1817. According to the catalogue of the library of the British and Foreign Bible Society, Selections from the Scriptures, in modern Greek, were printed at Corfu, capital of the island of Corfu, in the Ionian sea, probably by the rev. S. Wilson. In 1818 and the following years we have a series of Corfu Gazettes, published at the government press, both in Italian and in modern Greek. At a more recent period, Mr. Lowndes, an English missionary, printed an Albanian version of the Scriptures, at Corfu, which is supposed to be the first book ever printed in that language.
1817. The English Baptist missionaries, at Serampore, presented a press and types, in 1816, to the American Baptists, which were set up at Rangoon, a large city and seaport of the Burmese empire, and early in 1817, Mr. Hough, printer, executed a Summary of Christian doctrine, in seven pages, and a Catechism, of six pages; one thousand copies of the former, and three thousand copies of the latter work were printed. In the same year the Gospel of St. Matthew, translated into the Burmese language by Mr. F. Carey,* was printed at Rangoon.
1817, April. Blackwood's Magazine, commenced by William Blackwood, Edinburgh. In the management of the magazine, Mr. Blackwood at all times bore in his own person the duties connected with the editorship for seventeen years,t with a degree of skill, on which it is not too much to say, that no small portion of the success of the work depended; and it eventually reached a circulation not much short of ten thousand copies; and,while reprinted in America, found its way from the publisher's warehouse into every other part of the world where the English language was spoken. Instead of the lame literary essays, and topographical and antiquarian notices which formerly filled most of the magazines, Blackwood's presented articles of fiction, criticism, and observation, equal to the best composition of the kind which appeared in any other shape; to which were in time added political disquisitions, and it has ever since been a strenuous advocate for tory principles.
1817. The Bibliographical Decameron; or ten days' pleasant discourse upon illuminated manuscripts, and subjects connected with early engraving, typography, and bibliography. By the rev. Thomas Frognal Dibdin. 3 vob. 8vo. 1817.
1817, May 22. Roger Didot, formerly a paper manufacturer in France, but now of Paddington, Middlesex, son of Peter Francis Didot, jun. late a celebrated printer in Paris, deceased, obtained a patent for certain improvements upon the machines already in use for making wove and laid paper in continued lengths, or separate sheets.
1817. Mr. John Murray, the eminent publisher, in Albemarle-street, London, bought the works of the rev. George Crabbe,** for which he gave the munificent sum of £3000.
1817, June 6. Thomas Jonathan Wooler, proprietor and editor of the Black Dwarf, was tried in the court of king's bench, London, for a presumed libel on his majesty's ministers; when doubts arose respecting the validity of the verdict of guilty, there being ground to believe the jury were not unanimous.
1817, June. A petition from Thomas Fisher to the House of Commons, against the act of parliament for enforcing eleven copies of a work which he was about to publish.†† Mr. Fisher published, in 1813, The present circumstances of literary property in England considered, in a Letter to a member of parliament. London, 1813. 8vo, See Gentleman's Magazine for 1813.
1817, July 1. Myers’s Mercantile Advertiser, No. 1, printed and published by James and Jonathan Smith, Liverpool. This paper was commenced and editea by Thomas Marshall Myers, whose n«iie it bears.
1817, July. Bleale Blackwell, esq. gave to the stationers' company so much bank stock as at the time of his death would produce the annual sum of ₤100, to be every year distributed equally amongst twenty deserving journeymen letter-press printers; the first distribution of which took place in October, 1821.
1817, Dec. 18, 19, 20. William Hone, bookseller, London, tried in the court of king's bench, before Lord Ellenborough‡ for publishing three separate parodies, and acquitted, after an extemporaneous defence of seven hours on the first charge, eight hours on the second, and nine hours on the third.
† The amiable Thomas Pringle was the editor of Blackwood's Magazine daring the lint six months of Its existence, and (or many years secretary to the London Anti-Slavery Society. He died at liondon, December 5, 1835.
** George Crabbe was born December 24, 1734, at Aldboroagh. In Saffolk, where his father was an officer of the customs. He was educated at the Tillage school, and in 1768 was apprenticed to a surgeon. In 1782, ttuooghthe interest of Mr. Borlie, he was ordained by Dr. Yonge, then bishop of Norwich. It early occurred to him, that if the characters of rustic society were painted in their actual lineaments, without the elevation and embellishment which the poetry of all ages had given to them, the result would be something strikingly novel, and not destitute of a moral use. The Village, a poem in two books, published In 1 781, was formed upon this plan; and its correct, though some, times unseemly descriptions, made a strong impression upon the public mind. It was followed, in 1785, by a short poem entitled The Newspaper after which for many years Mr. Crabbe devoted himself to his clerical duties, and to theological study. In 1807, he re-appeared before the literary world with The Parish Register, a longer composition than either of the preceding, but devoted to the same unflattering views of rural life. The Borough (1810), Tales in Verse (1812), and Tales of the Hall (1819, were poetical works of considerable magnitude, published by Mr. Crabbe during his lifetime; and a third series of Tales appeared after his death, which took place Feb. 3, 1833. With all his severity, be has much tenderness; and it must excite our surprise that tills quality is more apparent in his later than in his earlier poems. His works are also distinguished throughout by high moral aims.
†† Statement of the Grievances imposed on authors and publishers by the late copyright act. By sir Egerton Brydges, bart. 1818.
‡Edward Law, lord Ellenborough, was one of the sons of Edmund Law, bishop of Carlisle, who died August 14, 1787. and brother to George Henry Law, first bishop of Chester and afterwards of Ely. He resigned the chief justiceship September 21, and died Dec. 13. 1818.
