The First Edition of Essays by Mr.
Goldsmith,
1765
Arthur Friedman
It is well known that there are two editions of Oliver
Goldsmith's Essays dated 1765, both said in the imprint to
be "for W. Griffin": one with an engraved titlepage (1765A);[1] the other a cheaper edition with a
title-page printed from type (1765B).[2] No careful attempt has been made
to
determine which of these editions is the first. In his bibliography
of first editions of Goldsmith's writings Iolo A. Williams
describes 1765A and does not mention the other edition.[3] Temple Scott, on the other hand,
describes both editions and argues for the priority of 1765B:
I lean to the conclusion that the issue [i.e., edition] of this
book without the engraved title-page is the first issue, because
most of the editions which followed it have the engraved title. It
is more likely that the publisher, had he used an engraved title
originally, would have continued to use it rather than abandon it
and reset the volume in a poorer form. The demand for the book
encouraged Griffin to make a more pleasing volume, hence the
improved type-setting and engraved title-page of the later
issue.
[4]
This argument is by no means conclusive. Although it is remarkable
that 1765B, if it is the later edition, has a printed title-page,
various reasons might be suggested why the title-page plate
engraved for 1765A could have been inaccessible when another
edition was printed. More important, Scott's last sentence states
the reverse of what I take to be the normal procedure; Griffin
might rather be expected to make the first edition attractive in
appearance in order to create a demand and then possibly to take
advantage of the demand with a cheaper edition.
A direct comparison of the texts of 1765A and 1765B leads to no
demonstrable conclusion for one or the other as the first edition.
Fortunately, however, the problem of priority is readily solvable
by comparing the two editions with an earlier state of the text. As
is suggested by the motto "Collecta revirescunt" on the title-page
of the Essays, Goldsmith was republishing essays and poems
which he had previously contributed to newspapers and periodicals,
and the original texts are available for all but the last of the
twenty-seven pieces. For the collected Essays Goldsmith
made
very extensive revisions, which appear in both 1765A and 1765B; the
two editions are clearly not independent reprintings of the
periodical texts. One of the editions, consequently, was printed
from the revised periodical texts, whereas the other was derived
from this first edition;[5] and the
order of the editions can be determined by
discovering which one is closer to the periodical texts. I attempt
to list below all the variants in substantives where one of the
1765 texts agrees with the periodical version and the other differs
from it.
Page and line (from 1765A) |
Bee
|
1765A |
1765B |
1.16 |
at a loss |
at a loss |
at loss |
4.20 |
extraordinary pages |
extraordinary pages |
pages extraordinary |
6.22 |
am |
am |
I am |
37.17 |
[No paragraph division] |
[No paragraph division] |
[Paragraph division] |
72.18 |
possible a |
possible a |
possible that a |
75.17 |
for Sundays |
for Sundays |
for Sunday |
121.16 |
on a string |
on a string |
in a string |
123.18 |
and and |
and, and |
and, |
|
Lloyd's Evening Post
|
29.7 |
vainly |
vainly |
in vain |
|
Citizen of the World
[6]
|
91.22 |
the joke sake
|
the joke sake |
the joke's sake |
95.12 |
an hundred
|
an hundred |
a hundred |
112.6 |
greater efforts |
greater efforts |
great efforts |
|
Royal Magazine
|
131.7 |
habitation |
habitation |
inhabitation |
131.14 |
ingratitude |
ingratitude |
gratitude |
132.9 |
over our heads |
over our heads |
above our heads |
135.6 |
we have no |
we have no |
we no |
137.3 |
put it into |
put it into |
put into |
|
Public Ledger
[7]
|
149.5 |
They have all |
They have all |
They all have |
|
British Magazine
|
166.4 |
came upon them |
came upon them |
came in upon them |
167.24 |
one of his legs were |
one of his legs were |
one of his legs was |
168.10 |
made a bishop |
made a bishop |
made bishop |
170.2 |
heard |
heard |
had heard |
187.17 |
fondlings |
foundlings |
fondlings |
192.6 |
those two months |
those two months |
those months |
197.5 |
[No paragraph division] |
[No paragraph division] |
[Paragraph division] |
199.11 |
of Europe |
of Europe |
in Europe |
215.10 |
sailors and soldiers |
sailors and soldiers |
soldiers and sailors |
|
Weekly Magazine
|
227.23 |
where |
were |
where |
From this collation 1765A is seen to be very much closer to the
periodical texts than is 1765B. 1765B agrees with the earlier texts
against 1765A in only two cases: in one instance (227.23) the
reading of 1765A is a simple misprint, and in the other (187.17) it
appears on critical grounds to be inferior to the reading of the
British Magazine and 1765B. 1765A, on the other hand,
agrees
with the periodical texts twenty-six times when 1765B differs from
them. Of these distinctive readings in 1765B three (121.16, 131.14,
and 135.6) are obvious errors, and three others (112.6, 131.7, and
137.3) seem on critical grounds to be inferior readings. The other
twenty instances, however, are all indifferent readings not clearly
inferior to 1765A; indeed a number of them—the correction of
grammar at 167.24, for example—appear to be attempts at obvious
improvement. In these twenty cases it is highly improbable that
either Goldsmith or a printer would have returned in 1765A from the
readings of 1765B to those of the periodical texts; it is very much
more probable that 1765A is the first ediiton and that 1765B
represents a stage of the text still further removed from the
periodical version.[8]
When 1765A is recognized as the first edition, 1765B is seen to
contain a number of features that call for explanation. (1) It is
not described as the second edition; rather the edition of 1766 is
called on the title-page "The SECOND EDITION, corrected." (2) No
new edition, as far as I have been able to discover, was advertised
in the newspapers during 1765.[9] (3)
The printer of 1765B did not employ the
title-page plate engraved for 1765A or even the picture cut from
that plate and used as a vignette in 1766. (4) 1766 bears a close
physical resemblance to 1765A; it is, indeed, as far as corrections
and additions permitted, a page-for-page reprint of the first
edition. 1765B, on the other hand, is not a paginal reprint; it is,
rather, a cheap reprint which does not attempt to imitate the
physical make-up of 1765A. (5) 1765A has at the end a leaf
advertising nine books printed and sold by W. Griffin; 1766
advertises these same books and fourteen others. 1765B carries no
advertisements.
It is apparent that 1765A and 1766 display a sequence in the
practices of Griffin and that the supposedly intermediate 1765B
departs from this sequence. The only thing associating Griffin with
1765B is his name on the title-page, and the five features listed
above taken in combination strongly suggest that he was not
responsible for its publication. If 1765B is in fact a piracy, then
(1) there would have been no reason for calling it the second
edition, whereas Griffin would naturally have given that
designation to 1766; (2) the only result of advertising 1765B as a
new edition would have been to call the piracy to Griffin's
attention; (3) the engraved title-page plate for 1765A or the
picture cut from that plate and used as a vignette for 1766 would
not have been available to the printer of 1765B; (4) 1765B does not
resemble 1765A in physical make-up because the printer wished, not
to deceive people who had seen the first edition, but to produce
the volume as cheaply as possible;
(5) the printer would have had no interest in advertising Griffin's
stock.
Since 1765B can with some confidence be labelled a piracy, none
of its distinctive readings—even those which are corrections or
have the superficial air of improvements—can be authoritative,
and therefore an editor should give no weight to its variants. Even
if a less extreme view is taken, and the case for piracy is
considered speculative only, an editor will find that there is no
distinctive reading in 1765B which could not be a printing variant.
In light of this fact, it would appear to be of considerable
significance that when the authorized 1766 edition was ordered, the
printer was furnished a copy of 1765A, an unlikely occurrence if
the readings in 1765B resulted from the author's further revisions.
Of even greater importance, Goldsmith, if he were responsible for
the distinctive readings of 1765B, might be expected to repeat some
of them in his fairly extensive revision of 1765A for this edition
of 1766; but for the twenty-eight instances listed above where
1765A and
1765B differ, 1766 invariably agrees with 1765A. Even if the very
strong evidence that 1765B is a piracy is ignored, the edition can
still be granted no textual authority.[10]
Notes