Page:A history of booksellers, the old and the new.djvu/348

308 308 THE RIVINGTONS, THE PARKERS, and a third series began, which, however, only reached three volumes. Of all the literary men connected with the Riving- ton's of this era, none were more useful, and few deserve more grateful remembrance from posterity, than George Ayrscough -facile princeps of index makers. Originally a miller's labourer, he obtained a situation in the Rivingtons' shop, and was afterwards promoted to a clerkship in the British Museum ; soon after his further rise to the position of assistant librarian he took orders ; but it is as a maker of catalogues and indexes that he is still known ; and how great the labour and patient skill needful in com- piling the indexes to the Gentleman s Magazine, the Monthly Revieiv, and the British Critic must have been, all students can approximately guess from the immensity of labour saved individually by their use. John, the eldest son of Francis, was admitted a partner in 1810, and in 1819 they took a lease of No. 3, Waterloo Place ; and so popular were they at the time that it is said Sir James Allen Park, one of the judges, came down to the new house before nine o'clock on New-year's Day, that he might enrol him- self as their first customer. In 1820 they determined to start a branch house for the sale of second-hand books and general literature, and John Cochrane was placed at the head of this establishment. He collected one of the finest stocks ever gathered, and published the best and most carefully compiled catalogue that had then been issued, extending to 815 pages, and enumerating 17,328 articles, many of the rarest kind. The business, however, entailed considerable losses, and was abandoned in 1827. On October 18, 1822, Francis Rivington, the senior