Stationers and printing

Use in the book

The book’s material presentation already has an agent before Democritus Junior addresses the reader. The verse explaining the frontispiece disclaims pride in showing the author’s face and says, ‘The Printer would needs have it so.’ This playful attribution gives the printer influence over the presented author-image. The printer is not named there; the later imprint’s initials should not be expanded or used to identify the verse’s speaker by conjecture.

The complaint against ‘mercenarie Stationers’ presents commercial publication as a constraint on authorial choice. Burton says that he wanted a shorter Latin book, then alleges that stationers welcome scurrilous English pamphlets but ‘in Latine they will not deal.’ His ensuing apology moves from the market to his own shortcomings: an unrevised copy, insufficient leisure and no assistants. The contrast with Origen’s amanuenses, supplied by a patron, makes the labour concrete. Lucian’s magically animated servant is a comic wish for help, not a description of how manuscripts were produced. Synderesis, compact record dictate · dictats, already explains Origen’s dictats in this same quotation; the present distinction concerns the amanuenses who take them down.

Claims of insufficient revision coexist with claims of repeated publication and change. Burton says the first three editions were quickly taken up, but immediately acknowledges scornful rejection as well as approval. He then admits that a sixth edition should have corrected earlier escapes. Repairing an old house becomes his comparison for the difficulty of revising an existing book. The next pages nevertheless specify alteration, removal, correction and addition, including the use of authors newly available to him. ‘Unrevised’ is therefore part of his apologetic self-presentation, not an adequate description of the entire book’s production history.

A later parenthesis gives a particular trace of new reading: Ferrand’s book came to Burton after his third edition. The original margin adds ‘Printed at Paris 1624. Seven years after my first Edition.’ The supplied note identifies the inconsistency with the 1621 first edition, but preserves the printed calculation rather than correcting it silently. Such evidence supports the book’s changing contents without supplying a perfectly consistent chronology (compare).

At the close, the voice changes. The notice signed H. C. says that the author has died since the previous impression, leaving a carefully corrected copy with additions in his own hand and instructions to incorporate them. H. C. claims to have fulfilled those instructions in the present impression. This is testimony about preparation of the posthumous printing, not Burton speaking after death. It describes authorial additions to a copy, not necessarily a wholly autograph manuscript, and does not establish that the copy survives. The retained first-person sixth-edition claims must be read beside this distinct custodial account.

Related entries

Apologize: asking indulgence and defending publication choices; apologize–V003 retain apologize and deprecari in the shared passage.

Censure: the reader’s evaluation and favorable censure, including Censure.

Madness: mad in Print, mad in print.

Cacoëthes and scribbling: the urge to write and disparaged writers, rather than the production trade.

Translation and paraphrase: the selective rendering policy adjacent to printers faults.

Authority: the authority and resources which Burton says he lacks.

Synderesis: dictats as words delivered for scribes, in the shared Origen quotation, dictate · dictats.

Places to read

1. An Explanation of the Frontispiece · paragraphs 12–13the author’s portrait and the printer’s insistence.
2. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 17–18successive editions, claimed rapid sale and mixed reception.
3. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 21–25stationers, Latin publication, the copy and absent writing assistants.
4. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 1–6revision, escapes, printers’ errors and additions.
5. Member 2. Subsection 1. Causes of Heroic Love: Bodily Temperament, Plentiful Diet, Idleness, Place, Climate, and So Forth · paragraph 19; Note 8836; the Cure of Love Melancholy by Work, Diet, Medicine, Fasting and Other Means · paragraph 39; note 10540Ferrand’s arrival after an earlier edition and the inconsistent marginal dating.
6. To the Reader · paragraphs 289–292H. C.’s posthumous notice, signature and the 1651 imprint.

In this edition

‘Mercenarie Stationers’ becomes ‘money-minded booksellers’: the commercial judgement comes from mercenarie, while booksellers interprets Stationers. ‘Amanuenses’ becomes ‘copyists’; ‘to write out his dictats’ supplies the further activity, ‘to take down his dictation.’ Copy becomes manuscript in the opening apology but remains copy in H. C.’s notice. This difference preserves the local evidence rather than asserting that the two objects were identical.

‘Escapes’ becomes ‘oversights’ and ‘printers faults’ becomes ‘printers’ errors.’ The last of these is only one item in a list that also includes syntax, repetition and grammatical number. In the closing notice, last Impression first means the previous printing and later, in this last Impression, the present printing. The modern column follows those different time perspectives. ‘Mad in Print,’ elsewhere, belongs to the lover’s studied fashionable precision, not book production: see Madness, compact record mad in print.

stationer

A participant in the book trade, here one who undertakes publication and sale; not a seller of writing paper alone.

Grammar: Plural count noun, modified by mercenarie.

Original text: “our mercenarie Stationers”. In the modern column: “our money-minded booksellers”. Burton blames the commercial book trade for preferring English scurrilous pamphlets to his proposed shorter Latin work. Burton’s satirical complaint, continued by the claim that they will not deal in Latin, not a neutral description of every bookseller. Stationers gives booksellers; mercenarie supplies money-minded. The note broadens the trade to booksellers and publishers.

printer

The agent responsible for printing a book, distinguished in an imprint from the party for whom it is printed and those who sell it.

Grammar: Singular agent noun; the imprint supplies the related passive verb printed with a by-agent.

Original preliminary verse: “The Printer would needs have it so.” In the modern column: “The printer insisted on it.” The verse attributes inclusion of the author’s portrait to the printer’s insistence. A playful authorial explanation continuing the preceding stanza’s denial of pride; no personal name identifies this printer. Printer retains printer; would needs have it so becomes insisted on it.

Original imprint: “Printed by R. W. for Henry Cripps of Oxford, and are to be sold by Andrew Crook in Pauls Church-yard, and by Henry Cripps and Lodowick Lloyd in Popes-head Ally. 1651.” In the modern column: “Printed by R. W. for Henry Cripps of Oxford, and sold by Andrew Crook in St Paul’s Churchyard, and by Henry Cripps and Lodowick Lloyd in Pope’s Head Alley. 1651.” The imprint assigns printing to R. W., the for-role to Henry Cripps of Oxford, and sale to the separately named sellers. Imprint statement, not Burton’s first-person voice. R. W. is retained without conjectural expansion. The complete imprint is contextual evidence for differentiated roles. Printed by alone aligns to Printed by; neither for nor sold by is a synonym for printer.

amanuensis

A writing assistant who takes down dictation or makes copies.

Grammar: Latin-derived English plural Amanuenses; singular supplied as lookup headword.

Original text: “allowing him six or seven Amanuenses to write out his dictats”. In the modern column: “providing six or seven copyists to take down his dictation”. Origen’s patron is said to provide writing assistance which Burton lacks. Burton’s comparison with his own lack of assistance, after Lucian’s comic magical-servant tale. An accompanying note reports the difference from Eusebius; six or seven is Burton’s retained number. Amanuenses gives copyists; write out his dictats supplies take down his dictation.

copy

The text or exemplar used for producing a book: the manuscript to be revised in the opening apology, and the corrected copy entrusted for the later printing in the closing notice.

Grammar: Singular count noun; capitalized Copy in the closing notice.

Original text: “I have not revised the copy, and amended the stile”. In the modern column: “I have not revised the manuscript and improved its style”. Copy is the manuscript whose style Burton claims not to have revised sufficiently. Authorial self-presentation with an explicit lack-of-leisure explanation, not proof that no revision ever occurred. The checked noun copy becomes manuscript. The rest of the construction names the omitted revision.

Original closing notice: “leaving a Copy of it exactly corrected, with severall considerable Additions by his own hand”. In the modern column: “leaving a carefully corrected copy with several substantial additions in his own hand”. The custodian describes an exemplar with authorial corrections/additions, entrusted for preparation of the next edition. H. C., identified by the passage, reports Burton’s death and instructions. An accompanying note does not establish survival of this corrected copy. Copy remains copy here. By his own hand qualifies the additions in the statement; it does not assert that the whole copy was an autograph manuscript.

edition

A successive published form or issue of a work, locally identified by an ordinal or by revision; not a rigid modern distinction from impression.

Grammar: Singular count noun Edition/edition and plural Editions/editions.

Original text: “The first, second, and third edition were suddenly gone”. In the modern column: “The first, second, and third editions quickly sold out”. Editions here are successive publications whose copies Burton says were rapidly taken up. Burton’s claim, immediately balanced by hostile reception; no independent sales figures are supplied. The modern plural normalizes the three ordinals; gone is interpreted as sold out.

Original text: “Some things are here altered, expunged in this sixth Edition, others amended, much added”. In the modern column: “In this sixth edition some things have been altered or removed, others corrected, and much added”. Edition is the revised state in which deletion, alteration, correction and addition are distinguished. First-person wording in the transmitted sixth-edition text. It must be read alongside H. C.’s posthumous notice, not as proof of Burton’s personal posthumous supervision. The whole construction retains the four revision operations; sixth Edition alone gives sixth edition.

Original text: “which book came first to my hands after the third Edition”. In the modern column: “a book that first came into my hands after the third edition”. The ordinal dates access to Ferrand relative to an earlier publication of Burton’s own book. Parenthetical authorial statement. An accompanying note preserves a conflicting date calculation; it is not silently repaired. The source order of acquisition is retained; edition does not mean the edition of Ferrand received.

Original closing notice: “with directions to have those Additions inserted in the next Edition”. In the modern column: “with instructions to have those additions inserted in the next edition”. Next Edition names the intended publication containing the additions; the same notice calls the achieved result this last Impression. H. C.’s testimony after Burton’s death, not a direct statement by Burton. Next Edition aligns directly with next edition, while directions refers to Burton’s instructions reported by H. C.

impression

A printing of the book: the preceding printing and the present one in the closing custodian’s notice.

Grammar: Singular count noun Impression with last, used retrospectively and for the latest printing.

Original closing notice: “since the last Impression of this Book”. In the modern column: “since the previous printing of this book”. The first last Impression is the printing preceding the author’s death; the final this last Impression refers to the present printing. H. C. reports fulfilment of the deceased author’s instructions. His alternation of Edition and Impression does not establish a rigid bibliographical taxonomy. The quoted phrase becomes previous printing; later this last Impression becomes present printing. The different time perspectives come from the full notice.

escapes

Errors or oversights that have escaped correction.

Grammar: Plural count noun; former specifies the earlier uncorrected faults.

Original text: “corrected all those former escapes”. In the modern column: “corrected all the earlier oversights”. The sixth edition ought to have corrected earlier defects, but revision is represented as difficult labour. Burton admits remaining faults and asks for friendly correction, followed by willingness to yield when proved wrong. Escapes gives oversights; former gives earlier. This is not an escape by a person.

printers faults

Errors arising in printing, distinguished in the list from awkward syntax, repetition and grammatical confusion.

Grammar: Plural noun faults with printers as possessive modifier without a printed apostrophe.

Original text: “printers faults”. In the modern column: “printers’ errors”. Printing mistakes are one category within the author’s broader plea for lenient evaluation. Burton’s list follows his undertaking to amend demonstrated error. Censure owns favorable censure, and Translation owns the following selective-rendering policy. Faults gives errors and the modern apostrophe marks the possessive; not all the preceding defects are assigned to the printer.