4-1 



BOOXS, BOOKSELLERS, AND BIBLIOJIANIAC3. 



success of this second publication 

 set the first in motion, and Johnson 

 immediately reaped the fruits of 

 his undaunted judgment. 



BOOKSELLER AND AUTHOR. 



Un libraire et un auteur sont 

 deux especes de filoux, qui ne peu- 

 vent 1'un sans 1'autre attraper 1'ar- 

 gent du public. (Lesage.) 



BOOKSELLERS THE PATRONS OF 

 LITERATURE. 



Johnson has dignified the book- 

 sellers as "the patrons of litera- 

 ture," which was generous in that 

 great author, who had written well 

 and lived but ill all his life on that 

 patronage. Eminent booksellers, 

 in their constant intercourse with 

 the most enlightened class of the 

 community, that is, with the best 

 authors and the best readers, par- 

 take of the intelligence around 

 them ; their great capitals, too, are 

 productive of good and evil in 

 literature ; useful, when they carry 

 on great works ; and pernicious, 

 when they sanction indifferent ones. 

 Yet are they but commercial men. 

 A trader can never be deemed a 

 patron, for it would be romantic to 

 purchase what is not saleable ; but 

 where no favour is conferred, there 

 is no patronage. Authors continue 

 poor, and booksellers become opu- 

 lent ; an extraordinary result ! 

 Booksellers are not agents for 

 authors, but proprietors of their 

 works; so that the perpetual re- 

 venues of literature are solely in 

 the possession of the trade. (D'Isr.) 

 Tonson, and all his family and as- 

 signees, rode in their carriages with 

 the profits of Milton's Jive-pound 

 Epic. 



SMOLLETT'S ENGLAND. 



Smollett never wrote a continu- 

 ation to Hume's History, but the 

 booksellers, wanting a continuation 

 of Hume, took that portion of Smol- 

 lett's history from the Revolution to 



the death of George II., and print- 

 ing it in five volumes in 1 791, called 

 it Smollett's Continuation of Hume. 

 Mr. Dibdin says it was first pub- 

 lished in 1763, but that was the 

 continuation of Smollett's own his- 

 tory from 1748, which was brought 

 down to the end of 1765, and the 

 last volume not being reprinted 

 in the bookseller's edition gave oc- 

 casion to the report that it was 

 suppressed by authority, because it 

 contained the only mention of the 

 first appearance of the late king's 

 malady in 1765. (Gent. Mag. Nov. 

 1824.) 



JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY. 



Mr. Andrew Millar, bookseller 

 in the Strand, took the principal 

 charge in conducting the publication 

 of Johnson's Dictionary; and as 

 the patience of the proprietors was 

 repeatedly tried, and almost ex- 

 hausted, by their expecting that the 

 work would be completed within 

 the time which Johnson had san- 

 guinely supposed, the learned au- 

 thor was often goaded to despatch, 

 more especially as he had received 

 all the copy-money by different 

 drafts, a considerable time before 

 he had finished his task. When 

 the messenger who carried the last 

 sheet to Millar returned, Johnson 

 asked him, "Well, what did he 

 say 1" " Sir," answered the mes- 

 senger, "he said, 'Thank God, I 

 have done with him.' " " I am 

 glad," replied Johnson with a smile,. 

 " that he thanks God for any thing." 

 (Boswell's Life of Johnson.) 



AKENSIDE'S PLEASURES op 



IMAGINATION. 



In 1744 appeared before the pub- 

 lic Akenside's Pleasures of Imagi- 

 nation, which so long as genius 

 holds an admirer, will ever be 

 valued for chasteness of design,, 

 purity of morals, and all that pleas ing- 

 witchery which marks the healthful 

 offspring of genuine poetry. It was 



