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Of the many romances which have been featured in the tabloids of the bibliophiles, perhaps the most enchanting is the tale of the "private" or—as otherwise described—the "trial" issues of Goldsmith's Deserted Village. One, or some, or all of these little duodecimos were especially printed before the first quarto, we are informed, either at the instance of Bishop Percy for presentation to the Countess of Northumberland or, according to the other hypothesis, at the request of a finicky author who wished to obtain several proofs for the purpose of tinkering with the punctuation.
For evidence as to the priority of these "issues," reference is usually made to a copy discovered in 1896, which presumes to be, according to a MS inscription on its title-page, "the first privately printed edition before the 4to. of May, 1770."[1] Whether this notation is attributable to an exacting scholar of the last century, or a wishful book collector, or a zealous auctioneer, no one knows. Yet it is generally accepted, and upon this inadmissable hearsay the first elaboration, concerning the gift to the Countess, then follows on the authority of a person who, at the time he offered his conjecture, had never seen a copy,[2] and the second, concerning the necessity for proofs, on the testimony of a critic who later retracted all that he had said.[3] Though these and other considerations have led a few scholars to deny both stories, their protests have not availed against the extravagant claims of Goldsmith's bibliographers or the raucous cries
Even if there were no retractions and no evidence to the contrary, both theories are incredible and readily disproved. Against the first, or "private issue" version is the fact that whereas Percy, in his recollection of an event thirty years in the past, listed the date of original issue as 1769,[5] all of the early "London" editions, duodecimo and quarto, are dated 1770.
If either of these false suppositions is accepted on the basis of what has been adduced, the way is open for the admission of any and all comers. Thus two undated editions "Printed for the Booksellers in Town and Country" can also be awarded precedence over the first quarto on the warrant of testimony quite similar to that previously mentioned, viz. (1) an inscription in a copy now at the University of Chicago reading "May 6. 1770"—twenty days before the publication of the quarto—and (2) in apparent confirmation, a note in a bookseller's catalogue that copies with this imprint represent "the excessively rare pirated edition made instantly on the success of the first [i.e., "private"] issue of the poem."[6] Here, as for the duodecimos, the ascription would seem to be indisputable. But again, as before, the witnesses are unreliable and easily refuted, in this instance, by a contemporary reference to the issuance of one of the "Booksellers" editions actually in 1784, fourteen years after the date alleged.[7]
With this date established, notwithstanding several "authorities," the priority of all editions in duodecimo format can be impugned; for all have the shoddy appearance of the many chapbooks produced at the time, all are closely related to the "Booksellers" variants, all include textual matter in the initial gathering (the usual sign of a later reprinting), and all were issued—as I shall endeavor to show—under circumstances quite different from those generally assigned.
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