Page:A history of booksellers, the old and the new.djvu/134

102 and all, or nearly all, Longman's literary connections were pressed into service on his staff of contributors. In the prospectus we see the names of Scott, Moore, Mackintosh, Coleridge, Miss Edgeworth, Herschell, Long, Brewster, De Morgan, Thirlwall, and, of course, Southey. The Times gave more than a broad hint that some of the names were put forward as lures, and nothing else. Southey was anxious that this "insinuation" should be brought before a court of law, where the writer may be "taught that not every kind of slander may be published with impunity." The proprietors, however, contented themselves with publishing books, most indubitably written by the authors whose names they bore. The first volume was published in 1829, and at the close of the series, in 1846, one hundred and thirty-three volumes had been issued, the whole of which were eminently successful, and some few of them, such as Sir John Herschell's Astronomy, in particular, have since been expanded into recognised and standard works.

Another valuable work which has been a constant source of wealth to the firm, somewhat similar in scope to the preceding, was McCulloch's Commercial Dictionary, first published in 1832; in which year the present Mr. Thomas Longman was admitted a partner, being joined by his brother, Mr. William Longman, in 1839. With young Mr. Thomas Longman, Moore appears to have been particularly friendly, addressing him always as "Dear Tom." As far back as 1829, we see the poet requesting that some one might be sent over to have "poor Barbara's" grave made tidy, for fear that his wife Bessy, who was about to make a loving pilgrimage thither, might be shocked, and we read afterwards that "young Longman kindly rode over twice to Hornsey