The First Editions of The Good Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer
by
William B. Todd
IN THIS STUDY I ATTEMPT TO DISTINGUISH, AS SIMPLY as the complexities will allow, the
several variants of Goldsmith's two plays.[1] Such an account necessarily includes an array of points not only in the
impressions commonly regarded as of the original octavo edition but in every subsequent
impression, each of which, whether labelled the "second" or the "fifth," is also part of the
first edition. From this wider perspective it will be seen that previous surveys have too
often mistaken the exception for the rule (an error which, of course, makes every normal copy
another exception), overlooked a number of concealed "editions" (i.e., impressions), asserted
as the proper sequence of variants one running contrary to the evident order of
impressions,[2] and inferred from
all this as quite "haphazard" a combination of sheets which proves to be entirely regular. To
each sequence there are indeed some few exceptions, but these
may now be
dismissed as the mixtures occasionally resulting either from the rapid succession of issues at
the time of printing or from intrusions of much later date. Whatever the occasion, they are,
at best, merely aberrations from the normal order and thus, in any representative account, of
no significance.
The Good Natur'd Man
Within a year of its publication in 1768 Goldsmith's first play ran through five
impressions, two of which are unlabelled, two called a "New Edition," and one described, not
inappropriately, as a "Fifth Edition." The first was announced in the Public
Advertiser on Friday 5 February and another promised in the same paper on the following
Tuesday.
The first large impression of the new comedy of the Good Natured Man, written by
Dr. Goldsmith, being sold off on Saturday last, a new edition will be published this
afternoon at three o'clock; when those ladies and gentlemen that were then disappointed of
their books may be supplied by W. Griffin, in Catherine Street in the Strand.
Since the
reference here is specifically to a "new edition" I presume that the one offered at 3 p.m. was
the earliest printing so distinguished on its title, or the third impression in this sequence.
If so, the second, undesignated impression must have been prepared as a supplement to the
"large impression" and may therefore have appeared on Saturday, the day after publication.
That it was so designed is evident from its construction, representing for five gatherings
(A-C, I-K) an overprint of the first run through the press, for one (L) a mixture of states
identical with those in the original printing, and for the remaining five (D-H) a new
impression from standing type. Only in this last section are there any signs of reprinting,
evident here both in the press figures and in textual corrections.
[3]
Following its notice of the one "New Edition" the Advertiser has no
other reference until the 22d of February, when it lists another "New Edition, being the
fourth" or, in our terminology, the fourth in the series of impression. Both of these "New"
and the later "Fifth Edition" were reimpressed throughout and contain numerous revisions.
Through all impressions the most extensive revision occurs in the
final
gathering L
2. Here there are two series of alterations, one affecting
the first two immediately related impressions, the other the last and separate three. In the
one sequence the compositor juggles a note which Goldsmith belatedly supplied for the epilogue
on page [75], appending it first at the bottom of the page (state
b),
then—to justify the register—transposing it with the last four lines of verse to
the top of the next page (state
c), and finally—to realign the
note with its reference—returning it to [75] and displacing four more lines of verse to
the next page (state
d). Since with the exception of
b all of these shifts involve both sides of the final leaf, it is obvious that, with
the same exception, none of these alterations were made at press. Otherwise, in half-sheet
imposition, the perfection of sheets on the same forme would produce here (as in the other
play) a combination of two unrelated states.
After settling the troublesome note, the compositor provided for the later impressions a
second setting (B) to replace some other matter that had previously occupied the available
space in chase L. For the imposition of quarters in octavo the customary layout, as described
by Stower,[4] is in parallel ranges
or, in this circumstance: When the sheets are perfected end to end, according to normal procedure, the letter of one setting is
always kept apart from the other. For the third impression, however, this sheet apparently was
perfected side to side, a maneuver which can be permitted only when, as
in this case, the letter is in duplicate. Resulting from this are two further alterations in
the gathering, one with the outer "forme" of A perfected upon the inner of B:
state e A73 B74 B75 A76
the other with the outer of B perfected upon the inner of A:
state f B73 A74 A75 B76
Both of these occur, I believe, only in the third (or first "New") impression.
In the last two impressions each of these settings was imposed separately, B alone,
apparently, being used for the fourth (state g) and A
alone for the fifth (state
h). In each of these the final line of the
epilogue, previously reading
And view with favour, the Good-natur'd Man.
is altered to read
And be each critick the Good-natur'd Man.
She Stoops to Conquer
Within a year of its publication in 1773 Goldsmith's last play ran through six impressions,
two of which, as in the other performance, are unlabelled, the next called either the "Second"
or "Third," the one following not improperly termed the "Fourth Edition," and the fifth and
sixth both described as a "Fifth Edition." On Tuesday 23 March the London
Evening-Post promised the first edition "On Thursday next," a notice confirmed the next
day in the Daily Advertiser, which indicated that it would be ready
"Tomorrow, at Four o'Clock." Very probably, then, the original issue was on the 25th, one day
earlier than that usually assigned. From 27 March through 13 May there are many other
advertisements, but as these invariably report "New Editions" they are of little use in
determining the chronology of numbered impressions.[5]
All work on this play was divided between two shops. Gatherings A to K apparently were the
responsibility of William Griffin (the avowed printer of The Good Natur'd
Man), whose pressmen, as usual, identified themselves as 1, 2, and 3. In this section at
least two compositors may also be distinguished, the first setting gatherings A-D in 8.8 cm.
measure with headlines reading ":Or," the second setting E-K in 8.6 cm.
measure with headline ";Or,". Gatherings L-P were assigned to other, unidentified personnel
who printed without figures and set uniformly in 8.4 cm. measure with headline (in its second
state) reading ";OR".
Apart from the title, which exhibits several variants adequately described in the
accompanying Table, Griffin's section illustrates certain features requiring separate notice.
One phenomenon not as yet recorded in recent studies of press figures is the recurrence of
identical marks through numerous impressions.[6] In this section there are, at the
outset, three such
impressions, two of a different state throughout, and the third in process of further
correction. Each of these, it may be supposed, was successively printed from A to K and then
returned to the printer first assigned the job. Thus at three definite intervals Griffin's men
machined the same formes, no. 1 undertaking B, presumably, as well as F and K; no. 2 working
C, G, and H; and no. 3 working D, E, and I. Thereafter, as shown in the Table, other
combinations appear, some of which also persist through two or more impressions. Only
gatherings E and F, however, are machined by the same men through all six impressions.
Gathering I, though worked throughout by 3, is of a new setting in the last impression.
As the selected readings in the Table also indicate, Griffin had, besides his three
industrious pressmen, a very officious corrector who was especially adept in pointing the ha
ha ha's after every witticism. Once we find him so engaged in the third impression, when he
looked over the sheets from both shops, and once again in the fourth. While engaged upon this
great enterprise, however, he neglected to observe that on page 13 last line of the fourth
impression, the phrase hitherto reading
No offence; but question
had since been pied and the loose sorts hastily jammed in the forme to produce
No offenbu; ß&c.nv; tquesti on
This curious mishap, occurring perhaps when no. 2 withdrew his figure from the page at
the conclusion of the third impression, went unnoticed through all succeeding pulls of the
fourth and fifth before it was amended in the sixth.
Though Griffin managed to keep his own work under control, the cast off portion sent to the
other shop was soon mangled to a state almost beyond repair. Most of the trouble resulted, I
suspect, from Griffin's belated or ambigous instructions concerning headlines, signatures, and
page numbers.[7] At first all the
other printer had to go on, it would seem, was a provisional title and some vague remark to
the effect that the first shop was setting "up to the ninth gathering." This advice could be
variously interpreted either as an inclusive count starting
from B, the
first sheet of text (the sense intended by Griffin), or as an exclusive count starting from A,
the first sheet in the book (as understood by his collaborator). Proceeding from this mistaken
assumption, the other printer then calculated eight numbers to a half-sheet and arranged his
figures with the other data in an order beginning
| [page 1] |
|
|
A COMEDY. |
65 |
|
|
|
I |
| [pages 2|3] |
66 |
THE MISTAKES OF A NIGHT; | |
A COMEDY. |
67 |
|
|
|
I2 |
When a certain number of L in this state (and of M in the comparable state) had been
wrought off, the printer was informed that while the title he entered in the headline once had
been considered, it was now superseded by another.
[8] Moreover, he was advised, this run of signatures was "two
gatherings behind." If so, he reasoned, the figures must also be two gatherings or 16 numbers
behind, and all references were accordingly arranged as
|
THE MISTAKES OF A NIGHT. |
81 |
|
L |
| 82 |
SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER; OR | THE MISTAKES OF A NIGHT. |
83 |
|
L2 |
In this second state the printing of L and M was concluded and the invariant series
N-P impressed. Only then was it realized that the page numbers in the other section started
from B and therefore, in the example cited, should run 73, 74, 75. Thus one final alteration
was required and eventually entered, as a third state, in the full series L-P of the next
impression.
From the two earlier states it is now possible to determine the nature of the several
variants within L and M of the first impression. Since no copies appear entirely in the first
state but a certain number entirely in the second, it is evident that the correction was made
before the end of printing on white paper, a circumstance which, by half-sheet imposition,
produces three variants. In abbreviated form these may be identified and described as
|
|
Page and signature, first 2 rectos |
| Variant |
Type |
L gathering |
|
M gathering |
|
|
x outer in 1st state perfected |
upon inner in 2d |
65 I |
83 L2 |
73 K |
91 M2 |
|
y inner in 1st state perfected |
upon outer in 2d |
81 L |
67 I2 |
89 M |
75 K2 |
|
z both formes in 2d state |
|
81 L |
83 L2 |
89 M |
91 M2 |
From the constant association of comparable variants in L and M it would
also appear that these two signatures were imposed together, with the inner (or outer) forme
of each within the same chase and the two chases worked simultaneously. If the correction was
made about two-thirds of the way through white paper, the remainder then run off in the
corrected state, and the two heaps thereafter exchanged for the reiteration, the press working
the combined inner formes would turn out first a certain number of L-M sheets in variant
z and then twice as many in
x, and the press
working outer formes an equivalent number in
z and again twice as many
in
y. Though all totals would be doubled when the sheets were sected
for binding, there would still be, in this hypothesis, as in the copies I have examined, an
approximately equal number of each variant.
First Edition Impressions of The Good Natur'd Man
Note: An asterisk indicates that the reference is omitted in some, a
dash that it is omitted in all copies. Variant readings, if present, are cited whenever the
press figures do not sufficiently distinguish the impression.
| Sht: |
A |
|
|
B |
|
C |
|
D |
E |
|
|
| Imp |
'Ed' |
pf |
vii. 22 |
pf |
5.8 |
pf |
10.7 |
pf |
pf |
25.10 |
26.3 |
| 1 |
-- |
[v]-3 |
Crispin |
7-3* |
,and |
-- |
madam |
18-2 |
32-1* |
fortune- |
will; |
| 2 |
-- |
" |
" |
" |
" |
-- |
" |
24-3 |
32-1 |
" |
will. |
| 3 |
'New' |
-- |
Crispin, |
-- |
;and |
-- |
Madam |
-- |
-- |
" |
" |
| 4 |
'New' |
[v]-1 |
" |
5-1 |
" |
10-1 |
" |
20-2 |
-- |
fortune, |
" |
| 5 |
'Fifth' |
[v]-3 |
" |
7-1 |
" |
10-3 |
" |
20-1 |
29-3 |
" |
" |
|
F |
|
G |
|
H |
|
I |
|
K |
|
|
pf |
36.12 |
42.13 |
42.19 |
pf |
49.5 |
pf |
57.31 |
pf |
65.36 |
| 1 |
38-3 |
speak |
office; |
controle |
-- |
madam? |
61-3 |
dsepise |
72-1* |
air, |
| 2 |
38-1 |
spake |
" |
controul |
-- |
Madam? |
" |
" |
" |
" |
| 3 |
" |
spoke |
office? |
" |
-- |
" |
" |
despise |
-- |
air; |
| 4 |
38-2 |
" |
" |
" |
50-2 |
" |
61-2 |
" |
69-2 |
" |
| 5 |
-- |
" |
" |
" |
50-3 |
" |
-- |
" |
-- |
" |
Sheet L
Impressions 1-2 represent setting A in any one of the four states a-d:
| Page |
74 |
|
75 |
|
|
76 |
|
|
|
end |
c/w |
epilogue |
fn |
c/w |
epilogue |
fn |
end |
| a |
FINIS. |
-- |
34 lines
|
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
| b |
" |
-- |
" |
yes
|
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
| c |
-- |
EPI- |
30 lines
|
-- |
Since |
4 lines
|
yes
|
FINIS. |
| d |
-- |
" |
26 lines
|
yes
|
His |
8 lines
|
-- |
" |
Impression 3 represents combinations of settings A and B in either of the two states
e-f, impression 4 setting B in state g only,
impression 5 setting A in state h only.
| Forme: |
(o) |
|
(i) |
|
(o) |
|
|
73 |
sig. |
75 pf |
1st word |
76.8 |
Comment |
|
any. |
My |
|
last line |
|
|
| e |
L |
|
-- |
of |
And view |
(o) set A, (i) set B |
| f |
|
L |
1 |
the |
And view |
(o) set B, (i) set A |
| g |
|
L |
-- |
of |
And be |
(o-i) set B, revised |
| h |
L |
|
3* |
the |
And be |
(o-i) set A, revised |
First Edition Impressions of She Stoops to Conquer
Note: An asterisk indicates that the reference is omitted in some, a
dash that it is omitted in all copies. Variant readings, if present, are cited whenever the
press figures do not sufficiently distinguish the impression.
| Differences in collation |
| 1. |
A4 |
B-O4 |
P1 |
No half-title. |
Craddock epilogue in preliminary gathering. |
| 2-6. |
A4 |
B-O4 |
P2 |
With half-title. |
Craddock epilogue transferred to P2. |
| Differences in title. Impression |
1 |
|
|
2 |
| Variant |
a |
b |
c |
|
| Interval, lines 5-6 |
1.2 cm. |
.9 |
.9 |
.9 |
| Interval, lines 11 and imprint |
5.4 |
4.9 |
5.0 |
5.2 |
| As compared with lower, right end of upper rule extends to |
left |
no rules |
right |
parallel |
| Upper rule bent |
left end[1]
|
-- |
right |
straight |
| Right end imprint rule above[2]
|
I |
. |
. |
. |
| 'M' of date below |
E |
B |
B |
B |
| Price below date |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No[3]
|
| Facsimile[4]
|
Scott 1 |
|
Wise |
Scott 2 |
| Sht. |
A |
B |
|
C |
|
D |
|
E |
|
|
| Imp |
'Edition' |
pf |
8no.& head |
pf |
9 c/w |
pf |
24.17 |
pf |
26.6 |
27.11 |
| 1 |
[see above] |
-- |
8 . . . Or, |
13-2 |
Scene, |
21-3 |
(aside) |
28-3 |
ha,ha. them
|
them
|
| 2 |
[see above] |
-- |
-- -- |
" |
SCENE, |
" |
(Aside) |
" |
" |
them
|
| 3a |
'Second' |
-- |
-- -- |
" |
" |
" |
" |
E-M corrected at |
| 3b |
'Third' |
-- |
-- Or, |
" |
" |
" |
" |
E-M corrected at |
| 4 |
'Fourth' |
6-2 |
-- " |
13-1 |
" |
21-2 |
" |
" |
ha!ha! |
" |
| 5 |
'Fifth' |
" |
-- Or, |
" |
" |
" |
" |
" |
" |
" |
| 6 |
'Fifth' |
6-1 |
-- " |
15-1 |
SCENE |
21-1 |
" |
" |
" |
" |
|
F |
G |
|
H |
|
|
I |
|
|
K |
|
|
pf |
pf |
46 song |
pf |
55.23 |
56.13 |
pf |
57.10 |
63 |
pf |
65 |
| 1 |
40-1 |
45-2 |
[As prose, |
52-2* |
Ha,ha,ha. |
ha,ha. |
60-3 |
ha,ha. |
63 |
70-1 |
56 |
| 2 |
" |
" |
roman type] |
52-2 |
" |
" |
" |
" |
" |
" |
65 |
| 3 |
press, resulting in mixture of states represented before and after this
impression. |
| 4 |
" |
" |
[As verse, |
52-1 |
Ha!ha!ha! |
ha!ha! |
" |
ha!ha! |
" |
70-2 |
" |
| 5 |
" |
" |
in italics] |
52-2 |
" |
" |
" |
" |
" |
" |
" |
| 6 |
40-1* |
45-1* |
" |
52-1 |
" |
" |
58-3 |
Ha!ha! |
36 |
70-2 |
" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[reset] |
|
|
or-3 |
|
Note: In following section references are to pages as finally numbered in 2d
impression.
|
L |
|
|
M |
|
|
N |
O |
P |
|
73 |
75.17 |
79.17 |
81 |
85.3 |
87.4 |
89 |
97 |
105 |
| 1 |
[see text] |
man. |
Ha,ha,ha. |
[see text] |
heart. |
ha,ha,ha. |
97 |
105 |
113 |
| 2 |
73 |
man! |
" |
81 |
heart! |
" |
89 |
97 |
105 |
| 4 |
" |
" |
Ha!ha!ha! |
" |
" |
ha!ha!ha! |
" |
" |
" |
| 5-6: |
No variants observed. |
Copies Examined
Note: Several reported copies are listed below within
brackets.
-
The Good Natur'd Man. 1768
- 1a. MH (2 copies), NN (Berg), [NNP]
- 1b. CtY
- 1c. BM, CtY
- 1d. [NNP]
- 2a. BM, MH, [NNP]
- 2b. [BM (Ashley)], Bodl.
- 2c. None observed
- 2d. Bodl, CtY, [ICU], MH (2 copies), NN, [PP], [Friedman]
- 3e ('New Edition'). [Friedman], Todd
- 3f ('New Edition'). BM, Bodl, [ICU]
- 4g ('New Edition'). Bodl, CtY, MH, NN, [Friedman]
- 5h ('Fifth Edition'). BM, Bodl, CtY, MH (2 copies, 1 with title supplied from 1-2
impression), [Friedman]
-
She Stoops to Conquer. 1773
- lax. NN (Berg), [PP]
- lby. NN (Berg)
- lcx. MH (lacking leaf P1)
- lcy. MH, NN (Berg), TxU
- lcz. BM (Ashley: with M in variant y), CtY (2 copies, 1 with L
in 2d impression), MH, NN
- 2. BM, Bodl, CtY (2 copies), MH, NNP, [PP], TxU (with B in 4th impression)
- 3a. ('Second Edition'). Bodl (2 copies, 1 with B in 1st impression), CtY, NN,
[Friedman]
- 3b. ('Third Edition'). Bodl, MH, NNC
- 4 ('Fourth Edition'). Bodl (2 copies, 1 with D in earlier impression), [ICU], MH, NN,
[Friedman]
- 5 ('Fifth Edition'). BM, CtY, NNC
- 6 ('Fifth Edition'). Bodl, CtY, [ICU], MH, [Friedman]
Notes
