Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/252

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. x. SEPT. 26,


1786. " Caroline of Id cht field. (A novel trans- lated from the French of I. P. de Bottens, Baroness de Montolieu, by Holcroft. London : G-. G. J. and J. Robinson, Paternoster Bow. 1786.)" Octavo or duodecimo (?), 3 vols. An error in spelling, taking the German for the name of an English town, has caused the work to be often mentioned as ' Caroline of Litchfield.' The earliest French edition was 1786 (Larousse, 3, 1: 432), and there is indication that this was imported into Eng- land by Elmsly (New Review, March, 1786, "9: 184). My information concerning this "work is mostly second-hand, since I have not been able to see a first edition of the English. References to the work are io be found in the British Museum Cata- logue, in Watt, Allibone, The English Review for October, 1786 (8: 253), Monthly Review for March, 1787 (76: 265), a review -which clearly indicates Holcroft as translator, -and The European Magazine for November, 1786 (10: 343), and for December, 1792 {22: 403) ; and in the same column asTooke's ' Diversions of Purley ' in The Universal Jdagazine, supplement to vol. Ixxviii. p. 379, June, 1786. In the ' Memoirs ' (p. 107) we find that Holcroft was working on it during the 1783 Paris trip; and an advertisement in the Robinsons' second edition of Mrs. Inch- bald's ' Child of Nature,' 1789, indicates a second edition in three volumes probably, as was the Robinsons' custom, an impression almost identical with the first. The American edition is : "" Caroline of Lichtfield ; a novel. Translated from the French by Thomas Holcroft. The First American Edition. In two volumes. Idole d'un cceur juste, et passion du Sage, Aniiti, que ton nom soutienne cet ouvrage ; Rdgne dans mes e'crits, ainsi que dans mon coeur, Tu m'appris a connaftre, a sentir le bon- heur. Voltaire. London. Printed : New York, Re-printed and sold by J. S. Mott, No. 70, Vesey - Street, 1798." Duodecimo, I., 2+3- 144; II., 2 +3-153 pp. Other editions are as follows : J Caroline of Lichtfield. A Novel. In three volumes. Translated from the French of Madame Montolieu, by Thomas Holcroft. Idole d'un cceur juste, et passion du sage, Amilie, que ton nom soutienne cet ouvrage I Regne dans mes e'crits, ainsi que dans mon coeur I I Tu m'appris a connoitre, a sentir le bonheur. | VOLTAIRE. | New Edition. Vol. I. London : Printed at .the Minerva Press for A. K. Newman and Co. Leadenhall-street, and Joseph Booker, Bond-street. 1817." Octavo. I., p.l. +2 + 1- 218; II., p.L+2 + 1-248 ; III., 2 + 1-263 pp. On the final page of each volume, and on the two p.l. extant, appears " Printed by J. Darling, Leadenhall-Street, London," at the end of vol. i. and the end of vol. ii. with capital S, elsewhere with lower-case s.


I give the French in an attempt to locate the edition which Holcroft used for transla- tion :

" Caroline. Par Madame de ***. Publi^e par le traducteur de Werther. | Idole d'un coeur juste, & passion du sage, \ Amitie que ton nom soutienne cet ouvrage ; \ Regne dans mes ecrits, ainsi que dans mon cceur, \ Tu m'appris a connaitrc, a sentir le bonheur. \ VOLTAIRE, ' Melanges de Poesies.' | Tome Premier. A Lausanne, Aux depends de 1'Auteur, & so vend chez Francois La - Combe. M.D.CC.LXXXVI." Duodecimo. I., 2 p.l. +2 + 1-384 ; II., p.l. +2 + 1-333 pp.

In the second volume the date reads M.DCC.LXXXVI., without the superfluous period. The copy in the British Museum (12510, aaaa. 5) is inscribed on the inside front cover of each volume " John Moore," and on the p.l. " John Moore, Lausanne, the gift of the Authoress Mad me de Montolieu," but I take none of this writing for Monto- lieu's.

" Caroline de Lichtfield. Par Madame de ***| Publi6 par le Traducteur de Werther. Nou- velle Edition, Avec des Corrections considerables. Tome Premier. [Vignette flower.] A Lpndres, Et se trouve a Paris, Chez Buisson, Libraire, Hdtel de Mesgrigny, rue des Poitevins, N. 13. M.DCC.LXXXVI." Octavo. I., p.l. +2 +5-292 ; II., p.l. +2 +5-247 pp.

The title-page of vol. ii. has a different vignette two horsemen and a dog ; spells Hotel de Mesgrigny with a lower-case h ; uses a period after the three *** ; and has N8. instead of N.

" Caroline de Lichtfield, par Madame de *** ; public par le Traducteur de Werther. Seconde Edition, 2 Tomes, 12mo. Elmsly."

I have copied the above just as it stands in Matty's New Review for March, 1786 (9: 184). | Elmsly was an importer, so the impression referred to may be either the Lausanne or the Paris book. At any rate, we get from the review an indication of another edition and the statement that " this novel has. . . .been eagerly read by the ladies."

" Caroline de Lichtfield, par Madame de * Publi6 par le Traducteur de Werther. Tome Premier. [Vignette.] A Paris, Chez Louis, libraire, rue SeVerin, N. 29. An III de la R6publique francaise [1795]." Duodecimo. I., p.l.+front.+2+l-252 ; II., p.l.+front.+2 + 1-249; III., p.l.+front.+2 + l-230 pp.

The vignettes in the three volumes all differ. Bound in at the end of the second volume are : " Premiere Romance de Caro- line, Musique de M. le Comte de Colem- berg," " Meme Romance, Musique de 1'Auteur de Caroline," and " Romance X. 2. Musique de 1'Auteur."