Patterns In Press Figures: A Study of
Lyttelton's
Dialogues of the Dead
by
William B. Todd
Several years ago I reported, as somewhat out of the ordinary,
the issue of six different impressions of Burke's
Reflections (1790), all within a period of seventeen
days.[1] Even more remarkable, I now
suggest, is the publication of three distinct editions of
Lyttelton's Dialogues (1760), all in less than a week. If
the rapid appearance of two editions, the two easily distinguished,
provoked some comment at the time,[2]
the actual existence of three may deserve this later notice.
Of greater interest than mere numbers, however, is the
extraordinary manner in which the book was prepared. Superficially
the Burke and Lyttelton are much alike: both are octavos running
over 300 pages and, in the initial printing, both have several
cancels. But where the one, a product of the end of the century,
was efficiently machined by some fifteen pressmen, the other,
printed thirty years before, was tortuously worked—so far as they
can be identified—by no more than eight. And where in the course
of printing the one required only two alterations in procedure,
each easily arranged from standing type, the other necessitated at
least five, most of them achieved with the greatest difficulty from
new settings. By one means or another, though, Lyttelton's printer,
the eminent Samuel Richardson, accomplished more in less time than
Burke's. How he performed this miracle remains to be seen.
Throughout the account of the three editions (ABC) and, later,
of a fourth (D), the reader should consult the accompanying table
of press figures. As these appear, at first sight, to be a very
heterogeneous mixture they have been partitioned in several groups,
or phases of press-work, and assigned distinctive numbers.
For the first edition it may also be convenient to arrange these
figures and phase signs in a graph indicating the skeleton-formes
used for the work.
As illustrated in the graph, work began in an orderly fashion,
after a tentative beginning at B, with pressmen 3 and 4 sharing
three formes for the first two signatures in each sequence and 3 or
2 working the odd pair in the third signature. Since this book has
a running-title across both pages of an opening (DIALOGUES | of the
DEAD), the arrangement of the headings in any one skeleton
generally limited its use to one forme. Thus through signature H
skeletons I, III, and IV carry letter only for inner formes; and V,
together with II, the common property of two presses, carry letter
only for the outer. At I, however, the headlines were completely
transposed, not only for the three but for the independent
two-skeleton sequence, so that from this sheet onward the frames
previously used for one forme are now consistently used for the
other. Whatever the reason for this, work continued to K when, as
noted, the pair of formes for each signature, hitherto assigned to
a single press, are now
allocated to two. This shift from successive to simultaneous
printing was doubtless intended, here and elsewhere, to speed up
the work and thereby reduce the accumulation of ready-type set by
the compositors. Once this backlog was eliminated, upon the
completion of L, the presses again revert to successive
printing.
At signature O occurs the first major alteration (phase 2), an
increase in issue perhaps by another 500 copies. While this
eventually complicated matters its only immediate effect was a
further delay in presswork and thus, from R through U, further
simultaneous printing to reduce the accumulation of type. Then
again, from X through the preliminaries, the pace slackened as 8
alone finished off the remaining sheets needed to complete the book
for publication on Friday, May 17. Of the preliminaries signature
A4 was probably machined as a half-sheet and
a2 imposed with
eight reset pages of C, all required for an extensive cancellation
in that sheet.
Once the book went on sale it immediately became apparent that
the demand would exceed the original order; but as that possibility
had already been anticipated, in part, by an overprinting of O-X
and the preliminaries, it seemed an easy matter to reset and
machine the earlier sheets and thus bring all signatures up to the
count for the expanded issue. Work therefore began on the third
phase of operations, a sequence including the first four text
sheets less only C, a signature deferred until the pages newly set
for cancels could be reimposed with the others required for this
sheet. Towards the end of the run, however, it became apparent that
the supplementary issue would still fall short of the demand, and
again the men were obliged to overprint, now most[5] of F, all of G through K, and the
reimposed C. But in this, the fourth phase, the situation was far
different from that encountered in the second, for any extension of
the run after publication
only served to delay the issue. Though Richardson endeavored to
finish the job by assigning every available man to press and
simultaneously printing the formes of every sheet, his best
efforts, as he must have realized, were not enough. Whether he
maintained the increased issue or reverted to the lesser number,
some customers would fail to receive their copies.
Faced with this unhappy dilemma Richardson, we may suppose,
admitted defeat and immediately sought assistance from another
printer. The sheets produced by the other shop, all easily
recognized by differences in ornaments and measure, and by the
absence of press figures, extend in this edition from M through N,
the two signatures needed to complete an issue previously expanded
from O through X. With these off his hands, Richardson then ordered
his own shop to reduce the issue of L, the last of the sheets in
his sequence.[6] So by dint of
various strategems edition B hastily emerged as a composite of
sheets, some produced from an earlier overprinting (2) and thus
shared with A, some produced
from a later overprinting (4) and thus shared with C, and some
produced by a normal run before (3) and after (5) the later
extension (3, 5) and thus peculiar to itself.
As the advertisements disclose that C, the 'Second Edition',
also appeared less than a week after A, it is easy to believe, as
the figures indicate,[7] that this
too was rushed through the press and hurried to the stalls.
Fortunately some of the work was already done, by virtue of the
overprinting in B, and what remained was now conveniently divided
between two shops. Among the 17 sheets still lacking the second
office reimpressed M and N, the two it had set for the preceding
edition, and reset O through X, while Richardson's men reimpressed
L, the sheet they had previously underprinted, and reset A, a, B,
D, and E. To equalize the work Richardson also probably undertook
the printing of an errata leaf Y1, a list belatedly received to
correct errors in the first edition, as well as a cancel leaf I2.
Perhaps the cancel was also intended for the first edition but, if
so, in the rush of events on this work it could be supplied only
for the last several
copies of C. It now appears, so far as I know, only in the British
Museum copy, which has several lines transposed to page 115 so that
on 116 space is allowed for Boileau to remark, in further
commendation of Pope: "Nor could I, nor did even Lucretius himself,
make Philosophy so poetical, or embellish it
with
such charms, as you have, Mr. Pope, in your Essay on
Man."
All the shuffling of type required to introduce this sentence must
have been particularly annoying to Richardson, already much
harrassed with the production of the book, for the encomium came
sixteen years too late to be appreciated by its recipient. Even so
it may be admitted, I suppose, for these are dialogues of the
dead.
With all these little details arranged, the so-called 'Second
Edition' (C) was published on May 22, and both shops now stood
ready for any eventuality. To the extent other commitments would
allow, the type was now held intact, one shop retaining all the
letter for B, D, and E, the three sheets most recently impressed,
and the other retaining most of the letter from M through R. But
alas, after clamoring for copies the public was now, for awhile,
sated with Lyttelton; and it was not until September that the
printers could again use, for edition D, what they had so carefully
preserved. Thus after many desperate measures the well-laid plans
which finally evolved were all to little avail. Nonetheless the
work was done, and while Richardson and his unknown associate have
left us none of their Dialogues the book itself is adequate
testimony of their remarkable achievement.
Addenda
A. Graph of presswork. For purposes of illustration the number
of copies printed for each edition is an arbitrary assignment based
on the number now extant.
Edition |
A |
A-B |
B |
B-C |
B |
C |
C |
D |
Shop |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
Phase |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
Sigs. |
B-N |
O-X,A,a |
B,D-E |
C,F-K |
L-N |
L-N |
A,a,B,D-E,O-Y |
A-X |
Copies |
1000 |
1500 |
500 |
1500 |
500 |
1000 |
1000 |
500 |
Category |
Set
|
(overprint) |
Reset
|
(overprint) |
(under-print) |
(reimpressed) |
Reset
|
Partially reset
|
Published |
|
May 17 (A only) |
|
|
May 20? |
|
May 22 |
September |
B. Bibliographical description.
- Edition A
- DIALOGUES | OF THE | DEAD. | [rule] | [ornament] |
[double
rule] | LONDON: | Printed for W. Sandby, in Fleet-ſtreet. |
[short rule] | M.DCC.LX.
- 8°. A4 a2
B8 C8 (± C1, 4-6)
D-X8
-
First state. Headpiece page [1] represents a pedestal
in the center (Sale, Richardson, No. 15), a piece 3 mm. too
narrow for the letterpress on this page. The copy with this varies
also in having a figure 3 on page 316. Copy examined: CtY
(Im L998 760) Second state. Headpiece, as in later editions,
represents a globe in the center (Sale, No. 34), a piece
approximating the measure of letterpress. Copies examined:
B.M. (716.c.1), ICN, NN (Berg), Todd; reported:
OrU.
- Edition B
- Description and collation as for A. Without cancels in
C.
- Pages reset: 1-16, 19-22, 29-192; reimpressed: 17-18 and
23-28 (previously used for cancels in A); of same impression:
i-xii, 193-320. Copies examined: B.M. (244.l.7), CtY
(Fielding Sz 7601), DLC, NjP.
- Edition C
- DIALOGUES | OF THE | DEAD. | [rule] | The Second Edition.
|
[rule] | [ornament] | [&c. as in A].
- Collation as for B, with added errata list Y1.
- Pages reset: iii-xii, 1-16, 33-64, 193-320; reimpressed:
title (altered), 145-192; of same impression: 17-32, 65-144.
-
First state. Leaf I2 cancellandum, catchword on
recto
"Boileau."
-
Copies examined: ICU (sheet F has figure 7 on page
78,
sheets O, P, R, U, X of the earlier impression), NN;
reported: NNUT (sheet L of B impression),
NPV
(sheet
F figured as in ICU), PHC.
-
Second state. Leaf I2 a cancellans, catchword on
recto
"fects".
-
Copy examined: B.M. (8406.ccc.9).
- Edition D
- DIALOGUES | [&c. as in C except:] The Third Edition. . . .
- Collation as for C except that errata corrected and list
removed.
- Pages reset: iii-xii, 17-32, 65-165, 168-72, 176, 183-98,
226-31, 235-39, 257-320; the remainder reimpressed.
-
Copies examined: B.M. (8405.ccc.14), ICU,
MH.
PRESS FIGURES
[The work of the second shop, all unfigured except for one
forme, is designated by the letter x. Figures for an impression
extending through two editions are centered between the two
columns.]
Notes