University of Virginia Library

Colburn-Bentley and the March of Intellect
by
Royal A. Gettmann

THE AIM OF THE PRESENT PAPER IS TO DESCRIBE the venture of Colburn and Bentley into the field of the cheap series. This was a significant episode in the history of the House of Bentley, and an account of it will also shed some light on an important phase of nineteenth-century British publishing.

The original impulse for the numerous, inexpensive series which appeared in the late 1820's was provided by the planning and the actual example of Archibald Constable, that restless and audacious publisher of Edinburgh, the then capital of English and even European book making. In Constable's project, as in so many aspects of publishing during this period, there was the influence of Scott. The inception of Constable's Miscellany is described in a well-known passage of Lockhart's Life but one so vivid that it would be a pity not to quote from it.

Scott readily consented to take part in the enterprise and expressed the opinion that historical writing had not been adapted to the needs of the "increased circles" which Constable had in mind. He concluded with this question: "What say you to taking the field with a Life of the other Napoleon?" Before Constable left Abbotsford it was agreed that the series should begin with alternate installments of Waverley and a Life of Napoleon Bonaparte by the author of Waverley and that Scott was to write other historical works until all his novels had been incorporated into the Miscellany on this dual plan. This, then, was Constable's outline of a project which, in Lockhart's opinion, was "to lead the way in one of the greatest revolutions that literary history will ever have to record — a revolution not the less sure to be completed, though as yet, after the lapse of twelve years, we see only its beginnings."

Constable's hope was thwarted by the financial crash of 1826, his loss of Scott's novels, and the failure of his health. Nevertheless he announced Constable's Miscellany of Original and Selected Publications in the various departments of Literature, Science, and the Arts designed to provide cheap, various, useful, and agreeable knowledge. It was to include not only reprints of works already "stamped with public approbation" but original treatises calculated to fill "acknowledged chasms in the existing stock of useful learning." Thanks to the offices of Sir Walter Scott the Miscellany was dedicated to the King.

Estimate of Profit & Loss on Standard Novels to August 31, 1832

Cost

                                         

		Pages	Sheets	No. Printed	Gratis	Sold	Stock	Copyright	Composition Corrections	Press Work	Stereo Plates	Paper	Design	Engraving	Working Paper	Binding & Label	Advertising divided equally each vol.	Total Outlay	Receipts	Profit	Loss
1. Pilot	Feb. 25, '31	428	13⅜	6038	258	5396	275-109	Nil	£50	£118	£40/10	£243	£16	£45	£34	£121	£76	£748	£1048	£300
2. Caleb Williams	Mar. 31, '31	476	15	5068	73	4348	520-127	£106	£58/10	105	45	225	£ 7/10	45	28/10 3/10	93	76	793	838	45
3. Spy	May 2, '31	422	13¼	5044	73	4360	544-67	£ 50	51	75/10	40/10	200	5/10	31/10	24 3	97	76	654	846	192
4. Thaddeus	May 31, '31	464	14½	5049	70	4531	402-46	£ 54	57/10	92	43/10	220	5	31/10	26 3	103	76	712	865	153
5. St. Leon	June 30, '31	488	15¼	4034	55	3471	364-144	62.10	67	79	46	184	5/10	31/10	21/10 2/10	80	76	656	660	4
6. Mohicans	July 30, '31	412	13	4036	142	3882	12	50	47	66/10	39	158	5	31/10	21/10 2/10	90	76	587	751	164
7. Scottish Chiefs	Aug. 31, '31	408	12¾	4060	85	3566	260-149	54	49	69	39	155	5/10	32	22/10 2/10	83	76	588	682	94
8. Scottish Chiefs Vol. 2	Sept. 24, '31	408	12¾	4047	85	3506	397-59	38	49	66	39	154	5	32	20 3	80	76	562	671	109
9. Frankenstein	Oct. 31, '31	384	12	4020	107	3170	520-223	30	50/10	61	36	146	5/10	31/10	20 2/10	78	76	537	605	68
10. Ghost Seer & Edgar Huntley	Nov. 31, '31	454	14¾	3530	90	2790	430-220	Nil	55	65	43/10	152	5	31/10	17 2/10	68	76	516	532	16
11. Hungarian Brothers	Dec. 31, '31	340	10⅜	3536	81	2517	434-504	54	40/10	47	33	113	5/10	31/10	17 2/10	68	76	488	479		9
12. Canterbury Tales	Jan. 31, '32	476	15	3536	105	2862	569	Nil	59	64/10	45	160	5	32	17 2/10	76	76	537	552	15
13. " Vol. 2	Feb. 29, '32	528	16½	3514	108	2645	477-284	Nil	60	71	49/10	176	5/10	31/10	17 2/10	67	76	556	508		48
14. Pioneers	March 31, '32	472	14¾	3532	85	2711	582-154	50	54	64	45	157	5	31/10	17 2/10	64	76	566	520		46
15. Self-Control	April 28, '32	508	16	3016	35	2076	216-689	38	57/10	59	48	146	5/10	32	15 2	60	76	539	396		143
16. Discipline	May 30, '32	480	15	3012	35	1845	212-920	37	54	55	45	137	5	31/10	15 2	60	76	518	350		168
17. Prairie	June 30, '32	452	14⅛	3530	29	2212	780-509	100	52	62	43/10	150	5/10	31/10	17 2	60	76	600	425		175
18. Pastor's Fireside	July 28, '32	360	11¼	3002	30	1618	552-802	43	41/10	42	34/10	103	5	31/10	15 2	55	76	449	313		136
19. " Vol. 2	Aug. 31, '32	340	10⅜	3040	18	1088	790-1144	38	39/10	40/10	33	97	5	31/10	15 2	51	76	429	215		214
			259½	74,644	1564	58,594	7755-6731	805	993	1302	789	3076	113	628	429	1454	1444	11,035	11,256	1160	939

• £250 to Burke
• 105 to Tegg
• 365 not included in above

• Balance Profit
• Exclusive of Stock £221

The first number — Hall's Voyages, completed in three volumes — appeared late in 1826, and the series continued to 1835, reaching a total of 80 volumes. At the outset the price was 3/6 but because of the success of the Cabinet Cyclopedia, a competing series, a better made edition was added in 1832 at the price of 5/.

Constable was immediately followed by imitators and competitors. The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge began to publish its treatises in March, 1827, and in April, 1829 John Murray began his Family Library, probably the most notable of the series, under the able editorship of Lockhart.[2] The first number of the latter was a telling success because it combined two great names and a great talent: it was Scott's Life of Napoleon Bonaparte written and revised by Lockhart himself. For good measure it was illustrated by Cruikshank. Within the year Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia, edited by the eminent Dr. Dionysius Lardner for Longman's began publication with a History of Scotland by none other than Sir Walter Scott. The longest lived of the series it continued for twenty years and finally included 132 volumes. In addition to other regular series such as Valpy's Family Classical Library, the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, and Lardner's Cabinet Library, there were numerous sporadical serial publications bearing such titles as Library for the People, Autobiography, and the Little Library. Dibdin, in his description of the depression of the book trade in 1831, says that it was only the "army of Lilliputians, headed by Dr. Lardner-"that made any progress.[3] "Cheap knowledge" became a catchword of the day so that the Times (April 9, 1833) could begin its review of The Giant Horse, or Siege of Troy, playing in Astley's Amphitheatre, as follows: "To go into any detail of the events on which the story is founded is in the present age of cheap knowledge we hope unnecessary. . . ."

A glance at the titles in the several series suggests that the publishers were or became uncertain as to the needs and interests of the readers whom they hoped to attract. Although Constable originally intended to concentrate upon fiction and history, when the time came to announce his Miscellany he promised some attention to "useful learning." The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge boasted that its list would be unified by a common purpose — useful instruction, but in point of fact the Society misjudged its audience. The treatises were so abstruse, technical, and utilitarian that, despite the low price of sixpence a part, the Society was obliged to add a new series, a Library

of Entertaining Knowledge, priced at two shillings. Although Dr. Lardner had achieved fame as an author of scientific works — and notoriety for his part in a triangular love-affair which led to a trial and to his exile — he restricted natural history and natural philosophy to less than one-fourth of the titles in the Cabinet Cyclopedia and devoted one-half of them to history. The publishers, it would appear, were not sure of the purpose of these series. Were they to train the young man or to comfort the old man? Were they to encourage the poor ambitious man or to accommodate the busy man? Were they to be read by all ages and both sexes?

It was, therefore, audacious but perfectly logical of Colburn and Bentley to enter the race for new readers by driving up four abreast. The Athenaeum (July 24, 1830), vexed by what it regarded as unduly broad claims and pretensions on the part of publishers, summarized the situation as follows: "Great must be the rewards of learning, for many are the hands which are feeding and stuffing that great lubberly brat, the Public." The Athenaeum then characterised the leading series: Constable's Miscellany and Murray's Family Library supplied books on court, camp, and gallery; Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia ran to history and science; the Library of Useful Knowledge specialized in puddings and mousetraps; the Library of Entertaining Knowledge in ball and quoits; Valpy wooed with classical heathens "and finally, Colburn comes to the attack in four divisions, with his Library of General Knowledge — his Novelist's Library — his Library of Voyages and Travels — and his Library of Juvenile Knowledge." The Colburn and Bentley project undoubtedly was pretentious, and it was beyond the powers of the firm to fulfill it; yet the plan recognized the diversity in the so-called reading public.

But Colburn and Bentley were late in making their entry. It was not until 1830 that Bentley began negotiating with G.R.Gleig, the Scotch divine and novelist, with respect to the editorship of a series to be called the National Library. His reasons for approaching Gleig are not clear although it may be noted that the editors of the already established series were Caledonians and that Gleig was or became a mainstay of Blackwood's Magazine in all departments. But Bentley's choice was not a happy one, for Gleig lacked wide acquaintance with writers, tactfulness in approaching prospective authors, and patience in handling manuscripts. He also lacked steadiness of temperament and was subject to undue optimism and despair.

At the outset Gleig was overconfident. He was sure that the series would succeed simply by following in the steps of Longman and Murray. In his first letter (February 5, 1830) Gleig reminded Bentley that

Dr. Lardner and Lockhart were getting £600 a year and a one-third share in the profits of the Cabinet Cyclopedia and the Family Library. Gleig will serve for a time for a share and £300 yearly but only on the understanding that the stipend is to increase to £600 on the "absolute success of the series." He also assumed that Bentley would follow Longman and Murray in another respect — namely, give adequate prices to all authors and large prices to men of "high name." Gleig closed the let ter with a veiled threat: if Bentley chose an editor who did not meet with Gleig's approval, he would not be associated with the series. He granted that Thomas Campbell, who must have been mentioned by Bentley as a possible editor, was both able and respectable "but not being of my own class I cannot serve under him." These terms proving acceptable to Bentley, Gleig laid down further ones in his next letter (February 10, 1830). He wanted "a good deal" of his own way in planning the work and selecting the subjects, and he begged Bentley "not to puff too much," for puffing would be distasteful to Scott, Southey, and others of their rank. Gleig then pointed out the likely advantages of the series to Bentley; it will extricate him from "various connections" and it will draw to him a better class of authors. Gleig was of course assuming that he could enlist the support of the very men who were already engaged by Bentley's competitors.

Within a month Gleig learned that it was not easy to capture the contributors he had in mind. His confidence somewhat shaken, he wrote to Bentley (March 7, 1830) that Scott and Southey had already pledged themselves elsewhere and that "almost all the great names are engaged. We were too late of coming to our determination." He had not, however, given up hope, and during the next two months he and Bentley went forward with their plans. It appears that Bentley made most of the suggestions. He drew up a list of titles which included a History of Architecture, a History of the Moors, Specimens of the Wits, a Life of Sheridan, and the Rise and Progress of Medicine. And it was he who secured the services of Gifford and Maginn.

The National Library was launched August 25, 1830, with Galt's Life of Byron, and it was ill-fated from the outset. The choice of the initial volume was Bentley's. Gleig was uncertain about the wisdom of it and suggested delay. As late as July 7 he was anxious about Galt's "bad taste" and "questionable philosophy", and he had revised the text so much that he recommended that the copy should not be shown to Galt. In his next letter (July 26) Gleig was decidedly apprehensive: proofs had not been sent to him, and he asked for assurance that printing would not proceed until every sheet had been revised by him. He urged, "Let us send out our first free of bad taste or dubious

morals." It was then proposed that the book be issued with an avowal that it contained opinions disapproved by the editor of the National Library, but Gleig flatly rejected the suggestion. He declared that this would be a ruinous way to begin the series and that it would not protect him from censure. Gleig closed with this ultimatum: The Life of Byron must be published with the editor's revisions, or he would withdraw from the National Library and make a public announcement of his action.[4]

Bentley apparently was determined to publish Galt's book, probably because the appearance of Moore's Life of Byron had created a fresh interest in the subject. Galt's Life was savagely attacked by the Athenaeum (September 4, 1830) which seized upon the book in its campaign against puffing. The reviewer had been provoked by the advance assurance of the greatness of Galt's forthcoming book and by the "customary sweet, reluctant, amorous delays" in the publication of it. Actually, said the reviewer, there was nothing in Galt's Life of Byron that had not already been said by Dallas, Moore, and Hunt. Galt's prose style was mercilessly ridiculed, his sentences being compared to the cage on Waterloo Bridge which contained a "cat, bird, mouse, rat, dog, and monkey — all living together". The Athenaeum concluded its notice with the prophetic opinion that the National Library would be a failure.

The second book in the National Library, Gleig's History of the Bible was positively disastrous. Whereas Galt's book had been criticized for the way in which it was advertised, Gleig's was attacked as a book. The Athenaeum (October 16, 1830) spent four solid pages in exposing Gleig's inaccuracy, irresponsible speculation, and muddled organization. The reviewer found the book so faulty that at the end of the long article he had treated only ninety-three pages. He resumed the attack two weeks later only to give up in exhaustion and vexation. The Athenaeum notice (February 26, 1831) of the second volume of Gleig's History of the Bible was equally harsh and concluded: "The National Library was an abortive, rickety starveling from the first, and it is not to be regretted that this second dose of the Romance of Sacred History, will in all probability put an end to its miserable existence."

Most of the other books in the series met with a similar reception. G.P.R.James's History of Chivalry was denounced by the Athenaeum (December 25, 1830) as a shabby work made to order by a "name" who did not know history. Horace Smith's reputation for cleverness did not blind reviewers to the fact that his Festivals, Games and Amusements,

Ancient and Modern was a poorly organized compound of personal opinions and facts lifted from the Encyclopedia Britannica. Thomson's History of Chemistry and St. John's Lives of Celebrated Travellers were conceded to be workmanlike jobs; the latter, according to the Athenaeum (July 23, 1831), deserved to become "extensively popular." But this favorable turn came too late. The series was doomed, and with the publication of one additional book, Medwin's Conversations of Byron, the National Library came to a stop February 29, 1831, hardly more than a year after it had begun.

The decision to discontinue the series was made by Colburn who acted suddenly and without consulting his partner. Not only at the time but for years afterward Bentley resented the high-handed manner in which Colburn had laid down his verdict, and he strongly felt that the decision was unwise. But in view of the record of the sales of the National Library it is difficult to see how it could have been continued and how Bentley could have held out any hope for it. The summary shows a steady decrease in the numbers of copies printed and an increase in the number of copies which remained unsold. Galt's Life of Byron was printed in an edition of 8500 of which all but 164 were sold. Gleig's History of the Bible was reduced to 6000 but 1791 copies remained. The first volume of the History of Chemistry was also printed in an edition of 6000 of which 4054 did not sell. The printings of the Horace Smith and G.P.R.James books were cut to 4000 and 5000 respectively but only 2000 of each were sold. In sum, 55,750 copies of 13 volumes of the National Library were printed, and the column of remainders adds up to 21, 829 and carries the melancholy annotation "sold to Tegg 1/6 per vol."

There were several reasons for the failure of the National Library, one of them being the deficiencies of Gleig as editor. He simply lacked the experience and judgment of a Lockhart. The latter had a wide acquaintance among writers, and, belying his by-name the Scorpion, he was tactful and sympathetic in his relations with them.[5] Lockhart held guiding principles with respect to the nature and function of a cheap series. Thus the inclusion of numerous Lives, ranging from Alexander the Great to British Physicians, in the Family Library was the result of Lockhart's conviction that the most effective way of teaching history to the class of readers he sought was "throwing the materials of history into the ever attractive form of biography."[6] Lockhart also

had a working principle with respect to abridgements; he felt that they should "have as much as possible of the original manner of the old writers."[7] It was, then, no accident that Captain Head, in preparing the Life of Bruce for the Family Library, carefully kept the best of the explorer's descriptive passages.

Gleig's editorial policy seems to have been a negative one based upon caution alone. He sought the apparent but deceptive safety of broad treatments of large subjects. He opposed Bentley's wish to include a book on the French Revolution, and he instead commissioned a general survey of French History.[8] He lacked the courage and originality to accept or plan such books as Chambers' History of the '45 and Palgrave's History of England (Anglo-Saxon) which appeared in Constable's Miscellany and the Family Library. Gleig's excessive caution was a special handicap because the National Library was late in entering the competition for readers. The writers of reputation were already engaged and the obvious subjects were taken by other series. Gleig's negotiation with Carlyle will illustrate both his hesitancy to entrust an assignment to a nameless writer and the danger of duplicating a book in a competing series. Gleig decided against Carlyle for two reasons: his price of £300 was decidedly too high for a man without a reputation, and a book on the subject he proposed — the history of the Reformation — was already in progress for another publisher. Some outright duplication was inevitable, but unfortunately for Bentley the National Library proved to be the inferior. For example, James's History of Chivalry fell far short of Henry Stebbings' book on the same subject in Constable's Miscellany, and Gleig's work on the Bible was as nothing compared with Milman's History of the Jews in the Family Library.

The history of the Juvenile Library was even more dismal than that of the National. It began bravely enough on April 30, 1830, when Colburn and Bentley signed an agreement with William Jerdan as editor of the series. The first clause contained the usual preliminary matter: Jerdan was to edit, revise, and prepare; he was to obtain the

best writers on the most reasonable terms. The financial arrangements were sufficiently optimistic: Jerdan's annual stipend was to be £300 so long as one number was published each month, but if additional titles were issued Jerdan was to have a further £25 for each. In the event that every title reached a monthly sale of 5000 and continued to sell that number, Jerdan was to receive a bonus of £50. And in a final burst of optimism Colburn and Bentley promised a further bonus of £50 for every increase of 1000 copies in the monthly sale of all titles. The agreement concludes with a sobering clause to the effect that the Juvenile Library was to be continued only so long as it was advantageous to Colburn and Bentley.[9] Thanks to his experience as editor of the Literary Gazette and as founder of the Royal Society of Literature Jerdan was able to assemble an imposing if heterogeneous list of subjects and writers which, in a statement drawn up at the time the Juvenile was abandoned, reads as follows:                                      

Children of Israel	Dr. Wait	done, paid for by W.J. besides a further advance
Contrasts	Miss Jewsbury	in progress
Ireland	C. Croker	in progress nearly complete
Scotland	Chambers	" " " "
Turkey	W.H. Smith	" " " "
Reformation	Tytler	hardly begun
Lives of the Poets	L.E.L.	half vol. done
Greeks	Rev. Mr. Lander	Ms on hand
Renowned Knights	Trueba	" " "
Illustrations of Seven Sages	-----	" " "
Celebrated Commanders	James	" " "
Missionaries	Perkin [?]	" " "
History of Birds	Mrs. Hall	doing but stopped
England	Mrs. Thomson-	part in my hands
Botany	Dr. A.T. Thomson	small progress if any
Circumnavigators	Captain Beecher	" " " "
Chemistry	Atkins	Ms in hand
Dress	Planche	considerable progress
Roman Emperors	Capt. Williams	progress but not very far he being ill

On the face of it Jerdan's selection of authors was safe, for he took

the easy course of engaging writers who had contributed to other serial works. Thus P.F. Tytler, highly regarded by Sir Walter Scott, had written for both the Family Library and the Edinburgh Cabinet Library. Robert Chambers had contributed two volumes on the history of Scotland to Constable's Miscellany, and de Trueba had written two on Spanish subjects for the same series. Crofton Croker was the natural choice for a book on Ireland since his book on the legends of his native land had been included in the Family Library and had been translated by the brothers Grimm.

But only three numbers of the Juvenile Library were ever published: Lives of Remarkable Youths of Both Sexes by D.S. Williams and Don Telesforo de trueba y Cosio (June 28, 1830); Historic Anecdotes of France by Samuel Carter Hall (July 28, 1830); and Africa: Its History by Miss Webb (October 4, 1830). It would seem that the only purpose of the series was to provide matter for some bright paragraphs in the Athenaeum (July 17, 1830). That journal reported a rumor to the effect that Colburn and Bentley had wanted to use the title Juvenile Family Library but that in consequence of Jerdan's refusal to sanction such filching from Murray "the Burlington Street work was therefore not permitted to continue in the Family way before it was delivered." The Athenaeum found the first two numbers to be "hasty, pretending, ill-written, dull" abridgements, and it declared; "we do not know how the young of both sexes could be better employed, for the improvement of their minds, than in correcting sentences in the first volume of the Juvenile Library."[10] As a result of this harsh but deserved attack Jerdan delayed the publication of the third volume for two months in order to revise the manuscript. The Athenaeum (October 23, 1830) recognized the improvement with the begrudging admission that Africa was "in a less pretending style than that of its melancholy predecessors, and may be endured by those who are curious to see Africa in a nutshell. . . . The Gentleman, who advertised to jump into a quart bottle, for his own benefit, has found a dangerous rival in this gentle historian." The Athenaeum concluded by alluding to rumored hostilities between Jerdan and his publishers and suggested "that it is not very improbable but that this juvenile expedition to the Timbuctoo of knowledge may utterly perish in Africa!"

The Athenaeum was right on all counts. The Juvenile Library was a flat failure, and one of the reasons was the haste with which the books

were produced. How hastily was vividly recalled by Samuel Carter Hall who related how Jerdan, in a state of harassed apprehension, came to him on the ninth day of a month and explained that a History of France promised for the first day of the next month was not forthcoming. Jerdan declared that it was a case of producing the book or closing the series, and he asked Hall to undertake the task. Agreeing to do so, Hall spent one day surrounding himself with a hundred books on France. He then had a eighteen days in which to produce a book of four hundred pages. During one stretch of twelve days he never went to bed, and the result was a brain-fever and a wretched book. Hall naively concluded:" It is somewhat strange that Jerdan in his Autobiography has made no mention of this series or of his engagement with Colburn and Bentley as its editor."[11]

The Athenaeum's suspicion that bad feelings had developed between Jerdan and his publishers is borne out by the summary of the Juvenile Library quoted above. It is in Ollier's hand and carries a discreet annotation to the effect that it was dictated by Jerdan who carried away a duplicate copy. In other words, a quarrel had broken out between editor and publisher. They were no longer on speaking terms, and Jerdan had described his defeat to Ollier, general handy man in New Burlington Street. There was, of course, another possible reason for the failure of the Juvenile. Perhaps Gleig was right in warning Bentley, in a letter of July 2, 1830, of the danger of running "two coaches in opposition from the same house." In theory the two series were designed for different readers, but in fact they may have duplicated each other.

The next to the last word on the Juvenile Library is supplied by a slip of paper which reads as follows:

                   

		Juvenile
Jerdan editing	£125	sale no. 1	3300
copyrights	400	" " 2	2000
advertising	500	" " 3	1300
			----
illustration	250		6600 £875
binding	180	stock	3600 £160
			---
printing	180		£1035
paper	300	Loss	£900

The last word on the subject is to be found in some papers relating to the final settlement between the partners. For years Colburn repeatedly insisted that Bentley should be charged with three of the never

published Juveniles: Mrs. Lee's Africa £50; Mr. Lander's Grecian Biography £75; Dr. Wait's History of the Jews £75. In an undated memorandum Bentley stoutly asserted that he would not allow this claim. Clearly he did not wish to hear about the Juvenile Library, let alone pay £200 on it.[12]

It should be remarked, however, that if the National and Juvenile libraries were hopeless failures, the series of some other publishers were something less than successful. The march of intellect was noisy and showy, but the numerous series did not exactly prosper. The best of them, John Murray's Family Library, lasted for only five years. In 1834 the entire stock of 100,000 copies was remaindered to Tegg at one shilling each. The fact that Tegg disposed of them all at 3/6 should not be construed to mean that the problem was simply a matter of Murray's price, six shillings, having been too high. If price had been the decisive factor, Charles Knight's Book Club For All Readers should have been a complete success for he gave three hundred pages for one shilling. Yet of the 186 volumes that he published not twenty reached a sale of ten thousand and the average was 5,000.[13] The real reason for Knight's disappointment was the fact that he included only six works of fiction. The lack of novels and romances was probably one cause of the very moderate success of the series in general. As early as 1816 on the first page of The Statesman's Manual Coleridge asserted that the "reading public"—which, he wryly said, was "as strange a phrase, methinks, as ever forced a splenetic smile on the staid countenance of meditation" — "dieted at the two public ordinaries of literature, the circulating libraries and the periodical press." Coleridge's opinion is borne out by the records of what people were actually reading. The preference for fiction comes out in the analysis of the books in the libraries established by the working men of Nottingham: history 65 volumes; biography 80; voyages, travel, and topography 57; poetry, plays, and essays 57; natural philosophy and science 38; novels, romances, and tales 647.[14] The demand for fiction is even more strongly shown in the figures on the holdings of ten circulating libraries patronized by the lower classes in Westminster.[15]

                         

	Number	Percentage
Novels by Walter Scott and novels in imitation of him; Galt, etc.	166	7.57
Novels by Hook, Bulwer, etc.	41	1.87
Novels by Marryat, Cooper, Washington Irving	115	5.24
Voyages, travels, history, biography	136	6.21
Novels by Miss Edgeworth, moral and religious novels	49	2.27
Novels of good character, Dr. Johnson, Goldsmith, etc.	27	1.23
Romances, Castle of Otranto, etc.	76	3.46
Fashionable novels, well-known	439	20.
Novels of lowest character, being chiefly imitations of fashionable novels, containing no good although probably nothing decidedly bad	1008	46.
Miscellaneous old books, Newgate Calendar, etc.	86	3.92
Lord Byron's works, Smollet's, Fielding's, Gil Blas etc.	39	1.78
Books decidedly bad	10	.45

In sum, upwards of eighty-five per cent of the books in these libraries were fiction, and it would appear that Constable, in his original scheme for his Miscellany, was right in planning to issue the books in pairs— that is, every alternate number was to be a novel. But his plan was frustrated, and no other publisher took advantage of the public demand for fiction until Colburn and Bentley launched their Standard Novels.

In view of the foregoing statistics it is not surprising that the story of the Standard Novels was quite different from that of the two preceding series. Not only was there a demand for fiction, but, since the Standard Novels were reprints, the risk of judging manuscripts was evaded and the venture was essentially one of marketing. The launching of this series, then, was not quite so brave and reckless as Sir Michael Sadleir suggests.[16] But it was important in the history of the firm, for the losses incurred by the other series had strained the financial resources of the partnership. The Standard Novels was a success from the outset. Begun with Cooper's The Pilot on February 25, 1831, it flourished for over twenty years and finally included 126 volumes. The last one, interestingly enough, was also a Cooper novel, Wyandotte (December, 1854).

The Standard Novels was first thought of by one John Burke with whom Colburn and Bentley signed an agreement (April 5, 1830) by which Burke was to receive £100 as a premium and £50 yearly for the

life of the series in return for the idea of the work and for his assistance in superintending the printing, suggesting subjects for embellishments, and forwarding the engravings. A few months later (September 17, 1830) Burke relinquished all interest in the series in consideration of a cash payment of £150.[17] The original idea, then, came from Burke though the successful execution of it was Bentley's.

But it is unlikely that the idea was wholly original with Burke, for the emphasis upon embellishments and engraving in the agreement cited above strongly suggests that he had in mind Cadell's Waverley Novels, begun June 1, 1829. Steel engraved frontispieces were a feature of this very successful series. Add to it the other marks of Cadell's Waverley— cloth binding, regular monthly issue, the low price of five shillings— and the result is the idea which John Burke sold to Colburn and Bentley for £250. In short, Sir Walter Scott, whose influence is everywhere in the history of the nineteenth century fiction, was responsible not only for the three-volume novel priced at 31/6 but for the inexpensive one-volume reprint as well.

When Colburn and Bentley came to announce the Standard Novels, they freely acknowledged — or rather proclaimed — the similarity of their series to Cadell's edition of Scott. It was good business to do so. Their first advertisement read: "Standard Novels— A Companion to the Waverley Novels." And shortly afterwards Colburn and Bentley announced that in order to make the Standard Novels "still more worthy of companionship with the Waverley Novels" and in order to include novels of "nearly every age" they had purchased the copyright of Ballantyne's Novelists' Library with the "copious Biographical and Critical Memoirs" of Sir Walter Scott prefixed to each. But they were soon informed by Scott's executors that Tegg, whom they had paid £105, had no right to sell the copyright of Scott.[18] So strong was Scott's influence that when Bentley discovered that he could not use the Memoirs he decided against reprinting any of the eighteenth-century novels in the Ballantyne collection. Thus he was deflected from his original intention of making the Standard novels a repository of classic novels and romances, and he was compelled to concentrate upon recent fiction. As Sir Michael Sadleir has pointed out, this emphasis, as it turned out, became one of the distinctive attractions of the series.

Another special feature of the Standard Novels accidentally arose from the fact that Bentley launched the series with an American work. Indeed, three of the first numbers were novels by Cooper. Now in order to secure an English copyright to these Bentley had to get from Cooper

alterations in the text or additional matter in the way of prefaces and notes. And having been compelled to do this for one writer, he made it a working principle for many others especially during the first ten years of the series. Thus sixty of the titles, according to Sir Michael Sadleir's reckoning, are something more than plain reprints, and they have a special value to students of literary texts. "This was intelligent publishing," Sir Michael writes, "and it so worked out as to justify the Standard Novel Series in the important claim that many of the texts therein included were the texts finally approved by their authors, or at least provided with prefaces in which the author's mature judgment was passed on early work of his or her own."[19] It may be, however, that a scrutiny of the texts would result in some modification of this claim. The files reveal evidence to suggest that some of the revision was very superficial through no fault of Bentley himself. For example, when the publisher invited Horatio Smith to revise his Involuntary Prophet for the Standard Novels, Smith replied than he had carefully read the tale but found "nothing to correct — except two trifling errors in the Press."[20] And in some instances Bentley's claims for the "additional matter" were much too pretentious. Corinne, newly translated for the series, was prefaced by a fifty-page memoir of Madame de Staël supposedly written by the unnamed editor of the Standard Novels who acknowledged his indebtedness to Mrs. Child's Life of Madame de Staël, Madame Junot's Memoirs, and Lord Byron's notes to the fourth canto of Childe Harold. The Athenaeum (February 2, 1833), which from the outset was very favorable to the Standard Novels, promptly exposed the preface as being a word-for-word reprint of Mrs. Child's American book except for some "absurd omissions, curtailings, and dovetailings." The editorial acknowledgement, the Athenaeum declared, was a mere blind: there was only one quotation from Madame Junot and one from Byron.

Granting this reservation, it is still true that the Standard Novels, together with its successors the Favorite and the Popular Novels, raises many interesting textual problems. For example, Susan Ferrier's Marriage, written 1810, was much altered in 1841 for the Standard Novels. Other publishers issued mutilated amended versions in 1856 and 1878, and finally in 1881-82 Bentley published a definitive text of it and the other Ferrier novels. Another textual problem may be seen in the three versions of Whitehead's Richard Savage — the serialization in Bentley's Miscellany, the three-decker forms, and the single-volume edition in the Standard Library. Reprinting in the series not only

invited compression of a text but it permitted alteration of a tragic ending to a happy one and even complete rewriting of a novel. Trollope, it is interesting to note, did not wish to avail himself of these opportunities. He had removed sixty pages from The Three Clerks for the five shilling edition but when Bentley invited him to reduce it by a further one hundred pages for the Standard Novels (1860) Trollope declined on the ground that it was too much trouble. He admitted, however, that there was an episode of some forty pages that could be removed.[21] Although these problems have not been closely examined, it is obvious that the rewriting and revision of novels did not begin with George Moore and Henry James.

To summarize Sir Michael Sadleir's description of the attractions of the Standard Novels: it offered a contemporary or recent novel, often in a specially prepared text, complete in one volume in an attractive format for six shillings. Since in Cadell's edition of Scott a novel ran to two volumes, Bentley could rightly assert that no publisher of fiction had ever tendered such value. The Press was quick to applaud. From the first the Athenaeum took the Standard Novels under its "special patronage", and it later (April 7, 1832) announced that "every successive volume of this work is a fresh claim on the public." With the publication of the complete novels of Jane Austen in five "neat and elegant volumes", the Standard Novels, said the Athenaeum, had fulfilled its promise. The following authors, with the number of their novels, will indicate the scope of the series: Jane Austen (6), Bulwer (3), Cooper (21), Edgeworth (1), Ferrier (3), Godwin (3), Gore (4), Hook (6), G.P.R. James (5), Manzoni (1), Marryat (11), Maxwell (4), Peacock (4), and Mrs. Trollope (2). The prosperity of the series in the early years is indicated by the fact that twenty-two titles were issued during the first two years and also by the fact that the original price of six shillings was maintained through 1846. By 1845 the number had dropped to four and in November, 1847, the price was reduced to five shillings and two years later to 3/6.

The success of the Standard Novels comes out in the statistics compiled for the dissolution of the partnership of Colburn and Bentley August 31, 1832, as found in the appended chart.

It may be pointed out that the average payment for copyright was something over £40 and that the breakeven point was about 3300 copies. The three Cooper novels brought in a profit of £656, more than the total (£504) of the nine other novels. From the very outset Bentley

planned to include in the series novels which had originally appeared under the imprint of other publishers. He paid the family of Jane Austen £250 for the rights to the five novels which they controlled.[22] But when (September 7, 1831) he offered Baldwin and Craddock £400 for the reprint rights of four of Miss Edgeworth's books nothing came of the proposal. He vainly offered Blackwood £175 for the right to include The Provost, The Ayrshire Legatees, The Entail, Annals of the Parish, Sir Andrew Wylie, Cyril Thornton, Pen Owen, Tom Cringle's Log, Percy Mallory, and The Cruise of the Midge.[23] This last offer was undoubtedly too thrifty, but Bentley may have been remembering an earlier transaction on which the loss had been heavy. This occurred in 1831 when the partners paid Longman's £700 for the novels and romances of Jane and Maria Porter, and after six had been issued in the Standard Novels the deficit amounted to £230. The information is too fragmentary to enable one to say exactly how far Bentley's own authors profited from the Standard Novels. John Banim received £50 for a reprint edition. The agreement for Helen, the only one of Maria Edgeworth's novels to come from New Burlington Street, was as follows: £800 for the first edition; £200 additional upon a sale of 2900 copies; and a further £100 for inclusion in the Standard Library.[24] Marryat demanded £150 for the reprinting of Kings' Own and Newton Forster in Standard Novels for a period of only three years. But since J.G. Lockhart, who acted as agent for Maria Edgeworth, clearly thought that the terms for Helen were generous and since Marryat was an exceptionally shrewd bargainer, it may well be that these last examples are not representative. However that may be, payment for inclusion in the Standard Novels, together with the reputation of the series, must have been one of the attractions of the House of Bentley.

Notes