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836
HISTORY OF PRINTING.

almost daily visited by his friends from Edinburgh, a party of whom, on Saturdays in particular, were in the habit of playing at quoits in his garden, and thereafter regaling themselves with a plentiful supply of gin and oysters, then and still a favourite indulgence at Newhaven. In 1800, in consequence of his wife's death, Mr. Clerk gave up housekeeping, and boarded with Mrs. Duguid, of "the Whale,"[1] being then an inn, where his old friends rallied around him as formerly, to enjoy the sea breeze, and the choice things which the hostess was careful to provide for them. He died much regretted by his acquaintances, aged seventy-two, and was interred in the Grayfriar's churchyard. He was a jolly, warm-hearted individual—amusing in conversation, and partial to the company of his friends; but, though fond of rational enjoyment, he was equally an enemy to excess; and, in the words, of one of his friends, now no more, there never existed a "more honest and inoffensive man." Kay's Edinburgh Portraits, p. 29.

1810, Feb. 14. James Perry, proprietor and editor of the Morning Chronicle, tried in the court of king's bench on the charge of having published a libel in that paper, copied from the Examiner, reflecting on the character of George III. Mr. Perry conducted his own case, and was acquitted. He published A Report of the trial on an information ex officio of the King v. John Lambert and James Perry on a charge of libel, in the Morning Chronicle, 8vo. 1810.

1810, March 26, Died, John Cooke, an extensive publisher of works in weekly numbers, at the Shakspeare's head, Paternoster-row,[2] London, aged seventy-nine years.

1810. March 30. Died, Robert Baldwin, many years a bookseller of considerable eminence in Paternoster-row, London, where his industry and integrity were almost proverbial; whilst his mild and conciliatory manners secured him the sincere regard of all who knew him. He was the nephew and successor of Richard Baldwin, bookseller, noticed at page 738 ante, and was succeeded in Paternoster-row by Robert, son of an older nephew.

1810. Died, Thomas Kirkgate, for upwards of thirty years printer to Horace Walpole, earl of Oxford, at Strawberry hill, who liberally rewarded his long services in conducting his literary undertakings by a legacy of £100. Soon after his decease was published, A catalogue of the valuable and curious collections, late the property of Mr. Thomas Kirkgate. 1810. 8vo. The collectors of the Strawberry-hill publications, will find this catalogue of great utility, in furnishing them with a list of lord Oxford's pieces. The books form only 424 articles of the catalogue, the remainder consisting of curious prints, drawings, painted glass, coins, &c.

1810, April 17. Died, John Ireland, bookseller, Market-place, Leicester, aged sixty-three. A man strictly independent in his principles, of great probity and much respected.

1810, April 26. Died, Edward Wright, of the firm of Harding and Wright, printers in St. John's square, Clerkenwell, London. They were the printers of the Monthly Mirror Magazine.

1810, June 7. Died, William Dawson, of Paternoster-row, bookseller to the university of Oxford, aged sixty-five years. His life was a continued series of acts of kindness. He died at Hive House, Stanmore.

1810, June 17. Died, James Chalmers, printer to the city and university, and printer and proprietor of the Aberdeen Journal, which he conducted with uncommon ability, and stead and loyal consistency of principle for the long space of forty-six years. Few men have departed life in the city of Aberdeen with more unfeigned regret by a most numerous and highly-

  1. The Whale was totally destroyed by fire in 1834
  2. Paternoster-row—now the greatest book mart in the world—did not begin to assume any consequence till the booksellers deserted Little Britain, in the reign of queen Anne. The south-west end, before that period, was more noted for mercers, lacemen, haberdashers, and similar trades; and a periodical newspaper, in 1707, adds to this list, "the sempstresses of Paternoster-row." One instance, however, of a bookseller living there, occurs much earlier, namely, in 1564, when Henry Denham, bookseller, lived at the Star in Paternoster-row, with the Latin motto,

    "Os homini sublime dedit"

    From 1774, when we find John Bew publishing the Ambulator and other small works; the character of the trade in the Row became changed from old bookselling, or the issuing only of large and important new works by the principal houses, to general publishing, and particularly of periodicals. The issuing of works in weekly numbers was more particularly confined to Cooke, Hogg, and Harrison. These all stood prominent as publishers of what have been called "Paternoster-row Numbers," namely, Family Bibles, with Notes; editions of For's Book of Martyrs, and the Works of Flavius Josephus; New and complete Histories of England, Histories of London, Life of Christ, and various other denominations of works, which, years back, more than now, were calculated to catch the attention of mechanics, and they were seen in the shape of handsome-bound folios in several of their houses; and, however it may be customary to kick the ladder down when we find we no longer want it, these sort of publications must be confessed to have greatly contributed to lay the foundation of that literary taste and thirst for knowledge, which now pervades all classes. To give to such works as we have mentioned, all the attraction possible, the title-pages were copious to an extreme, enumerating the whole contents of the book; the authors were generally called esquires, and had two or three sounding christian names. In announcing the embellishments of these publications, language failed; and the terms, "beautiful," "elegant," "superb," and even "magnificent," became too poor to express their extreme merit. None of these puffers equalled Alexander Hogg. When the sale of a book began to slacken, this gentleman, like old Bernard Lintot, immediately employed some scribe to make him "a taking title; and the work, though not a line was altered, was brought out in a new edition; issued first in a feigned name, and subsequently published with a new title-page, as the production of "A Society of Gentlemen: the whole revised, corrected, and improved by William Thornton, esq. M. A., and other gentlemen." Hogg made money but Cooke (whose journeyman he had been) exceeded him. He is said, by one work alone, Southwell's Notes and Illustrations on the Bible, to have cleared several thousand pounds, and he had many similar publications. He left a son, successor to his business and his ample fortune. James Harrison, of Paternoster-row, and afterwards of Fleet-street, in both which places he failed in business, projected some works of merit, particularly the Novelist's Magazine and the Poetical Magazine. In 1805 he published the Life of Lord Nelson, two vols. 8vo. John Payne was an indefatigable manufacturer of books in numbers, under the high-sounding names of George Augustus Hervey, William Frederick Melmoth, &c. Some of these works were not wanting in merit, particular a Naval History of Great Britain, in five volumes 8vo: He wrote several works to which he added his own name.