826, Messrs.Ballanlrne and Company, printers, of which sir Walter Scott was a partner, became insolvent, with debts to the amount of £102,000, for the whole of which sir Walter was, of course, liable, in addition to his liabilities for the book- selling house. It thus appeared that the most splendid literary revenue that ever man made for himself, had been compromised by a connexion, partly for profit, and partly otherwise, with the two mechanical individuals concerned in the mere bringing of his writings before the world. A per-centage was all that these individuals were fairly entitled to for their trouble in put- ting the works of sir Walter into a shape. The blow was endured with a magnanimity worthy of the greatest writer of the age. The principal assets which he could present against the large claims now made upon him, were the mansion and grounds of Abbotsford, which he had entailed upon his son, at the marriage of that young gentleman to Miss Jobson, of Lochore, but in a manner now found invalid, and which were burdened by a bond for £10,000. He had also his house in Edinburgh, and the furniture of both mansions. His creditors proposed a compo- sition ; but bis honourable nature, and perhaps a sense of reputation, prevented him from listen- ing to anv such scheme. Sir Walter had made no avowal to the public of his being the author of that long series of prose fictions, which had for some years engaged so much of public attention. It being no longer possible to preserve his incog- nito, he permitted himself at a dinner for the benefit of the Edinburgh theatrical fund, Feb. 2.3,

1827, to be drawn into a disclosure of the secret. On his health being proposed by lord Meadow, bank, as the " Great unknown, now unknown no longer, he acknowledged the compliment in suitable terms, and declared himself, unequivo- cally, to be the sole author of what were called

Scott Induced his publishers, Messrs. Constable and Co. to give large sums for those works; and previous to 1824, it was understood that the author had expended ;£'i,ao(i thus acquired, upon the house and estate at Abbotsford.
 * The jttc»t success of the ewlier oovels of sir Walter

the Waverley novels. The following hst of die principal productions of sir Walter Scott, will give some idea of the nipidity in which ther were given to the public. Throughout the whole of his career, both as a poet and a novelist, he was in the habit of tummg aside occasionally to less important avocations of a literary character.

i7g«, isoa,

IS(M, 1805, 1808,

1809,

leio,

IBU, 1812, 1813, 1814,

181S, 1816,

1817, 1818,

A translation from the German of Bargtr't Lemn,

and Der Wilde Jager. A translation of Goethe's Ooeta tf BerHdktiva, KUistrelsr of the Scottish Botder. Sir Tristram.

Lay of the Last Minstrel.* Ballads and Lyrical Pieces. Mannion.t

Dryden's Works, with Notes and Memoir, ig Tolft.t State Papers, and Letters of sir Ralph Saddler. Somer's Collection of Tracts, completed in 181S. Lady of the Lake ;{ Miss Seward's life and Worki.l Vision of Don Roderick. Rokeby.f

Bridal of Triermain.

LUie and Works of Jonathan Swift, D. D. It vols.** Waverley, s vols. i2mo.tt Lord of the 'Isles } and Gay Mannerin?. Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk ; Antiquary ; and the

Tales of my Landlord.tt first series, contaiidiit

BLack Dwarf H and Old Mortality. Harold the Dauntless ; and Rob Roy.il Tales of my Landlord, second series, contalniiKlbe

Heart of Mid-Ixithlan.


 * The profits of this poem were j^06 78.

t Mr. Constable, the bookseller, was looked upon si i bold man when, in 1807, he paid one thousand g^iiness for the poem of Marmion, Previously to 182S, no fewer thu 30,040 coi^es of tills poem were sold.

t Tills was the hold speculation of William Miller, of Albemarle-street, London ; and the editor's fee, at foitf guineas the volume, was im.

S Fifty thousand copies were sold from the time of pob- UcaUon to the month of July, 1836.

I Anna Seward was the daughter of the rev. nnan Seward, rector of Eyam, Derbysliire, and pretiendsrT of Lichfield, where be died March 4, 171)0- Miss Seward esrtr discovered a taste for poetry, and was distinguidied ftr her talents in various works of literature. She died MaiA 23, 1809, aged sixty -six years, and was buried at Uchlidd.

\ Ten thousand copies were sold In three months.

•* A successful speculation of Mr. Constable.

tf Fbr the copyright of WmtHei Mr. Constable oftn4 ^00, which was refused ; Scott would liavc taken £\m. —One thousand copies were sold in five weeks : up to 1839, not leas than forty thousand copies were disposed of

tt It is to he observed, that the series, called Ttia tj my Landlori, were professedly by a dilTerent author bin lihn of Wmrtey ; an expedient which the real author hsd thought condudve to the maintenance of thepntaUcintenit

ii The tale of the Black Dwarf had been snhmittedto William Blackwood, who was ea^r to become the par- chaser, in partnership with John Murray, of London. Mr. Blackwood was plain and blunt* to a degree which sir Walter Scott might look upon as " ungracious;" fbrnpon reading what seemed to him the lame and impotent coe- closion of a weli-liegun story, he did not search about for any glossy peiiphrase, but at once wrote to beg thst James Ballantyne would inform the unknown author that such was bis opinion, and ventured to suggest a better upwinding of the plot of the Black Dwarf, and concluded his epistle, which he desired to be forwanled to the name- less novelist, with announcing his willingness in case the proposed alterations were agreed to, that the whole expense of cancelling and reprinting a certain number ctf sheets should lie chained to his own personal account witit " James Ballantyne and Co." Sir Walter Scott, en beiie made acquainted with Blackwood's terms, wrote the fol- lowing letter : —

"Dear James,

" 1 have received Blackwood's impudent letter,

G — d his soul I Tell him and his coadjutor that 1

belong to the Black Hussars of Literature, who neiHier give nor receive criticism. Ill lie cursed but this is the most impudent proposal that ever was made. — W- S."

II The first edition was 10,000 which was disposed of in a fortnight ; a second of 3,000 was called fbr ; and the sub- sequent sale considerably exceeded 40,000 more.

VjOOQ IC