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Robert Harley, first Earl of Oxford (of the second creation)—chancellor of the exchequer, then lord treasurer, and head of the Tory ministry under Queen Anne, friend and patron of Pope and Swift—and his son Edward Harley, the second earl, were among the greatest English collectors of books and manuscripts. Their collection "was among the glories of their age," as W. P. Courtney writes; "in the recollection of the Harleian manuscripts, the Harleian library, and the Harleian Miscellany, the family name will never die."[1] The manuscripts eventually became the property of the nation and are in the British Library; the catalogue of the manuscripts, begun in 1708 by Lord Oxford's librarian, the pioneer medievalist Humfrey Wanley, is itself a monumental work.
The Harleian books, however, were sold after the death of the second earl in 1741 to the bookseller Thomas Osborne, who engaged Samuel Johnson and William Oldys, literary secretary to the earl from 1738 to 1741, to prepare a catalogue of the collection to attract possible purchasers. For the Catalogus Bibliothecae Harleianae, published between 1743 and 1745, Johnson wrote "An Account of the Harleian Library," which first appeared in the proposals and later introduced the catalogue, contributed the preface to the third volume, and provided annotations to some of the entries.
As part of his scheme to recoup his investment in the Harleian library, Osborne reprinted, in eight quarto volumes, the texts of a selection of its political and religious pamphlets of the sixteenth and seventeenth century—the famous Harleian Miscellany, still a highly useful source for the student
The publication and textual history of "An Account of this Undertaking" is complex. The earliest printing of the proposals for the Harleian Miscellany, published 30 December 1743, survives in a unique copy in Chetham's Library, Manchester (A).[2] On 4 January 1744 the proposals were among the preliminaries of the third volume of Catalogus Bibliothecae Harleianae (B) and later in the month were printed as a final leaf to volume 13 of the Gentleman's Magazine (C). In mid-April the proposals were again issued separately (D) and also, on 19 April, appeared in the London Evening Post (E). The blue wrappers to individual parts of John Smith's Memoirs of Wool (F), Robert James's Medicinal Dictionary (G), and the Harleian Miscellany (H) also contained the proposals.[3]
The proposal housed in Chetham's Library, probably set from Johnson's manuscript of the "Account," serves as the ultimate source for subsequent printings. It is an unsigned gathering of two leaves: page one contains the title and conditions, pages two and three "An Account of this Undertaking," and page four is blank. Page three is largely filled with four columns of "Heads," i.e. subject headings according to which the tracts will be organized.[4] After its publication on 30 December 1743, changes and corruptions in the text began almost immediately.
The copy of the proposals in the Catalogus Bibliothecae Harleianae, published 4 January 1744, was set from the copy of 30 December, retaining even its layout. Several small changes occur such as "Genious" for "Genius,"
The proposals which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine in late January 1744 were also set from the 30 December text, as evidenced by the inclusion of "Thomas Osborne" and "and Paper," even though this was not the paper to be used, either. Among the small changes proving significant later, in the first condition "these Proposals" become "the Proposals," in the third condition "Gray's Inn" becomes "Gray's-Inn" and "on Ludgate-Hill" becomes "on Ludgate-Street," and in the first paragraph "Public" becomes "Publick."
The proposals issued separately in mid-April 1744 again follow the 30 December text, since they contain the readings "Thomas Osborne" and "Ludgate-hill." Several changes occur in this text, the most important being the exclusion of the last two paragraphs and the list of headings; two notes, neither by Johnson, have been added.[5] In addition, this text is the first to read "was published" instead of "will be published," to give the contents of the first four numbers of the Harleian Miscellany, and to provide a list of subscribers.
The proposals appearing in the 19 April London Evening Post follow the proposals in the Gentleman's Magazine: both have the readings "the Proposals," "Gray's-Inn," "Ludgate-Street," and "Publick." Of four changes in the text, only one is noteworthy: in referring to the list of headings, the passage "is such as if they could be conveniently publish'd, would excite" replaces "cannot but excite."[6]
The proposals continued to be published on the blue wrappers for the individual parts of a variety of works. A chance few have survived from among what may have been numerous printings. A wrapper for James's Medicinal Dictionary, which lists the contents for the first ten numbers of the Harleian Miscellany and the subscribers, seems to follow (D).[7] The wrapper for Smith's Memoirs of Wool, which lists the contents for the ninth number of volume four of the Harleian Miscellany, follows (C).[8] The proposals were also printed on the wrappers of the parts of the Harleian Miscellany, but the only known
The proposals underwent numerous additions, deletions, and corruptions in their several printings. The majority of the changes appear in the conditions and notes, with surprisingly few differences in Johnson's "An Account of this Undertaking." Apart from the deletion of the list of headings and two paragraphs, only a few unimportant changes in punctuation and spelling occur. Because of an almost unprecedented absence of corruption in the text, the one substantive revision in the "Account" found in the London Evening Post has an increased significance. Unfortunately, it cannot be attributed to Johnson with any certainty because of its stylistic neutrality. Because the deletions and revisions in the printings after the first do not reveal any intervention by Johnson, the only authoritative text for an edition of the "Account" is the first printing.
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