Henry Richard Tedder

“ The secret of making good ink had been lost in England for two centuries until Baskerville's experiments. His recipe is given by Hansard (op. cit. p. 723) . An authority of our own day says: ‘Every book was a masterpiece; a gem of typographic art. Baskerville's type was remarkably clear and elegant. His paper was of a very fine thick quality, but rather yellow in colour. His ink had a rich purple-black tint, and the uniformity of colour throughout his books testifies to the care taken in printing every sheet’ (Printers' Register, 6 Jan. 1876) . ”

“ Grimm assured his correspondents: ‘Nous n'avons pu nous empêcher d'être fort étonnés à Paris qu'un étranger eût si bien saisi et les convenances de notre théâtre et le génie de notre langue, même dans un genre d'ouvrage où les nuances de style échappent plus aisément peut-être que dans aucun autre’ (Correspondance Littéraire, xii. 118) . D'Hèle may have borrowed something from ‘Midas,’ an English burletta by Kane O'Hara (Baker, Biog. Dramatica, iii. 41) , but the wit, light raillery, and ingenuity of ‘Le Jugement de Midas’ are all his own. ”

“ D'EWES or DEWES, GERRARD, GEERARDT, or GARRET (d. 1591) , printer, was the eldest son of Adrian D'Ewes (d. 1551) , descended from the ancient lords of Kessel in Guelderland, who settled in England about the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII. Adrian D'Ewes married Alice Ravenscroft, a gentlewoman of good family, who bore to him Peter, James, and Andrew, besides Gerrard. ”

“ Birmingham has contributed many distinguished men to the industrial armies of England; but there are few of whom she has more reason to be proud than the skilful genius who was at once the British Aldus Manutius and the finest printer of modern times.
Messrs. Longman formerly possessed a portrait of Baskerville by Exteth, a pupil of Hogarth, which has been engraved; another was for many years a heirloom in the offices of Aris's ‘Birmingham Gazette,’ and a third passed into the possession of Mr. Joseph Parkes, formerly of Birmingham. ”

“ The name of Coverdale will always be revered as that of the man who first made a complete translation of the Bible into English, but he was not a figure of marked historical interest. He was somewhat weak and timorous, and all through his life leaned on a more powerful nature. Barnes, Cromwell, Cranmer, and Grindal were successively his patrons. In the hour of trouble he was content to remain in obscurity, and left the crown of martyrdom to be earned by men of tougher fibre. ”

“ Lackington was a vain but warm-hearted, shrewd man of business, whose first object in life was to make money. As soon as he had acquired a fortune he seems to have lost any love of books which he may have had. ”

“ All students of the history of the eighteenth century are grateful to Ayscough for his share in indexing the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ (1731–86) , consisting of the two volumes printed in 1789, the first of which includes an index of the essays, dissertations, and historical passages in one alphabet, and the second being divided into four parts, is devoted respectively to poetry, names of persons, plates, and books noticed. Useful as it is, the index is not by any means perfect. ”

“ In person Heber was tall, strong, and well made, and until his last illness he was of robust health. He was very near-sighted. In general society, as well as in familiar company, his manners were most winning. His literary and bibliographical knowledge was equalled by few of his contemporaries, and he had a marvellous memory. He travelled extensively, mainly in search of books. His correspondence with booksellers and auctioneers both at home and abroad was very great; but he purchased in all methods, at one time a whole library of thirty thousand books at Paris. ”

“ ACONTIUS, JACOBUS, latinized from Aconzio, Aconcio, or Concio, Jacopo (1500?–1566?) , jurist, philosopher, theologian, and engineer, was born at Trent in the Tyrol about the beginning of the sixteenth century. Little is known of him before his coming to this country, except what is told in the ‘Ep. ad Wolfium,’ from which we learn that he devoted many years to the study of the law, that he passed some of his time in courts, and that he applied himself to literature late in life. There is no authority for the statement that he was in orders. ”

“ Isaiah Thomas, our chief authority for the history of printing in North America, assures us that 'Kneeland and Green' printed [at Boston about 1752] , principally for Daniel Henchman, an edition of the Bible in small 4to. This was the first Bible printed in America in the English language. 'It was carried through the press as privately as possible, and had the London imprint of the copy from which it was reprinted, viz. "London: printed by Mark Baskett, printer to the king's most excellent majesty," in order to prevent a prosecution.' Thomas had often heard the story told when an apprentice. ”

“ The time comes when the customary tribute to hell has to be paid, and, so that he should not be chosen by the fiend, the elf-queen conducts him back to earth. She gives him the power of prophecy as a token, and in compliance with repeated wishes furnishes him with a specimen of her own art in a prospective view of the wars between England and Scotland from the time of Bruce to the death of Robert III in 1406. The poem is in three fyttes, and has come down to us in four complete copies. ”

“ Childs was also a well-educated, well-read man, a strong liberal in politics, a good hater of religious shams, a captain of volunteers till within a few years of his death.' During the corn-law and currency controversies he contributed one or two articles to the 'Westminster Review.' He gave evidence before the select committee of the House of Commons on the queen's printers' patent, 1859, pointing out that the most beautiful as well as the most accurate editions of the Bible had been the work of unauthorised printers. ”

“ The notorious ‘White House,’ also in Soho Square, has frequently been confused with Carlisle House. ‘She has been the Heidegger of the age, and presided over our diversions,’ says Walpole; she ‘drew in both righteous and ungodly ... and made her house a fairy palace for balls, concerts, and masquerades’ (Letter to Sir H. Mann, 22 Feb. 1771, Cunningham's ed. v. 283) . ”

“ Between 1812 and 1847 the chief libraries sold in England went through his hands. His own marked set of catalogues is now in the British Museum. Possessing an excellent memory and rich store of information, he was in the habit of discoursing upon the books passing under his hammer. ”

“ That the Breton contribution to Geoffrey's history was a considerable one must be admitted, notwithstanding Welsh denials of the fact, and the acceptance by many good authorities of a theory assuming definite Cymric characteristics in the narrative. History and philology tend equally to show that whatever differences exist at present between the Welsh and Breton languages have arisen gradually since the time of Henry I, and that before his time the two peoples were virtually identical.
The ‘Historia Britonum’ exercised a powerful influence in the unification of the people of England. ”

“ Hone had twelve children, nine of whom, together with his widow, survived him. The ‘Quarterly Review’ naturally styled Hone ‘a wretch as contemptible as he is wicked,’ and ‘a poor illiterate creature.’ Although of small literary value, his political satires enjoyed a popularity far beyond any others of the kind in their day. ”

“ The oriental and modern sections are the weakest. The chapters on romances of chivalry are good, and those on the Italian novelists deserve high praise. The stories are well condensed, and the book is written in a clear and agreeable style. It is still the most complete and useful history of prose fiction. ‘Noch immer ist die Arbeit des Schotten John Dunlop die einzige in ihrer Art,’ says Liebrecht. ”

“ The theological discourses include one on the argument for the existence of God, another on the goodness of God, and others on objections to David Hume, and similar topics; among the literary discourses are two upon theories of beauty, one on the arrangement of ancient and modern languages, and others on the study of ancient languages as a necessary branch of liberal education. They are fairly well-written and well-reasoned essays. Arthur had a shy and hesitating manner, but possessed liberal opinions to which he always had the courage to hold firm. ”

“ There were then in London twenty-three printers, who worked fifty-three presses, a number in Barker's opinion more than doubly sufficient for the whole of England and Scotland. There can be no doubt that between 1580 and 1586 the printing trade had fallen to a very prosperous state. Some of the smaller men had organised a system of unlawfully producing privileged books: John Wolfe was one of those of whom Barker had to complain in this respect. ”

“ Ward gives good reason for believing it genuine. Indeed, the suggestion—however gratuitous—that Geoffrey was a Benedictine monk is almost a necessary one to account for the education evinced by his labours, not the most important part of them being the reduction of ancient British legends into respectable mediæval Latin history—a task accomplished with manifest literary skill and tact. ”

“ He was a born book-collector. Dibdin saw a catalogue of his books compiled at the age of eight. When ten years old he requested his father to buy some volumes at a certain sale, where ‘there would be the best editions of the classics.’ His neatly written flyleaf memoranda are familiar to all book-buyers. Specimens of his notes may be seen in a ‘Terence,’ 1567, and Daniel's ‘Poeme on the Earle of Devonshyre’ [1606] , at the British Museum. He was in the habit of buying copy after copy of works which took his fancy, and was unusually generous in lending his treasures. ”

“ In 1639 the colonists adopted a constitution (reprinted in B. Trumbull's ‘Hist. of Connecticut,’ 1818, i. 498–502) , said to be ‘the first example in history of a written constitution’ (J. G. Palfrey, Hist. of New England, 1866, i. 232) , and in April Haynes was chosen the first governor of Connecticut. One of his earliest acts was to urge the necessity of compiling a code of laws. As under the new constitution no person could be governor more than twice in two years, Edward Hopkins was chosen in 1640, Haynes being re-elected in 1641. The next year George Wyllys was appointed. ”

“ Throughout a long life and in nearly every one of his numerous publications Lawrence taught the duty of humanity to animals, at times expostulating with cruel drovers and market-men, and always exerting himself to raise the tone of public opinion on the subject. ”

“ Fry died after a few days' illness on 29 March 1787, aged 59, having retired from business a short time before. Like his father and grandfather he was a member of the Society of Friends, and was buried in their burial-ground at the Friars, Bristol. After his death the chocolate and cocoa manufactory was carried on by his widow under the style of Anna Fry & Son. The previous title had been Fry, Vaughan, & Co. In 1795 the works were removed from Newgate Street to Union Street, where a Watt's steam engine was erected, the first in Bristol. ”

“ The following year he opened a bookstall and shoemaker's shop in Featherstone Street, St. Luke's, commencing with a sackful of old theological books, which he bought for a guinea, and a few scraps of leather. He was able to borrow five pounds from a fund started by ‘Mr. Wesley's people’ to assist deserving members of their body. The exercise of great industry and frugality, in which virtue his wife excelled, enabled him in six months to increase his stock in value from five to twenty-five pounds. ”

“ Booksellers have not unseldom thought it necessary to cultivate blunt and eccentric manners; but Beatniffe's knowledge of books, skill as a bookbinder, and business habits, made him a prosperous tradesman. For many years he owned the best collection of old books among provincial dealers, and was long the first secondhand bookseller in Norwich. ”

“ No entirely perfect copy is in existence, and only five or six have title-pages. These represent three issues, two in 1535 and one in 1536. The Bible was reprinted by Nicolson in folio and quarto form in 1537, and by Froschouer at Zurich in 1550. The bibliographical peculiarities are detailed in the ‘Bible by Coverdale, 1535’ (1867, 8vo) , by Francis Fry, who points out (pp. 8–11) that the dedication to Queen Jane belongs to Nicolson's edition of 1537. The publisher and place of printing of the 1535 Bible have always been a mystery. ”

“ Milton, Dryden, Pope, Wordsworth, and Tennyson have all pressed Geoffrey's legends into their service.
The three Welsh chronicles known as the ‘Brut Tysilio,’ the ‘Brut y Brenhinoedd,’ and the ‘Brut Gruffyd ab Arthur’ have been clearly shown to be late translations or adaptations of Geoffrey's ‘Historia,’ made at a time when the word brut had, by frequent use as an appellative (both in Welsh and English) for the popular story with its continuations, become equivalent to chronicle. ”

“ As the two versions appear on Greenfield's tomb, it is very probable that they were both by him. In consequence of the arbitrary regulations of the excise authorities, paper could only be had of certain sizes. It was partially owing to Bagster's exertions that the rules were modified. Two other forms of the English bible were issued, and, all of them harmonising page for page, began what is known as the ‘Facsimile Series.’ The publication of the first volume of the polyglot was followed in 1821 by an octoglot edition of the liturgy of the Church of England in a handsome quarto. ”

“ Weak eyesight prevented him following the business of his father, a music engraver, who took him when about eight years old to Cambridge for the benefit of his health. Here he afterwards came under the notice of Christopher Sharpe, the well-known print collector. Sharpe gave him a number of etchings, and five pounds to purchase more. All Caulfield's boyish savings now went in the same direction, and he became a constant bidder for cheap lots at Hutchins's sale-room in King Street, Covent Garden. ”

“ The Bible, that is the Holy Scripture of the Olde and New Testament, faithfully and truly translated out of Douche and Latyn into Englishe.’ The dedication to Henry VIII is signed ‘Myles Couerdale,’ who submits his ‘poore translacyon unto the spirite of trueth in your grace.’ Some copies omit the words ‘out of Douche and Latyn’ from the intitulation, and have the title and the preliminary matter in an English type. ”

“ Childs informed the committee that he and his brother had been in business for a quarter of a century, that they employed over a hundred hands, and that they had printed editions of the Bible with notes (thus eluding the patent) for many years. He was a staunch nonconformist, and perhaps the first person not a member of the Society of Friends who suffered imprisonment on account of a conscientious refusal to pay church rates. ”