University of Virginia Library

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.

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 L2. 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:

the other with the outer of B perfected upon the inner of A: 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 is altered to read

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

had since been pied and the loose sorts hastily jammed in the forme to produce 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]

---

142




• 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