Page:The Library, volume 5, series 3.djvu/75

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
'PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.'
63

other space, the Advertisement in which he accused Braddyl of being the printer of spurious copies. Two copies of this edition are in the British Museum. In that without the advertisement the plate of the portrait is in a very good state, while in the other it has become so worn that it has had to be touched up in places. So that clearly the advertisement was not added until the greater part of the edition, and it must have been a large one, was printed off. This receives confirmation from the fact that in the copy without the advertisement the capital T, beginning the line, 'The Manner of his Setting out,' on the title-page, has dropped slightly from its position, and in the copy with the advertisement it has dropped still further, till it is on a level with the line below, which it makes to read 'THis (instead of "His") dangerous Journey.' Again, in the later copy, pages 2 and 3 are numbered 28 and 25, while pages 10 and 11 are numbered 36 and 33, and in both copies there is evidence that they were printed at more than one press. Further, the copy of this edition in the library of the late Mr. E. D. Church, of New York, has the advertisement signed in full, N. Ponder, while that in the British Museum is signed with the initials only. This seems to leave no doubt that the work was distributed between several printers, and Ponder had to supply each one with a copy of the advertisement. The first of these he signed authoritatively with his full name, while the rest he merely initialed. In fact, it is quite evident that Ponder found it difficult to keep pace with the ever-increasing demand for the book, and was getting it printed