University of Virginia Library

Bookseller, and Civil Servant

Richard Edwards, the last of the eight children of William Edwards, was born in Halifax near four o'clock in the morning of 16 March 1768 and baptised by Mr. Ralph at Northgate End Chapel, like the rest of his siblings, on 17 April.[1] He doubtless grew up near and in his father's bookshop, and by the time the name of the firm was expanded to William Edwards and Sons, Booksellers, early in 1780, when he was eleven, his career in the book trade was probably determined. Presumably he helped out in the shop, wrapping parcels and running errands, and he is likely to have worked in the Edwards of Halifax bindery as well.

It may have been about 1789, when he was twenty-one, that Richard Edwards came to London. It seems likely that the young man worked with his brother James at 102 Pall Mall for a time, to learn London ways and to meet London booksellers and bibliophiles. The imprint of Edwards & Sons, Pall Mall or Messrs Edwards, 102 Pall Mall on six publications of 1790-91[2] may imply that the two brothers were acting together as publishers then. It is clear at least that before the end of 1791 Richard "was placed by his father as a Bookseller in [142 New] Bond Street",[3] then as now a very fashionable milieu. His imprint from this address appears on books published from January 1792 through 1798, and he is listed here in Kent's Directory for 1795-97 and in Lowndes's Directory for 1799 but not in that of Kent for 1800. No contemporary reference to the shop by customer or competitor is known.

The best, indeed practically the only, indication of the stock which Richard Edwards offered in his shop is contained in the four-page list of "Books [which] may be had of R. EDWARDS, Bookseller, No. 142, BOND-STREET",

which was printed integrally with the first edition of De Coetlogon's Human Reason (1792). This also offered in general The forty unpriced works included books in French, Italian, Latin, and Greek, and illustrations of ruins, medals, birds, insects, and voyages.

Perhaps the most striking feature of Richard Edwards's shop-list is "the most elegant Variety of Bindings" in which the works are offered. Presumably many were bound for Richard Edwards, some of them perhaps in Edwards of Halifax style. Certainly he arranged to have books bound in the Edwards of Halifax style, for a set of the ten-volume Description of England and Wales (1770-75) and Young's Night Thoughts (Rivington, Longman, Dilly, Dodsley, Cadell, Otridge, 1787) were bound in Edwards of Halifax Etruscan calf with orange-grey tickets indicating that they were "Sold by / R. Edwards / —N. 142— / NEW BOND STR.t"[4]

This is an ambitious list for a young bookseller in his first year of independent business, but it is not at all in the same class as James Edwards's first Catalogue when he was opening his shop in 1785. And it appears to be the only catalogue of his shop which Richard Edwards ever issued.

On 22 January 1793, when he was twenty-four, "Mr. Edwards, of New Bond-street, [was married] to Miss Chapman, of Exton, co. Rutland." The fact that the ceremony was recorded in The Gentleman's Magazine (LXIII [Feb 1793], 184) among Marriages of Considerable Persons suggests that Richard Edwards was known then at least to the book world and to John Nichols, the editor of The Gentleman's Magazine, if not to the beau monde. No child from the marriage is known, and it seems likely that his wife died young, perhaps in late 1797 or early 1798.

Whatever the cause, Richard Edwards gave up publishing and bookselling some time after June 1798, the latest date in his imprints, when he was thirty. He became instead a civil servant, through the good offices of Earl Spencer, the First Lord of the Admiralty and perhaps the greatest book-collector of his day. Richard Edwards may well have had book dealings with Earl Spencer at 142 New Bond Street; it would be pleasant to think that his contact with Earl Spencer came when he sold him a splendid coloured copy of Young's Night Thoughts (1797)—and pleasanter yet to believe that James or Richard gave the book to Earl Spencer in gratitude for the appointment. It is more likely, however, that the appointment came through James Edwards, who had been crucially important in the formation of Earl Spencer's collection.[5]

Richard Edwards "relinquished business about 1799, on being presented by Earl Spencer to the appointment of Head Registrar of [the Vice Admiralty Court of] Minorca".[3] The island had been captured from Spain in November 1798; the order to the Judge of the High Court of Admiralty to prepare the

necessary patent for Richard Edwards is dated 1 April 1799; and he sailed for the Mediterranean in June.

According to this Patent, he was constituted

—probably his income was derived largely or entirely from Fees rather than from Salaries.

He may not have stayed very long or profitably in the island, for in a document dated 1 August 1799, presumably at Mahon, Minorca,

Thus the office of Registrar seems to have been farmed to Richard Edwards, who in turn entered into a share-cropping agreement with Don Pedro Ramis. The dates suggest that Edwards entered into the agreement almost as soon as he reached the island, and he may have left the island within weeks of his landing. At any rate, he can have profitted from the avails of his office for scarcely as long as three years, "till the surrender of that Settlement [on 14 June 1802 under the Peace of Amiens]. Unfortunately his residence in a tropical country brought on a liver complaint, from the effects of which he never recovered."[3] If, as the document above suggests, he was in Minorca only a few weeks, he must have contracted his tropical liver complaint very quickly indeed. When he returned to England, at least by mid-1802, he may well have been broken in health, though he lived another quarter century.

High Elms, from which Richard Edwards was married[8] and in which he lived for several years, was off the St Albans Road, just North of London, at Watford. The house was near St Albans—and it was probably there that his brother James about 1800 "began to enjoy the calm retirement of the country, in the neighbourhood of Old Verulam."[9] It must have been about this time that he inscribed "Richard Edwards High Elms" on the first drawing of each of the great folio volumes of Blake's watercolours to Young's Night Thoughts.

Richard Edwards had retired twice by the time he was thirty-five. He may have had a pension when he retired from government service in ill health, but he must have lived chiefly on his considerable personal fortune. He resided for a number of years at High Elms, but in his will of 12 August 1822 he described himself as "Richard Edwards late of High Elms in the county of Hertford but now residing in the City of Bath Esquire." His persistent liver complaint may have induced him to leave cool, damp England for "Saint Omers in ffrance", where he added codicils to his will on 16 July 1822 and 28

March 1825 and where he died 10 October 1827 "of chronic inflammation, in his 59th year. . . . He has left a widow and five sons, to lament the loss of a most affectionate husband and father".[3] In his will he left most of his (unspecified) property to his "dearly beloved wife Mary", including the "furniture pictures . . . vases trinkets Jewels China . . . wines books carriage . . . [and] the use of all my Silver plate" plus the use of the house in du Poiroir Street, St. Omer. He directed that £3,000 should go to each of his daughters and his father's gold watch to his eldest son. The rest of the property, evidently controlled by his marriage settlement, was to go to his sons, the interest thereof to "be paid to my said dear wife so long as she shall continue my Widow".[10]