The Great Illustrated-Book Publisher: Merigot's
Rome (1796-98)
The first ambitious and illustrated work on which Richard Edwards's
name as publisher appeared was A Select Collection of Views and
Ruins in Rome and Its Vicinity Executed from Drawings Made Upon the
Spot in the Year 1791.[13] The
work was probably issued in fifteen parts each containing four plates and
a sheet of letterpress. The drawings appear to be by Vien, but most of the
commercial enterprise and labour were J. Merigot's who aquatinted and
published the plates. The first twelve engravings, dated 1 March 1796, bear
only Merigot's name as publisher, but after this brave start, enough for
three numbers, there was a seven-month pause. Probably Merigot, like
other ambitious engravers such as William Blake, had discovered that his
time, talent, and modest financial resources did not permit him to act
effectively as publisher at the same time that he was actively producing his
books for sale. To make the work commercially successful, he had
to bring in someone with capital and publishing experience, and Richard
Edwards, who apparently expected to publish the first part of Young's
Night Thoughts in June 1796 (the date on half the plates),
may
have been eager to participate in such an ambitious undertaking. The risk
to himself must have been comparatively slight, since Merigot was
providing designs and engravings, the raison d'être of the book, and
the chief additional expenses for a single part were for setting a sheet of
text and buying paper on which to print plates and text. Probably after the
Spring of 1796, Merigot provided the engraved copperplates for his
Views and Ruins in Rome and Richard Edwards (and later
others) paid for paper, setting the text, printing, paper covers, sewing,
labels, warehousing, advertising, and selling the work in parts—a
total
probably considerably less than Merigot's fair wages as an engraver.
Four more numbers, bearing the imprint on the plates of J. Merigot
& R. Edwards, were issued in October (No. 4-5), December 1796
(No.
6), and February 1797 (No. 7-9). Perhaps the titlepage to the first Part of
the work, dated 1797, appeared with No. 7.[14]
There was then a long hiatus of just over a year, during which
Edwards must have been busy with the Night Thoughts again.
His integral Advertisement to the Night Thoughts is dated 22
December 1796, and the rest of its plates with imprints after June 1796 are
dated in January, March, and June 1797. It was only after the first part of
the Night Thoughts was published in November 1797 that
work
seems to have begun again on Merigot's Rome.
There was a renewed burst of activity with Merigot's book in the
Winter and Spring of 1798; No. 8-10 were published in February, No.
11-13 in March, No. 14 in April, and No. 15, the last for Part I and
probably with its half-title, in June 1798.
On the completion of Part I of Merigot's Rome, with
its
sixty-two large, handsome plates, Richard Edwards's connection with the
work apparently terminated. Indeed, it may have finished a little before
then, for the undated engraved half-title, probably issued with No. 15, bears
the imprint only of J. Hearne, who has no other known connection with
Part I. By then Robinsons
and White, who with Richard and James Edwards had published the Part
I title-page dated 1797, were probably in control, perhaps having bought
Merigot's share in the work (on condition that Merigot continue to make
the aquatints at piece-rates). Richard Edwards may have divided his share
with his brother James, who also appears on the 1797 Part I titlepage.
When James Edwards went out of business about 1799, his share of
Merigot's book went to his successor R. H. Evans of Pall Mall, and that
of Richard went to James Edwards's old friend Faulder. The Part II
titlepage of [?June] 1799 thus bears the imprint of Robinsons and White (as
in the Part I 1797 title-page) and of Faulder and Evans (in place of Richard
and James Edwards). The new consortium obviously found the work
profitable, for it was repeatedly reprinted on paper watermarked 1806,
1815, 1818, and 1821-24 with various misleading undated titlepages, one
of which carried the name of Richard Edwards long after he had gone out
of business. Merigot's
Rome was regarded as a vendible asset
also in the Edwards family, for Thomas Edwards offered three copies in his
1815 catalogue, four in that of 1818, and four (including "the Original
Drawings") in that of 1826.
Richard Edwards's recorded connection with Merigot's book was
entirely creditable, and it is likely to have been profitable as well—at
least it must have been profitable to his successors, who reprinted it
repeatedly. It seems likely, therefore, that Richard Edwards's termination
of his part in the enterprise came about simply because he was leaving
business. His motives probably did not include dissatisfaction with his share
in Merigot's book. It may have been that Earl Spencer owed James
Edwards a favour for his part in the acquisition for Lord Spencer of County
Reviezki's library, and Richard Edwards profited from it.
