ii
The Supplement to the Gentleman's Magazine is the
thirteenth number of a yearly volume, and in the period with which this
paper is concerned it regularly consists of three main sections: (1) a
titlepage and preface to the volume for the year; (2) reports of
parliamentary debates and miscellaneous articles; and (3) indexes for the
volume of the magazine. The Supplement to GM for 1738
appears in two impressions. The following points discriminate them.
Impression A
- Titlepage of the volume, line 5 of col. b:
Deaths,
- Heading of p. 665: . . . / For the YEAR 1738. / [single rule] /
. . . / (Continued from page 632.) / . .
.
- Collation: last gathering is 4X
2
(—4X
2)
- Pagination: 681 numbered correctly
- RT: upper right serif of first letter, T, does not print
on pp. 666, 672, 680, 682, 684, 686, 688, 690, 696, 698
- "PF"[1]: 717-8
placed just after "Chess" of the line above
- CW: 712 Stella.
- Text, p. 672b, line 31: midddle
p. 684b, lines 27-28: Negotia-/tion
- Copies examined: IEN ICU2 OU OO TNG Mi
MoU
IaU
Impression B
- Titlepage of the volume, line 5 of col. b:
Deaths
- Heading of p. 665: . . . / For the YEAR 1738. / [no rule] /
. . . / (Continued from Page 32.) / . .
.
- Collation: last gathering is
4X
2
- Pagination: 681 misnumbered 645
- RT: upper right serif of T DOES print on pp. 684,
688, 690, 696, 698
- "PF": 717-8 placed closer to the number "384" than
to "Chess"
- CW: 712 Stella
- Text, p. 672b, line 31: middle
p. 684b, lines 27-28: Negotiati-/on
- Copies examined: WM InI OCI [variant:
4X
2
(—X2)]
A and B are two impressions, not two editions. This is indicated by
the straight-edge test, which shows a difference of greater than an en in
alignment of letters on only 7 pages. It is further indicated by an
examination of individual letters, which shows that even where the
alignment of letters in A and B differs, standing type has been used. On p.
672, for example, the straight-edge test shows a difference in alignment of
type in the top half of column a, and lines 4 and 5 are
divided
at different points in the texts of A and B.
A: upon / the Prolocutor's
B: upon the / Prolocutor's
But even where the difference is greatest, it is found that identical sorts
were used in both printings. In both A and B there is a nick in the left
ascender of U in "Upon" in line 6, in the upper horizontal of P in "Prince"
in line 9, and in the lower horizontal of C in "Consort" in line 10. The type
was rearranged, but it was not distributed and reset. Similarly, on p.
686
b a close examination shows that standing type was
used even
though lines 27-28 are divided at different points in A and B. Clear
indication of reset type appears on only two pages: p.
684
a-b and p.
688
b show not only variant alignment of letters, variant
line-divisions,
and variant spellings, but also variant sorts. The titlepage to the volume is
reimpressed from the same type as indicated by the same imperfections in
the letters: nicks in the right ascender of u in Volume, in the horizontal of
L in
SYLVANUS,
and in the right ascender of a in Cave. In 40 pages of text (I have not
checked the 21 pages of index), there are 11 substantive variants, the most
important one being on a page that is positively indicated by an inspection
of the sorts as a reimpressed, not a reset, page. On p.
700,
lines
10-11, Issue A reads: "Volumes printed in the same / Manner with the
Specimen annexed to the Proposals." Issue B reads: "Volumes printed on
a neat / Letter of the same Size with the Specimen annexed."
Impression A is prior to Impression B. This is proven by the variant
on p. 672b, where A reads "midddle", B "middle".
Testing the column
with a straight edge shows no difference in alignment of type in A and B.
Moreover, all copies of A and B exhibit the use of identical sorts: nicked
lower curve of P in "Pontiff" in line 2; nicked curve of P in "Place" in line
18; broken curve of f in "of" in line 25; broken ligature of ct in "erecting
(same line as midddle/middle); and broken left serif of w in "now" in line
6 from bottom. As the variant occurs in an otherwise undisturbed column
of type, the only plausible explanation for it is that "middle" is a correction
of the original "midddle".
A feature of particular literary interest in this number of
GM is that it contains the "Proposals for Anagrammata
Rediviva." Disguised as proposals for publishing a book by
subscription, this is in reality a key to the "Lilliputian" names used in the
parliamentary debates that GM was regularly printing in
evasion
of the law. B. B. Hoover speculates that Samuel Johnson (who began
writing for GM in 1738) may be the author of the spurious
"Proposals."[2] A short form of the
proposals appears on p. 700 in both A and B. The full form
appears only in B, pp. 719-720, leaf 4X2. Of
20
copies of A that I have seen, none contains 4X2. Of the 3
copies of B that I have seen, 2 contain 4X2, and 1 does not.
In
the only copy that I could examine for conjugacy (WM), 4X1
and 4X2 are conjugate. In both A and B,
4X1v
is indicated as the end of the planned printing unit by the finis
"The End of Vol. VIII." In the next year's volume of
GM (IX, 699), the proposals are referred to as having been
"inserted in the last Supplement."
