constitutional freedom, in whose cause the sacrifice has been made, to follow the example of the present meeting, and generously step forward to afford him that remuneration which he appears to be so justly entitled to.
1811, Nov. 12. Died, John Hayes, bookseller. High Holborn, aged seventy-four. The abilities of Mr. Hayes were of no ordinary class, and his erudition very considerable.[1]
1811. The Gleaner, a series of periodical essays, selected from papers not included in the British Essayists, four vols. 8vo. By Nathan Drake, M. D. He died at Hadleigh, in Suffolk, 1836, aged seventy years.
1811. Town Talk; or, Living Manners, 8vo. by John Agg.[2]
1811. The Philosopher. This periodical was the production of general Sarrazin.[3]
1811. Essays, Literary and Miscellaneous, by Dr. John Aikin.[4]
1811. The Times, by A Bickerstaffe. These essays appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine.
1811, June 29. The Westmoreland Advertiser and Kendal Chronicle, No. 1, printed and published by Richard Lough,[5] at Kendal. It was long a subject of wonder and regret, that the county of Westmoreland should not produce a permanent newspaper before this period; though Kendal, so early as the time of Camden, was a very populous and respectable town.
1811, July 5. The Liverpool Mercury, No. 1. printed and published by Egerton Smith & Co.
1811. The Montrose, Arbroath, and Brechin Review, established, and was for many years distinguished by great ability of writing, while under the management of the late Mr. Watt.
1812, Feb. 7. Died, John Paul Manson, bookseller. King-street, Westminster, and afterwards of Gerard-street, Soho. Of him Mr. Dibdin observes, "In the present Caxton-loving age, with what avidity would such a number of this printer's books be sought after. They will rarely ever again appear in one collection so numerous or so perfect. I am well acquainted with the skill and liberality of Messrs. Payne, White, Egerton, and Evans—that these know and love Caxton as well as Aldus, Froben, and the Stephenses; but I question if, in the ocean of English black-letter, they have taken quite so deep a plunge as Mr. Manson, of Gerard-street, Soho, It is due to the spirit and perseverance of this latter bookseller, to notice his love of the imprints, colophons, and devices of our venerable English typographers. Professor Heyne could not have exhibited greater signs of joy at the sight of the Townley manuscript of Homer, than did Mr. Manson on the discovery of Rastill's Pastymes of the People among the books of Mr. Brand. If I wished for a collection of Rembrandt's or Nanteuil's prints, or of old portraits and black-lettered books, catalogued, I would, with the utmost confidence, resign the whole to the integrity and discrimination of Mr. Manson."—Director, vol. II. p. 36.
1812. A splendid mode of printing in burnished gold letters was invented by the late Mr. John Whittaker, an ingenious and eminent bookbinder of Queen-street, Westminster; and who executed an edition of magna charta, from the original manuscript deposited in the British museum, on royal purple satin, and on superfine vellum paper.[6] He also executed a most singularly splendid work in letters of gold, of the august ceremonial of the coronation of George IV. the execution is truly superb, and reflects the highest honour on the artist. As a binder, Mr. Whittaker was celebrated as the restorer of deficient portions of the works printed by Caxton and other early printers, by the use of brass type. He introduced a new style of binding, to which the name of Etruscan[7] has been given.
1812. A fac-simile of the Book of Psalms was printed from the same manuscript and types as the Codex Alexandrinus, and published by the rev. H. H. Baber, one of the librarians of the British museum. The art of printing with types, so formed as precisely to resemble the characters of manuscript, was first practised at Florence, in the year 1741, when a fac-simile of the celebrated Medicean Virgil was published in small
- ↑ A Mr. Samuel Hayes, a very respectable bookseller, in Oxford-street, London, was induced in the line of his profession, during the peace of Amiens, to visit France; and was for many years detained a prisoner by order of the French government.
- ↑ John Agg served his apprenticeship to a printer and bookseller at Evesham, after which he established himself in the same capacity at Bristol, where he published a newspaper under the name of the Mercury. He also proposed to print by subscription a History of Bristol, in numbers, but the design failed, and the author also. He then repaired to London, where he continued to live by writing and compiling various books, some of which possess ingenuity. In 1814 he was confined in the king's bench prison for a libel on Thomas Best, esq.
- ↑ General Sarrazin quitted the French service in 1818, and came to England from Cherburg. Soon after his arrival here he made the most extravagant demands on our government for supposed services, which he valued at ₤3,000 a-year, ₤30,000 for what he had sacrificed, and ₤10,000 for immediate use, besides the rank of lieutenant-general, and other items equally moderate. He was the author of the Confessions of Bonaparte to the cardinal Maury. 8vo. Memorial to the English Government, 8vo. 1811. History of the War in Spain and Portugal, 8vo. 1815. This work gives a luminous view of the great scenes which occurred in the Peninsula, from the commencement of the contest, in 18O7, to its termination in 1814.
- ↑ Dr. John Aikin was born at Kibworth, in Leicestershire, Jan. 15, 1747, and died at Stoke Newington, Dec. 7, 1822. He originally practised as a surgeon, afterwards settled as a physician at Yarmouth, Norfolk, and for many years resided at Stoke Newington. He was the author of many essays in the Monthly Magazine, the Athenaeum, the Classical Journal, and the Reflector. Of the first he was editor for many years, and also of the second from its commencement to its close. He was also the author of a General Biographical Dictionary, in 10 vols. 4to. published between the years 1799 and 1815, and other works of merit.
- ↑ Richard Lough died at Kendal, Feb. 9. 1831, aged 41.
- ↑ Mr. Craspelet, a celebrated Parisian printer, well known for the beautiful editions which have issued from his press, made several experiments towards printing in gold letters: at length he succeeded, and executed in this style twelve copies of Audebert and Viellot's Oiseaux Dorés. Cailleau, however, does not speak in the most favourable terms of these typographical refinements.—Cailleau, Dict. Bibl. tom. iv. p. 36. What his opinions might be at this time, on viewing the splendid productions of the British press, in gold, we cannot say.
- ↑ This style he employed for the binding of many of the copies of the Magna Charta, which is of a magnificent description. The covers are nearly a complete mass of gold ornament, appropriate to the times of king John. It is lined with crimson silk, richly gilt.
