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There is a curious lack of agreement among Goldsmith's biographers, editors, and bibliographers concerning the form in which his Life of Bolingbroke first appeared. In the Percy Memoir we are told that Goldsmith wrote "the Life of Lord Bolingbroke, which he prefixed to the Dissertation on Parties, which was printed by T. Davies in 1771."[1] Cunningham in his edition of Goldsmith says that the work "was prefixed to an edition of the . . . Dissertation on Parties published by Davies in 1770. It also appeared the same year as a separate publication . . ."; and this account is followed by later nineteenth-century writers.[2] Goldsmith's twentieth-century bibliographers say, however, that although the Life was intended to be prefixed to an edition of Bolingbroke's Dissertation upon Parties, it was first published as a separate pamphlet on 19 December 1770 and did not appear with the Dissertation until 1775. The only edition described by Williams and by Scott in their bibliographies is the separate Life of 1770.[3]

The history of the publication of the Life is easily traced in the newspapers. In the General Evening Post for 8-10 November 1770 Davies advertises: "The 22d inst. will be published, A NEW EDITION (being the TENTH) of A DISSERTATION upon PARTIES . . . . To this edition is added the Life of the Author." The next advertisement I have seen, in the Gazetteer for Thursday, 29 November 1770, shows that the publication had been delayed and the designation of the edition altered and also that the Life was to appear separately: "Saturday next will be published, . . . A New Edition, being the Ninth, of A DISSERTATION upon PARTIES . . . . To which is prefixed, The Life of the Author. Printed for T. Davies . . . . Where may be had The Life of Lord Bolingbroke, price 1s. 6d." This advertisement is repeated in the Gazetteer for 30 November with "Tomorrow will be published"; and the Dissertation is advertised (without mention

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of the separate Life) as published "This day" in the London Evening Post for 29 November-1 December. The separate Life is advertised as published "This day" in the London Evening Post for 1-4 December.

Since apparently no recent student of Goldsmith has seen a copy of the ninth edition of A Dissertation upon Parties, I give a description of it.

A / DISSERTATION / UPON / PARTIES: / In Several Letters to / CALEB D'ANVERS, Esq; / Written by the / Right Honourable Henry St. John, / late Lord Viscount Bolingbroke. / To which is prefixed, / The LIFE of the Author. / [rule] / THE NINTH EDITION. / [rule] / [type ornament] / [double rule] / LONDON: / Printed for T. Davies, in Russel-street, Covent-Garden. / [quarter rule] / M.DCC. LXXI.

Collation: 8°, A 2 a-c8 d4 B-G8 H8 (±H7) I1; 2B-X8 Y1 [$4 (—d3,4) signed], pp. [4] iii iv-lv lvi [2] 1 2-113 114; 2 1 2-316 317-322.

Contents: A1 blank, A1v books printed for Davies, A2 title, A2v blank, pp. iii-lv dedication to Walpole by Bolingbroke, p. lvi blank, d4 half-title: THE LIFE OF . . . BOLINGBROKE, d4v blank, pp. 1-113 text of Life, p. 114 blank, pp. 21-316 text of Dissertation, pp. 317-322 index.

Press figures (listed for Life of Bolingbroke only): 43-4, 52-4, 84-6.

Copies examined: Cambridge University Library; Forster Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum; University of London.

Notes: In the Forster copy the folding of A2 is reversed. In the University of London copy the half-title for the Life (d4) and the text of the Life appear immediately after A2 and before Bolingbroke's long dedication. Although this arrangement would seem to be more convenient for the reader, the catch-words on pp. lv and 113 show that it was not the order intended by the printer.

With this description may be compared that of the separate Life.

THE / LIFE / OF / HENRY St. JOHN, / LORD VISCOUNT / BOLINGBROKE. / [type ornament] / LONDON: / Printed for T. DAVIES, in Russel-Street, / Covent-Garden. 1770.

Collation: 8°, A1 B-G8 H8 (±H7) I1 [$4 signed], pp. [2] 1 2-113 114.

Contents: A1 title, A1v blank, pp. 1-113 text of Life, p. 114 books printed for Davies.

Press figures: 43-4, 52-4, 84-6.

Copies examined: British Museum (2 copies), Cambridge University Library, University of Chicago.

As is suggested by the descriptions and confirmed by examination, sheets B-H in the two publications were printed from the same setting of type; and since the press figures are the same and there is the same cancel, these sheets were no doubt continuously impressed. Leaf I1 is of different impressions for the two publications: I1r has a catch-word in the Dissertation and

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FINIS in the separate Life; and I1v is blank in the Dissertation, while in the Life it has the advertisement which in the Dissertation appears as A1v. Only the title of the separate Life is from a new setting.

From this study the following conclusions may be drawn: (1) the Life was apparently first published on 1 December 1770 in the ninth edition of A Dissertation upon Parties, dated 1771; (2) the separate Life probably was published a few days later, on 4 December;[4] (3) the two publications of the Life may best be described as different issues not only of the same edition but also—for almost all the work—of the same impression.