39. The " Lucubrations " Of " I?aac Bicker?taff E?q; " Vol. I. " [Quotation] London, " Printed: And ?old by John Morphew, near Stationers-Hall. MDCCX. [-MDCCXI.] Note. The Bookbinder is de?ired to place the Index after [Tatler, No. 114] which ends the Fir?t Volume in Folio.

The first number of the Lucubrations, a folio sheet headed with the title The Tatler, and ending with the imprint London: Printed for the Author, 1709, appeared on Tuesday, April 12. It was issued thereafter three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, "for the convenience of the post."

Public interest having displayed itself in a sufficiently emphatic manner, the "Author" evidently felt justified in engaging a permanent printer, and the imprint of the fifth number reads: "Sold by John Morphew near Stationers-Hall; where Adverti?ements are taken in."

The first four numbers were distributed free as a kind of advertisement. Then, "Upon the humble Petition of the Running Stationers, &c.," they were sold at one penny. But a charge of halfpence was added after the twenty-sixth number, "Whereas Several Gentlemen have de?ir'd this Paper, with a blank Leaf to write Bu?ine?s on, and for the convenience of the po?t."

"Quidquid agunt homines nostri farrago libelli" is the motto printed at the head of the first forty numbers, and "Celebrare domestica facta" on Nos. 41 and 42, but after that special mottoes were used. The single numbers usually bear the name of "Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq,, aged sixty-four, an old man, a philosopher, an humorist, an astrologer and a censor," but sometimes other members of his family appear in his stead, especially his half-sister Jenny Distaff, and her husband.

Number 271, dated January 2, 1711, omits Bickerstaff's name, and the whole paper, except for some advertisements at the end, is given to a letter signed by Steele, in which he says: "The Printer having informed me that there are as many of the?e Papers printed as will make Four Volumes, I am now come to the End of my Ambition in this Matter, and have nothing further to ?ay to the World, under the Character of I?aac Bicker?taff. This Work has indeed for ?ome time been di?agreeable to me, and the Purpo?e of it wholly lo?t by my being ?o long under?tood as the Author.... All I can now do for the further Gratification of the Town, is to give them a faithful Index and Explication of Pa??ages and Allu?ions...." The index, called "A Faithful Index of the Dull as well as Ingenious Pa??ages in the Tatlers," bears at the end the important note, "[The Price of the?e Two Sheets, Three Pence.]" The "Explication of pa??ages" was made in "The Preface," which, in our copy, is bound after the dedications of the second volume. For, as it will thus be seen, Steele bethought himself to add further to the gratification of the public by printing two title-pages and four dedications, on folio sheets, for the benefit of those subscribers who might wish to bind their copies.

The title-page of the second volume is like the first, only it is dated 1711; and the foot-note reads: right-pointing hand "Note, The Bookbinder is de?ired to place the Index after [Tatler No. 271.] which ends the ?econd Volume in Folio." The index to the Tatlers of this volume has the note: "[The Price of the?e Three Sheets and a Half, Six Pence.]" The notes on the dedications, and the fact that while the folio sheets made only two volumes, four dedications were issued, shows us that the binding of the current sheets was an afterthought, and that the quarto edition in four volumes was relied upon to keep alive the lucubrations. Thus the quarto edition dedications were made to do double service.

In its present form the first volume is dedicated anonymously to Mr. Arthur Maynwaring, while the second has the other three dedications. One, to Edward Wortley Montague, signed Isaac Bickerstaff, has the note: "The Dedication foregoing belongs to the Second Volume of Tatlers in Octavo; which begins with N^o 51, and ends with N^o 114". One, to William, Lord Cowper, signed Richard Steele, has the note: "The foregoing Dedication belongs to the Third Volume of Tatlers in Octavo, which begins with N^o. 115, and ends with N^o. 189." The last one, dedicated to Charles, Lord Halifax, also signed by Steele, has a note which reads: "This Dedication belongs to the Fourth Volume of Tatlers in Octavo, which begins with N^o 190, and ends with N^o 271."

Aitken tells us that, "Like other publications of the time, the successive numbers of the Tatler were reprinted in Dublin and Edinburgh, as they came out. The Dublin issue was in quarto form, the Edinburgh paper a folio sheet, rather smaller than the original, and with a fresh set of advertisements of interest to local readers."

In No. 102, our editor says of the octavo edition:

"Whereas I am informed, That there is a ?purious and very incorrect Edition of the?e Papers printed in a ?mall Volume; The?e are to give Notice, That there is in the Pre?s, and will ?peedily be publi?hed, a very neat Edition, fitted for the Pocket, on extraordinary good Paper, a new Brevier Letter, like the Elzevir Editions, and adorned with ?everal Cuts by the be?t Arti?ts. To which is added, a Preface, Index, and many Notes, for the better Explanation of the?e Lucubrations. By the Author. Who has revi?ed, amended, and made many Additions to the Whole." In the last number he says again: "The Third Volume of the?e Lucubrations being ju?t fini?h'd, on a large Letter in Octavo, ?uch as plea?e to ?ub?cribe for it on a Royal Paper, to keep up their Sets, are de?ired to ?end their Names to Charles Lillie, Perfumer, at the Corner of Beauford-Buildings, in the Strand, or John Morphew near Stationers Hall, where the Fir?t and Second Volumes are to be deliver'd."

The price of the corrected work in four quarto volumes, if bought of the printer, was £1 per volume on royal paper, and ten shillings on medium paper; and it is gratifying to learn that the work met with so great a success that there was hardly a name eminent at the time which was not subscribed.

A copy in the British Museum has for a frontispiece a portrait of "Isaac Bickerstaff Esq. Engraved and ?old by John Sturt in Golden-Lion Court in Alder?gate Street Price Six Pence. MDCCX." and signed B. L ens ?en^r delineavit.

Folio.

Collation: Two volumes. No signatures. Volume I: iv pp. [114 ll.], iv pp. Volume II: viii pp. [271 ll.], vi pp.