650
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
of the whig apprentices, and selected for their treasurer. By his own statement, his conduct during the seven years was not very regular ; and at the expiration of the term one hundred ap- prentices were invited to celebrate the funeral. He now entered on business as a bookseller on his own account; but, to avoid too large a rent, took only half a shop, a warehouse, and a fashion- able chamber. " Printing," he says, " was the uppermost in my thoughts; and hacluiey authors began to ply me with specimens, as earnestly and with as much passion and concern, as the watermen do passengers with oars and scoHers."
Dunton's reputation grew with his circum- stances ; and Aug. 3, 1^2, he married Eliza- beth, one of the daughters of Dr. Annesly, who at that time was a celebrated preacher among the diwenters. He now opened a shop at the Black Raven, in Princess-street ; where he car- ried on business very prosperously, till the uni- veisal damp upon trade which was occasioned by the defeat of the duke of Monmouth in the west ; when, having £500 owing him in New England, he determined, after much deliberation, to make a trip thither; and, after a long and tedious voyagfe of four months, and the loss of a venture of £5(iO in another ship, which was cast away, he arrived safe at Boston, in March, 1685-6; and opened a warehouse for the sale of the books which he had taken thither. Carry- ing with him powerful recommendations, and his books being of a class adapted to the Puritans, the success was equal to his wishes. His rivals in trade were but few ; Mr. Usher, Mr. Philips, Mvnheer Brunning, and Duncan Campbell, an inaustrious Scotchman, being then the only book- sellers in Boston ; and Mr. Green, the pnncipal if not the only printer. He had taken with him a steady apprentice, Samuel Palmer, to whom he entrusted the whole charge of his business ; which left him at leisure to make many pleasant excursions into the country.
In the autumn he returned to London; and being received by his wife and her father with all the marks of kindness and respect, expected nothing but a golden life of it for the future, though all his satisfactions were soon withered; for being deeply entangled for a sister-in-law, he was not suffered to step over the threshold in ten months. Wearied with this confinement, he determined to take a trip to Holland, Flanders, Germany, &c.
Of six hundred books which he had printed, he had only to repent, he adds, of seven: The second Spira, The Post Boy robbed of his Mail, The Voyage round the World, The new Quevedo, The Pastor's Legacy, Heavenly Pastime, The Hue and Cry after Conscience. These he heartily wished he had never seen, and advised all who had them to burn them. After confessing his errors in printing, he says, "As to bookselling and traffick, I dare stand the test, with the same allowance that every man under the same circumstance with me would wish to have, for the whole trading part of my life. Nay, I challenge all the booksellers in London to prove I ever over-
reached or deceived them in any one instanx; and when you come to that part of mv Lijf that relates to auctions I made in Dtdim, m will find that in all the notes I made for Dnbliii,t that I put the same price to every man."
In 1692, having been put in possession of i considerable estate upon the decease of kb cousin Carter, the master and asmstants of ilie company of stationers began to think him suf- ficient to wear a livery, and honoured him «itk the clothing. His livery-fine upon that octt- sion was twenty pounds, which he paid; aad the year following, Mr. Harris (his old fnend tid partner,) and about fifty more of the liven-mo, entered into a friendly society,and obliged tkea- selves to pay twenty shillings a man veariTto the renter-warden, in regara that honour ini usually once a-year attended with a costly enter- tainment to the whole company. " The voiU now smiled on me. I sailed with wind and tide; and had humble servants enough among tk booksellers, stationers, printers, and binders; kl especially my own relations, on eveiy side, vat all upon the very height of love and teodoBea, and I was caressed almost out of my five sense, However, the many civilities I received from lie company of stationers, for the fifteen yeaa I traded amongst them, do oblige me, ont of mere gratitude, to draw the character of tk most eminent of the profession in the Hate kingdoms." Here Mr. Dunton proceeds u characterize the principal booksellers, piiLtas, stationers, bookbinders, Sec. who were lus co- temporaries, and says, " Thus have I, in brief characters, run through the whole histoiy of tlte stationers' company, (authors, booksellers, piiit- ers, stationers, binders, engravers, Ucenseis, &c.)
- His next regular publication was. The LifemiiEnvn
of John DuntoH, late Citixm of London; written hfMwf <ii SolUudt. With an Idea of a new Ufa ; wherdBls iken bow he'd think, ipeak, and act, might heliTeoTerUidiii again ; intennized with the new discoveriea the utts has made In his travels abroad, and in his pritttecoi- veisatlon at home. Together with the lives and dant ters of a thousand persons now living in Londan. tt. Digested into seven stages, wiOi their lespectiTe idesi.
" He that has all his own mistakes coofiess'd. Stands next to him that never has transgressed; And will l>e censnr'd for a fbol by none, Bat Oaj wlio see no errors of their own."
Foe's Salgr upon kimtel/, f- a
London : printed for S. Malthas, 1 70S. TbU gemiiiie ud simple narrative of his own history is a very "'*"£■ formance, and aboonds in literary histoiy of an istsem natare. This work has been reprinted by the latt Ms Nichols, esq., in two vols. Svo., with a very good pirt* t The Dublin Sa^t: being a (jiaUenge sentbyj^ Oanton, citizen of liondon, to Patrick Campliel, tooo^ ler in Dablin i together with the small sktnnishes<<"> and advertisements. To which is added, the WW*" sent by a citizen's wife in Dublin, tempting blm to »Tv ness ; with his answers to her. Also some aecoanl n *' conversation in Ireland, intermizt with V^'^"^^ ters of the most eminent persons he conversed *"^ that kingdom g but more especially in the city t' D<wg; In the several letters to the spectators of the scafle- I" a poem on the whole encoonter.
" I wearti^penasoUkendotluirnnri.'-Oiat^- LoaiOB, printed for the aathor ; and are to be nU M i*- Baldwin, near the Oxford Arms, in Warwicklsne, M* W the bookscllen in Onhlin. 16W.
LjOOQ IC
