A month later, on April 9, 1722, the first number of the Gloucester Journal was issued to the expectant citizens and it must have been regarded by them as a most creditable production. The earlier papers established by Raikes and Dicey were small quarto in size, but experience had probably suggested a larger form, and No. 1 of the new paper consisted of six pages, measuring 12 inches by 7 inches, printed in double columns. The price was three halfpence. At the head of page 1 is a quaint woodcut showing Father Time apparently communicating news to a writer who, quill in hand, is seated at a table against which is a medallion depicting Prudence. On the left is a messenger bringing an armful of papers, while in the corner is a full-rigged sailing ship as an emblem of news on the way. On the right is another table with books and papers, and against this is a shield with the arms of the City of Gloucester. This woodcut was used for the first two years and then one representing the South-west prospect of the City of Gloucester was substituted. The printer's address is of interest: To the Gentlemen of the City and County of GLOUCESTER. Gentlemen, The great Advantages which the Art of PRINTING conveys to the LEARNED WORLD are so well known, that to entertain you with a long Discourse upon that Theme would be a needless and useless Attempt. We shall avoid all Prolixity of this Nature, and beg Leave to acquaint you with our Design at once, viz. That we intend to publish a Weekly News-Paper, (which under your Favour and Protection we presume to style, The GLOUCESTER JOURNAL, and wherein we shall insert a just Relation of the most material Occurrences, as well Foreign as Domestick. We also promise you a true account of the Price of the several Commodities in the most famous and noted Markets. We doubt not, Gentlemen, but our JOURNAL will have the Approbation of all its Readers, and so meet with Encouragement equal to its Merit. In 1725 Dicey ceased to have any connection with the Gloucester Journal, and it is evident that the two partners arranged to sever their joint interests in this, and also in the Northampton business, for while Dicey's name appears on the imprint of the Gloucester Journal for the last time on September 20th, 1725, that of Robert Raikes was removed from the imprint of the Northampton Mercury after the issue of October 13th, following, henceforth the two papers were carried on independently. There are many interesting features connected with the history of the Gloucester Journal, a paper still enjoying prosperity and now fast approaching its two hundreth year of publication, but those have been written of in detail elsewhere. The first book issued from the Gloucester press must be referred to briefly. Though a small production it had a great subject, for it is entitled The History of Great Britain, From the Tower of Babel. By J. Blanch, Esq; Oh fortunatos Britanicos so cogitant. Gloucester; Printed by R. Raikes and W. Dicey for the Author; and Sold by Gabriel Harris in Gloucester, Sam. Went in Strowd, and J. Bonwick in St. Paul's Church-yard, London. MDCCXXII. " A small quarto of 20 pages, the book is dedicated to the Mayor and Aldermen of Gloucester, the address being of interest both from the allusions to the new press, and also for the fact that it contains two errors, despite the care which it would be supposed was given by the reader." John Bland was M.P. for Gloucester 1710-13; and on his death in 1725 was described as a great Encouragement of the Woollen Manufacture, and a man of a Public Spirit." Raikes printed at least two other works by him-Swords into Anchors, and Hoops into Spinning Wheels, both published in 1725. The advertisements of publications printed by Raikes and Dicey, and by Raikes alone, show that these were mainly sermons, chap-books, and other cheap literature, though towards the end of the 18th century more solid works were issued. * The Library, January, 1915. Robert Raikes the elder died September 7, 1757, and was succeeded by his son, also named Robert, who had for some time been managing the business. He continued to own the Gloucester Journal until 1802, when it was purchased by Mr. David Walker, the former proprietor of the Hereford Journal. The younger Raikes carried on the work of the press with the greatest industry and must have enjoyed a large general printing connexion. Many quite substantial volumes were printed by him and among them is one- Dallaway's Science of Heraldry, published in quarto in 1793-which as an example would be a credit to any printer. He died in 1811, having lived a honoured and useful life, his efforts in promoting the establishment of Sunday schools bringing him to general recognition throughout the country. Robert Raikes the elder and his son had a monopoly of printing in Gloucester for many years and with the exception of one Richard Bond, whose imprint is on a sermon delivered at Frampton-on-Severn in 1757 and published at the time, and who had a bookseller's business for some few years after, no other printer is known until 1773, when John Pytt issued from his press The Life and Conversion of Mr. Harrison." In 1775 he printed two addresses to the "Ladies of Glocester." About the end of 1788 or beginning of 1789 Pytt had the temerity to establish a weekly paper in Gloucester, where the Gloucester Journal for over 60 years had had the field to itself, and he succeeded in carrying it on for some years. This was The Gloucester Gazette; Monmouth, and South Wales General Advertiser, which was printed at the Britannia Printing Office, No. 2, in the Westgate Street." The issue for April 13, 1792, is numbered 173, so it is probable, the first number came out in December, 1788. The proprietor claimed that his paper was open to all parties and influenced by none and asserted that it was published every week in above two hundred Towns and Villages, in seven Counties." Issues of the Gazette up to November, 1796, have been seen, and it is probable that the paper was published until October, 1801. With the commencement of the nineteenth century a number of printers set up in the City, the following being a fairly complete list, with the earliest dates known, of those who were printing before 1840. H. Ruff (printer of the Gloucester Herald) 1801; W. Price, 1802; David Walker (printer and proprietor of the Gloucester Journal) 1802-16, the business being carried on from the last date until 1831 as D. Walker & Sons, from 1831-38 by David and Alexander Walker, and from 1838-71 by David Mowbray Walker); G. F. Harris, 1803; Joseph Harris, 1806; J. Roberts, 1806; Joseph Wood, 1810; T. Birt, 1815; _T. Critchley, 1819; W. Walden, 1822; Hough and Pace, c. 1815; J. E. Lea, 1825; Charles Hough, 1826; E. Bellchambers, 1827; J. Wingate, 1827; J. Bulgin, 1829; Edward Power, 1829; T. Jew, 1831; W. Verrinder, 1831; Jew and Wingate, 1832; Jew and Bryant, 1834; C. F. Cliffe, 1836; Bryant and Jefferies, 1837; T. Davies, 1838. TEWKESBURY Printing spread but slowly elsewhere in the County and it was more than 60 years after Raikes set up at Gloucester that any other town was favoured. In 1760 Samuel Harward commenced printing in Tewkesbury, and is known chiefly for the long series of penny chap-books which he issued between that date and 1775. He had a general bookselling business which was carried on at Tewkesbury until 1787, as well as at Gloucester and Cheltenham, and in the latter town he was also the first printer. It is possible that the business at Tewkesbury was sold by him to Dyde and Son, who printed R. Dyde's Scholar's Assistant in 1786. W. Dyde, the head of the firm, compiled a history of Tewkesbury Abbey which he printed in 1787, and enlarged and re-issued in 1790. A third edition was issued in 1803. The next printer was E. Reddell, 1810, who also printed a history of the Abbey, which reached a third edition. James Bennett, who established himself n 1810 and carried on a most successful business for over 40 years, acquired a ound reputation as historian of Tewkesbury, and has been thought worthy of a place in the Dictionary of National Biography. In 1829 he issued proposals for a history of the town, which was published in the following year, and proved to be a valuable and well written work. He then commenced the issue of a yearly chronicle of events which was called the Tewkesbury Yearly Register and Magazine, and forms a supplement to the History. The first ten numbers were published in volume form in 1840, and ten years later a second series was completed. Bennett died in 1856. J. Smith was printing in 1821, J. Pearce in 1824, and James Mills in 1826. WOTTON-UNDER-EDGE Following chronological order the next town in Gloucestershire to own a press was Wotton-under-Edge, for, in the absence of evidence corroborating Cotton's statement that John Exel printed there in 1704, the earliest date which can be accepted is 1780, when Richard Dyde, no doubt connected with the Dydes of Tewkesbury, printed "A portion of the Psalms selected from the Rev. James Merricks' new version for the use of the Church at Wandsworth." No other imprint of Dyde's is known, nor does another printer occur till 1807. The printing of the hymn book may have been due to Rev. Rowland Hill, who was associated with Wotton-under-Edge Chapel for some fifty years. Rules of the Dursley Corps of Volunteers were printed by Povey in 1807, and a hand-bill, “ printed by Porter, Wotton-under-Edge " in 1819, has been seen. Later printers were Bailey & Co. 1829, and Richard Bailey 1836-38. CHELTENHAM The first printer at Cheltenham was Samuel Harward, already mentioned under Tewkesbury. In 1786 he printed Observations on the Use and Abuse of the Cheltenham Waters, by J. Smith, M.D. Harward is known to have been in business at Cheltenham in 1803. He was followed by J. Shenton, whose imprint occurs on a threatre bill in 1786, and whose descendants have carried on the business to the present time. Other printers of the first half of the nineteenth century were H. Ruff (printer of the Cheltenham Chronicle) 1803; J. Sharp, 1810; J. K. & S. Griffith, 1811; S. Clutterbuck, 1818; F. Vigurs, 1818; S. Y. Griffith, 1818; H. J. Cochrane, 1819; J. Robinson, 1820; Turner & Hadley, 1820; J. J. Hadley, 1823; G. A. Williams, 1824; S. C. Harper, 1825; Griffith and Cunningham, 1827; E. Matthews, 1827; W. Paine, 1827; H. Davies, 1830; Cunningham & Co., 1831; G. P. Johnson, 1832; E. G. Wells, 1837; T. Rawlings, 1838. TETBURY Next in order of time comes Tetbury, where, in 1796, J. Wilton, of the "Apollo Press," printed a volume of Sermons by W. Russel. In 1797 he commenced the publication of a fortnightly periodical called The County Oracle and Political Intelligencer, though how long this continued has not been ascertained. imprints are those of J. G. Goodwyn, 1802, and Blackwell, 1836. STROUD Later Stroud became the centre for a number of printers, the first being W. S. Wilson, who printed a Sermon preached at Rodborough in 1803, and was in business until 1817. S. Jenner printed in 1806 the Bye-laws of the Lodge of Faith and Friendship, Berkeley, Gloucestershire, the imprint showing that he was himself a Freemason. He is known as a bookseller in Stroud as early as 1790. Following these came F. Vigurs, 1815; George Skey, 1822; J. P. Brisley, 1822; B. Bucknall, 1827; W. A. Baylis, 1832; W. Harmer, 1833. DURSLEY, &c. W. Rickards began printing here in 1809 and continued until 1825, and possibly later. W. C. Ebsworth occurs in 1842 and John Stephens in 1844. Other Gloucestershire printers before 1850 are Frames, 1818; Blackwell, 1850; W. Partridge, 1832; all at Nailsworth; and R. W, Lane, 1835, of Stow-on-theWold. COLLOQUIALISMS (not invariably bibliographical) Hints to Cataloguers: Please do not style a doublure a double." A doublure is a lining, and is therefore a noun. Doublé is a verb, and you therefore can't and musn't state that a binding has a I doublé." What it has is a doublure. 本 And, among other things, don't forget that no person entitled "Lord Bacon " ever lived. The man so styled by ignoramuses was Sir Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam & Viscount St. Alban, (not "St. Albans,' as some erroneously write Bacon's third title). It is late in the day to have to recall this vulgar error, but it crops up occasionally, even in London sale-catalogues, and when it does it should be promptly sat upon. His works should be headed thus:- Bacon (Sir Francis). Still we occasionally find the idiotic system of smattering English auctioncatalogues with descriptions in foreign languages. Lately a French book was catalogued thus :-" Première Edition (première volume, le seul publiée) ", and others in German, Italian, Latin, etc. When, in vol. 3 of B. A. R., I rated the cataloguers for this stupidity The Athenaeum commended me for what it said were my "very sensible comments "upon the subject. It will be to the interest of the houses which employ such cataloguers if the latter understand that some booksellers are not linguists, and that anyhow an English catalogue should be in the English language. Why on earth that cataloguer could not have said “FIRST EDITION, vol. 1, (all published) the Lord only knows-I don't. * With regard to Egan's Life in London it has been pointed out to me that The Dictionary of National Biography states that the first number appeared on July 15, 1821. Then follows: Imitations and pirated copies appeared, both of the text and pictures. The chief of the former was Real Life in London. May 1821 and following months to 1822, in sixpenny numbers.' The D. N. B. thus makes it appear that the imitation was issued two months previous to the book it imitates, i.e. Life in London, and this error causes confusion in the mind of the enquirer. For it was in July 1821 that the last number appeared, and not the first number, as may be seen by referring to the late Capt. Douglas's The Works of George Cruikshank, pages II and 263. Douglas states, quoting from copies in his possession, that the first number of Life in London was issued on Oct. 2, 1820 and the last number in July 1821. My correspondent seeks to know my reason for stating that Egan was not the author of Real Life in London, and points to the fact that the work appears under Egan's name in Halkett and Laing, and in two similar publications to B. A. R., one published in London and the other in New York. My only comment is, so much the worse for Halkett and Laing and Co. They should make sure of their facts" before printing them, and especially so as there is so absolutely reliable a guide as Capt. Douglas's bibliography to help lame Cruikshankian dogs over the stile. One reason that Egan could not have been the author of Real Life in London as well as Life in London is that the works are utterly unlike in style, while a still more cogent reason is that for a part of the time the two works were appearing concurrently, viz. during the months of May, June and July, 1821, and nobody will make any reasonable person believe that during those months Egan was issuing, through two different publishers, two works, the second of which was evidently started in consequence of the success of the first, and only a weak imitation of it. now let it be hoped that all cataloguers who are possessed of self-respect will avoid attributing Real Life in London to an author who must have felt that its appearance was an outrage upon his own work. So An enquiry in B. A. R. brought evidence as to the identity of the author of Sergeant Bell. Can anybody throw any light upon the authorship of Real Life in London? * * On the cover of Part 3 of vol. 15 was an extract from an appreciative letter by a New York bookseller with respect to B. A. R. Before the printers' ink was dry a little packet came to hand in which was a handsome razor sent for my acceptance by a Sheffield bookseller who was kind enough to write that he offered it as some sort of acknowledgment of my efforts to be of assistance to booksellers. I returned it with many thanks, and explained that I had never had occasion to shave, and that as B. A. R. was more prosperous each year there did not seem to be any probability of my requiring his gift for lethal purposes. But I told him that at that moment I was badly wanting a real good pocket-knife-one that would cut something harder than butter-would, in fact, sharpen a pencil-most of the pocket-knives offered here doing nothing of the kind and only inducing an expenditure of sulphurous language. The pen-knife duly arrived, one made before the war and now the last of its race, and ever since I have daily blessed the name of my kind subscriber. The Editor of The Publishers' Circular, in his review of B. A. R., said that I loved a joke. So I do, because life is so serious, and often so tragic, that we need beacons of light on the road to distract our attention from the sad things. And when we hear something good which others may not have heard we should pass it on. This is why I am printing the following story, which has nothing to do with books but it illustrates the pungent humour by aid of which our American cousins can get out of a difficulty. I only hope it isn't a chestnut." A traveller in the States engaged a bedroom at an hotel, and in the middle of the night was woke up by what proved to be a fight between a couple of enormous rats. He rang the bell and the landlord appeared. "What's the matter?" asked the landlord. "Why, there are a couple of rats fighting at the bottom of my bed," replied the traveller. The landlord considered a moment, and then said How much did you pay for the room?" "Two dollars fifty," said the traveller. "Well," said the landlord, what did you expect for that money? " " And now, subscribers mine, please don't say What an absurd person is FRANK KARSLAKE BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES N. B. All booksellers should put us on their list of names, as one never knows where, in any part of the world, a notice of a catalogue attracts attention and leads to business. A charge of threepence per line is made, to partly cover the cost of printing. GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND Bromley, Kent. G. H. Last, 29 The Broadway. Catalogue No. 71; Scarce Books, etc., 442 items, including the New York Herald, 1794-95, £5 5s. ; Camden's Britannia, 1789, extra-illustrated, in 3 vols., £15 10s.; the rare extra plates to Master Humphrey's Clock, by Sibson, complete, £5; an Arabic MS.; a Log Book of one of Nelson's commanders, £6 10s.; an Autograph Letter by Thackeray, referring to his Parliamentary contest at Oxford, to Mrs. Gore, £5 17s. 6d.; etc. etc. Leeds. James Miles, 34 Upperhead Row. Catalogue No. 210. Recent Private |