A Publisher And His Friends (Fiscle Part-4) - Samuel Smiles (books like beach read TXT) 📗

Mistaken, And That The Numbers Were

Only Intended For "Their Set." Fearing, Therefore, To Arrogate To Myself

More Than Was Designed For Me, I Kept Silence; And Now Expose _My

Simplicity_ Rather Than _Leave_ Myself _Open_ To The Imputation Of

Unthankfulness. Mr. Southey Desires To Be Very Kindly Remembered To You,

And I Am, My Dear Sir,

 

 

 

Very Thankfully And Truly Yours, Car. Southey.

 

Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 192

 

 

P.S.--I Had Almost Forgotten To Thank You For So Kindly Offering To Send

The _Review_ To Any Friends Of Mine, I May Wish To Gratify. I _Will_

Accept The Proffered Favour, And Ask You To Send One Addressed To Miss

Burnard, Shirley, Southampton, Hants. The Other Members Of My Family And

Most Of My Friends Take The _Q.R._, Or Are Sure Of Seeing It. This Last

Number Is An Excellent One.

 

 

 

Southey Died On March 21, 1843. The Old Circle Of Friends Was Being

Sadly Diminished. "Disease And Death," His Old Friend Thomas Mitchell,

One Of The Survivors Of The Early Contributors To The _Quarterly_, Wrote

To Murray, "Seem To Be Making No Small Havoc Among Our Literary

Men--Maginn, Cunningham, Basil Hall, And Poor Southey, Worst Of All.

Lockhart's Letters Of Late Have Made Me Very Uneasy, Too, About Him. Has

He Yet Returned From Scotland, And Is He At All Improved?" Only A Few

Months Later Mr. Murray Himself Was To Be Called Away From The Scene Of

His Life's Activity. In The Autumn Of 1842 His Health Had Already Begun

To Fail Rapidly, And He Had Found It Necessary To Live Much Out Of

London, And To Try Various Watering-Places; But Although He Rallied At

Times Sufficiently To Return To His Business For Short Periods, He Never

Recovered, And Passed Away In Sleep On June 27, 1843, At The Age Of

Sixty-Five.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 193

 

John Murray As A Publisher

 

 

 

 

In Considering The Career Of John Murray, The Reader Can Hardly Fail To

Be Struck With The Remarkable Manner In Which His Personal Qualities

Appeared To Correspond With The Circumstances Out Of Which He Built His

Fortunes.

 

 

 

When He Entered His Profession, The Standard Of Conduct In Every

Department Of Life Connected With The Publishing Trade Was Determined By

Aristocratic Ideas. The Unwritten Laws Which Regulated The Practice Of

Bookselling In The Eighteenth Century Were Derived From The Stationers'

Company. Founded As It Had Been On The Joint Principles Of Commercial

Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 194

Monopoly And State Control, This Famous Organization Had Long Lost Its

Old Vitality. But It Had Bequeathed To The Bookselling Community A Large

Portion Of Its Original Spirit, Both In The Practice Of Cooperative

Publication Which Produced The "Trade Books," So Common In The Last

Century, And In That Deep-Rooted Belief In The Perpetuity Of Copyright,

Which Only Received Its Death-Blow From The Celebrated Judgment Of The

House Of Lords In The Case Of Donaldson _V_. Becket In 1774. Narrow And

Exclusive As They May Have Been In Their Relation To The Public

Interest, There Can Be No Doubt That These Traditions Helped To

Constitute, In The Dealings Of The Booksellers Among Themselves, A

Standard Of Honour Which Put A Certain Curb On The Pursuit Of Private

Gain. It Was This Feeling Which Provoked Such Intense Indignation In The

Trade Against The Publishers Who Took Advantage Of Their Strict Legal

Rights To Invade What Was Generally Regarded As The Property Of Their

Brethren; While The Sense Of What Was Due To The Credit, As Well As To

The Interest, Of A Great Organized Body, Made The Associated

Booksellers Zealous In The Promotion Of All Enterprises Likely To Add To

The Fame Of English Literature.

 

 

 

Again, There Was Something, In The Best Sense Of The Word, Aristocratic

In The Position Of Literature Itself. Patronage, Indeed, Had Declined.

The Patron Of The Early Days Of The Century, Who, Like Halifax, Sought

In The Universities Or In The London Coffee-Houses For Literary Talent

To Strengthen The Ranks Of Political Party, Had Disappeared, Together

With The Later And Inferior Order Of Patron, Who, After The Manner Of

Bubb Dodington, Nattered His Social Pride By Maintaining A Retinue Of

Poetical Clients At His Country Seat. The Nobility Themselves, Absorbed

In Politics Or Pleasure, Cared Far Less For Letters Than Their Fathers

In The Reigns Of Anne And The First Two Georges. Hence, As Johnson Said,

The Bookseller Had Become The Maecenas Of The Age; But Not The

Bookseller Of Grub Street. To Be A Man Of Letters Was No Longer A

Reproach. Johnson Himself Had Been Rewarded With A Literary Pension, And

The Names Of Almost All The Distinguished Scholars Of The Latter Part Of

The Eighteenth Century--Warburton, The Two Wartons, Lowth, Burke, Hume,

Gibbon, Robertson--Belong To Men Who Either By Birth Or Merit Were In A

Position Which Rendered Them Independent Of Literature As A Source Of

Livelihood. The Author Influenced The Public Rather Than The Public The

Author, While The Part Of The Bookseller Was Restricted To Introducing

And Distributing To Society The Works Which The Scholar Had Designed.

 

 

 

Naturally Enough, From Such Conditions Arose A Highly Aristocratic

Standard Of Taste. The Centre Of Literary Judgment Passed From The

Half-Democratic Society Of The Coffee-House To The Dining-Room Of

Scholars Like Cambridge Or Beauclerk; And Opinion, Formed From The

Brilliant Conversation At Such Gatherings As The Literary Club;

Afterwards Circulated Among The Public Either In The Treatises Of

Individual Critics, Or In The Pages Of The Two Leading Monthly Reviews.

The Society From Which It Proceeded, Though Not In The Strict Sense Of

The Word Fashionable, Was Eminently Refined And Widely Representative;

It Included The Politician, The Clergyman, The Artist, The Connoisseur

Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 195

And Was Permeated With The Necessary Leaven Of Feminine Intuition,

Ranging From The Observation Of Miss Burney Or The Vivacity Of Mrs.

Thrale, To The Stately Morality Of Mrs. Montagu And Mrs. Hannah More.

 

 

 

On The Other Hand, The Whole Period Of Murray's Life As A Publisher,

Extending, To Speak Broadly, From The First French Revolution To Almost

The Eve Of The French Revolution Of 1848, Was Characterized In A Marked

Degree By The Advance Of Democracy. In All Directions There Was An

Uprising Of The Spirit Of Individual Liberty Against The Prescriptions

Of Established Authority. In Politics The Tendency Is Apparent In The

Progress Of The Reform Movement. In Commerce It Was Marked By The

Inauguration Of The Free Trade Movement. In Literature It Made Itself

Felt In The Great Outburst Of Poetry At The Beginning Of The Century,

And In The Assertion Of The Superiority Of Individual Genius To The

Traditional Laws Of Form.

 

 

 

The Effect Produced By The Working Of The Democratic Spirit Within The

Aristocratic Constitution Of Society And Taste May Without Exaggeration

Be Described As Prodigious. At First Sight, Indeed, There Seems To Be A

Certain Abruptness In The Transition From The Highly Organized Society

Represented In Boswell's "Life Of Johnson," To The Philosophical

Retirement Of Wordsworth And Coleridge. It Is Only When We Look Beneath

The Surface That We See The Old Traditions Still Upheld By A Small Class

Of Conservative Writers, Including Campbell, Rogers, And Crabbe, And, As

Far As Style Is Concerned, By Some Of The Romantic Innovators, Byron,

Scott, And Moore. But, Generally Speaking, The Age Succeeding The First

French Revolution Exhibits The Triumph Of Individualism. Society Itself

Is Penetrated By New Ideas; Literature Becomes Fashionable; Men Of

Position Are No Longer Ashamed To Be Known As Authors, Nor Women Of

Distinction Afraid To Welcome Men Of Letters In Their Drawing-Rooms. On

All Sides The Excitement And Curiosity Of The Times Is Reflected In The

Demand For Poems, Novels, Essays, Travels, And Every Kind Of Imaginative

Production, Under The Name Of _Belles Lettres_.

 

 

 

A Certain Romantic Spirit Of Enterprise Shows Itself In Murray's

Character At The Very Outset Of His Career. Tied To A Partner Of A Petty

And Timorous Disposition, He Seizes An Early Opportunity To Rid Himself

Of The Incubus. With Youthful Ardour He Begs Of A Veteran Author To Be

Allowed The Privilege Of Publishing, As His First Undertaking, A Work

Which He Himself Genuinely Admired. He Refuses To Be Bound By Mere

Trading Calculations. "The Business Of A Publishing Bookseller," He

Writes To A Correspondent, "Is Not In His Shop, Or Even In His

Connections, But In His Brains." In All His Professional Conduct A

Largeness Of View Is Apparent. A New Conception Of The Scope Of His

Trade Seems Early To Have Risen In His Mind, And He Was Perhaps The

First Member Of The Stationers' Craft To Separate The Business Of

Bookselling From That Of Publishing. When Constable In Edinburgh Sent

Him "A Miscellaneous Order Of Books From London," He Replied: "Country

Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 196