University of Virginia Library

Richard Hurd (1720-1808) is a familiar figure to students of the literature and times of eighteenth-century England. As a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, for more than twenty years, his circle of friends included John Brown, Thomas Gray, William Mason, William Whitehead, Sir Edward Littleton, Henry Hubbard, Thomas Balguy, and Dr. William Heberden. In the 1750s he developed close friendships with William Warburton and Ralph Allen. Through his own considerable merits as well as the active assistance of Warburton and Charles Yorke, he was promoted steadily in the church until he was made Bishop of Worcester in 1781, a position he retained until his death.

The See of the Bishop of Worcester was (and is) Hartlebury Castle, an ancient house in a lovely valley a few miles south of Kidderminster. When Hurd arrived there in July of 1781, he immediately decided to add a library to the house. Finished in 1782, it is a long room at the back of the house, overlooking the valley. It is spacious and beautiful, housing 3040 titles in some 5,000 volumes. The well-oiled leather bindings gleam in the light, and the oil portraits of Warburton and Pope—as well as books from both their libraries—and the Gainsborough portrait of Hurd provide an ideal setting in which to study eighteenth-century books. This investigator was delighted to do so, and he thanks the Bishop of Worcester for the privilege.

Hurd's academic and clerical careers were helped greatly by the large number and high quality of his writings. Beginning with his first book, an edition of Horace's Ars Poetica in 1749, more than two dozen editions of his various writings were printed in London by William Bowyer the younger (1699-1777). This is a fortunate coincidence for any present investigator, because Bowyer's printing records still exist, have recently been well edited

and published, and present a unique source of additional information about many of Hurd's writings (see note).

This paper has three objectives. It is the beginning of a bibliography of the writings of Richard Hurd. (The Bowyer ledgers show that Hurd's editions of Horace are the only work which he chose to have printed with both regular and large paper copies, and this seemed sufficient reason for beginning the bibliography by examining them.) It will provide some examples of ways that printing ledgers can give us both bibliographical and biographical information about an author's writings. Finally, it inevitably raises questions about certain aspects of the book trade—the use of illustrations, and large paper copies; relationships among author, publisher, and printer; and even the tangled problem of shared printing.

In the last paragraph of his introduction to the Ars Poetica of 1749, Hurd mentions several Italian critics whose methods he chooses not to follow. Instead, he says, "I chuse therefore to rest on the single authority of a great author, who hath not disdained to comment a like piece of a late critical poet. What was indeed the amusement of his pen, becomes, it must be owned, the labour of inferior writers. Yet, on these unequal terms, it can be no discredit to have aim'd at some resemblance of one of the least of those merits, which shed their united honours on the name of the illustrious friend and commentator of Mr. Pope" (p. xv). This fulsome praise of Warburton, a man Hurd had never met, had its intended effect. The book was published May 27, 1749 (see below), and Hurd at once sent Warburton a copy—a large paper copy, presumably stitched in marbled paper, since there was no time to have it bound. Warburton, in his earliest known letter to Hurd, dated June 1, 1749, thanked him for the book and added, "I tell you, with all sincerity, I think the Notes one of the most masterly pieces of criticism that ever was written . . . I wish it was in my power to make a suitable acknowledgment for my obligations" (see Letters from a late eminent Prelate to one of his Friends. 2d ed. [1809], 1-2—cited hereafter as "Letters"). Warburton returned the compliment when his nine-volume edition of The Works of Alexander Pope was published on June 18, 1751 (Daily Advertiser; General Advertiser). In the Essay on Criticism Pope has a passage beginning "But where's the man . . ." (lines 632 ff.) describing the characteristics of an ideal critic; and in his note on this passage Warburton says, "And indeed the discovery of him, if it could be made, would be but an invidious business. I will venture no farther than to name the piece of Criticism in which these marks may be found. It is intitled, Q. Hor. Fl. Ars Poetica, with an English Commentary and Notes" (I, 202). Hurd had just published his edition of the Epistola ad Augustum the previous month—on May 21, 1751 (see below)—so he had to wait until 1753 to dedicate to Warburton the second volume of his new edition of Horace. Friendship flourished amid the mutual admiration.

As Hurd progressed in his editing of the Epistle to Augustus, two things became increasingly apparent. His interest in Horace was primarily in his critical writings, so he felt that his editorial work would be finished when it

was published in the spring of 1751. As he commented in the Advertisement of the book, "It will, further, be observed, that these two pieces make a com plete edition of Horace's Critical, that is to say, the best and most exquisit of all his writings" (p. iv). At the same time he was interested in writing and publishing critical essays on other topics. Throughout 1750 he was writin and showing to Warburton drafts of his "Discourse on Poetical Imitation, the first of a group of essays which he later always referred to as "Disserta tions." In a letter to Hurd dated April 21, 1750, Warburton commented that "I am glad the discourse on imitation is advancing. If the Commentary on the Ars Poetica and the Epistle to Augustus and that discourse will altogether make a just volume, I think they should do so. If they will not, I think the discourse should not be published alone. Pamphlets are soon forgotten; and this should be conveyed to posterity" (Letters, 49). As usual, Hurd followed his advice; the Discourse was printed with the Epistle to Augustus in 1751 and one more "dissertation" was added to each of the next three editions The second edition of Hurd's Horace of 1753 added the dissertation "On the Provinces of the Several Species of Dramatic Poetry"; the third edition (1757) added "A Letter to Mr. Mason; On the Marks of Imitation"; and the fourtl (1766) added "A Dissertation on the Idea of Universal Poetry." The third and fourth of these dissertations were also reprinted and published separately a the same time their respective editions of Horace were published. The fiftl and final edition (1776) was merely a reprint of the 1766 edition.

These editions, plus a Dublin reprint and a German translation, make a total of ten works which are listed below in chronological order. I mark with an asterisk those copies I have examined personally. I am deeply grateful to all those librarians who have answered patiently my questions about copie I have not examined. In most instances the reader will find some additional copies of these editions listed in NUC or ESTC.

Note: The citation "Bowyer Ledgers" refers to The Bowyer Ledgers, edited by Keitl Maslen and John Lancaster (London: The Bibliographical Society; New York: The Bibliographical Society of America, 1991). Whenever a reference is followed merel by a number, it refers to an entry in the Chronological Checklist, which constitute the bulk of the printed book. When the number is preceded by a "B," it refers to the number in the microfiche edition of Ledger B (Grolier Club Library 19474). When the number is preceded by a "P," it refers to the number in the microfiche edition on the Paper Stock Ledger (Bodley MS.don.b.4).

Throughout this paper I am indebted to Edwine Montague Martz, Bishop Hurd as Critic, unpublished Ph.D dissertation, Yale University, 1939—hereafter cited a "Martz."