Manuscriptsand Editions

MANUSCRIPTSAND EDITIONS:

·  A crucial source of information on CharlesRivingtonis a typescript by C. and J.Rivington, "CharlesRivingtonBookseller, Publisher and Stationer 1688-1742: An Interim Note on His 300th Birthday" (1988), a photocopy of which is in the Stationers' Company Library, London. The Bodleian Library, Oxford, has "Agreement for Conger copies of Books" (MS. Eng. Misc. b. 44) and "RivingtonAccounts, 1749-59" (MS. Don. c. 66, fols. 17-21). The British Library has "Booksellers' Trade Sale Catalogues, 1718-1768." The Public Record Office, London, has documents related to the bankruptcy of JamesRivingtonand James Fletcher Jr.

Thefirm ofRivington, an important London publishing house throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, remained in family hands from 1711 to 1890. While the Rivingtons were known in the eighteenth century primarily as theological publishers and in the nineteenth as both theological and educational publishers, the first two generations in the bookselling business--Charles and his sons John and James--were involved in the publication of significant literary works, among which wereSamuel Richardson'sPamela, or Virtue Rewarded(1740) andTobias Smollett'sComplete History of England(1758). The family was influential in the London book trade and was closely connected with the Stationers' Company: four of the masters of the company, as well as the clerks from 1800 to 1956, were Rivingtons.

CharlesRivington, the founder of theRivingtonpublishing house, was baptized on 15 November 1688 at Chesterfield, in Derbyshire. His father, Thurston, was a butcher, and the family was involved in the leather trade. Charles was apprenticed in 1703 to Emanuel Matthews, a bookbinder in Paternoster Row, London. On 6 October 1707 he was turned over to the bookseller Awnsham Churchill.Rivingtonwas freed 4 September 1710 and in 1711 purchased the premises and trade of the recently deceased Richard Chiswell, an eminent London bookseller who had been in business at the Rose and Crown, St. Paul's Churchyard, since 1663 and, like Churchill, had become an important member of the Wholesaling Conger. CharlesRivington'sdescendants Christopher andJamesRivingtonhave speculated about the source of the young bookseller's capital for such a purchase: "It is possible that, with the recent death of his elder brother Thurston in 1710, Charles was now able, as the eldest son, to call upon greater financial backing from his family in Derbyshire. We do not know how muchRivingtonhad to pay; however, thirteen years later, ThomasLongmanhad to pay over £2000 for a well established business."

In 1714Rivingtonmoved his shop to the north side of St. Paul's Churchyard and continued business under the sign of the Bible and Crown (later designated number 62 St. Paul's Churchyard). These premises remained in the Rivingtons' possession until 1853.

From 1716 to 1736 CharlesRivington'sname appeared on the imprints of an average of ten titles per year, about half of which he published jointly with other booksellers. After 1730 many of these were theological works, such as the second edition of John Veneer'sAn Exposition on the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England(1734), and sermons commissioned by their authors.Rivington, however, was clearly not rigid in his support of the established church, for he also published works forJohn Wesleyand George Whitfield, leaders of the Methodist movement. In 1735 he brought out Wesley's edition of Thomas à Kempis'sThe Imitation of Christ, described by SeptimusRivingtonin 1919 as "a book that has, after the Bible, gone through more editions than any other."

CharlesRivingtonbecame the leading theological bookseller in London, but he did not restrict himself to religious works. Trade dictionaries were profitable, and in a four-year span he published John Nott'sCook's and Confectioner's Dictionary(1723), Philip Miller'sThe Gardeners and Florists Dictionary(1724), Richard Neve'sThe City and Country Purchaser, and Builder's Dictionary(1726), and N. B. Philippos'sThe Farrier's and Horseman's Dictionary(1726). In 1725 and 1727RivingtonpublishedDaniel Defoe's popular two-volumeThe Complete English Tradesman.

Rivingtonalso published fiction. He was a member of the Castle Conger, one of the two most important congers of the 1720s. Norma Hodgson and Cyprian Blagden define a conger of this period as "a little joint-stock company with about ten shareholders, who print their books together for their mutual, and normally equal, advantage and publish their names at the foot of their title-pages and in their advertisements." The Castle Conger established ties withPenelope Aubin, whose fiction influenced the works of Richardson and the Abbé Prévost. The title page of Aubin'sLife of Madam de Beaumont, a French Lady(1721) carries the names of the members of the Castle Conger: Elizabeth Bell (widow of Andrew Bell), John Darby, Arthur Bettesworth, Francis Fayram, John Pemberton, John Hooke, CharlesRivington, Francis Clay, Jeremiah Batley, and Edward Symon; the order of their names was determined by their seniority as freemen of the Stationers' Company. During the 1720sRivington'sname, along with those of the other conger members, appeared on the title pages of six of Aubin's novels and three of her translations.

Rivington'sconnection with Richardson dates back at least to 1724, when both men were involved in the publication of the second edition of Nathan Bailey'sUniversal Etymological English Dictionary:Richardson was one of its two printers, and the Castle Conger owned the property. Christopher andJamesRivingtonhave traced some thirty titles published byRivingtonand printed by Richardson in the 1730s. Richardson continued to print for theRivingtonfamily at least until 1753.

In 1739Rivingtonand John Osborn Sr. urged Richardson to write a book of familiar letters to serve as models for the use of country people. As he composed letters intended "to instruct handsome Girls, who were obliged to go out to Service," Richardson remembered a story of a servant girl who married her master; soon he interrupted his work onLetters Written to and for Particular Friends, on the Most Important Occasions(1741) and turned his attention to writing a novel.Pamela, published late in 1740 but dated 1741 on the title page, was an instant success, and went through four more editions in 1741.

Rivingtondied on 22 February 1742; Richardson, one of the executors of his will, wroteAaron Hillon 24 September that he had suffered "A dreadful [nervous affliction], partly occasioned by the shock of Mr.Rivington'ssudden death." Charles and Eleanor PeaseRivingtonhad thirteen children, eight of whom were sons. John, James, and Charles Jr., the three sons who outlived their father, all entered the book trade. John was twenty-two at the time of his father's death; James was eighteen. John had been apprenticed to his father on 6 May 1735; James on 4 September 1739. John andJamesRivingtoneach inherited half of the bookselling business from their father. John was freed by patrimony on 1 June 1742, and on 6 July, James was turned over to him as an apprentice. Until James turned twenty-one, John managed their affairs, for which duty he was paid twenty pounds a year out of James's share. James was freed by patrimony on 3 December 1745; the two brothers were then in formal partnership until 1756. Charles Jr., who had been born in 1731, was apprenticed to Richardson on 9 August 1746; he was freed on 4 September 1753 and opened his own printing office in Staining (or Steyning) Lane. He took over some of the printing Richardson had been doing for John andJamesRivington.

Given the different temperaments of John and James, the ten years they were partners were not tranquil ones, and although they shared equally in the literary property acquired by their father, they also went their separate ways in cultivating and conducting business relationships. John was the eminently respectable theological bookseller; according to SeptimusRivington, he was "of dignified and gentlemanly address, going with gold-headed cane and nosegay twice a day to service at St. Paul's ... and breakfasting every alternate Monday with Archbishop Secker at Lambeth." In his orthodoxy John differed significantly from his father: he forced Wesley and Whitfield to change booksellers, and in 1752 he published Richard Hurd's sermonThe Mischiefs of Enthusiasm and Bigotry. Around 1760 he was appointed publisher to the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. He was also a director of the Amiable Society and the Union Fire Office and a governor of Christ's Hospital.

While John quietly built on his father's established business, following the conventions of the London trade, James took risks and looked farther afield in hopes of turning a large profit in a short time. His most ambitious aim was to corner the American book market by underselling the members of the London trade who had established themselves as suppliers of books for American booksellers. Both John andJamesRivingtonwere active in the Stationers' Company: James was renter warden in 1752; and although rather than serve as renter warden John paid a fine of £24 10s. 6d. on 25 March 1749, he eventually rose to master of the company in 1775. By that time his brothers James and Charles and his four sons were all members of the Livery.

The Bodleian Library holds a unique copy of part of Richardson's printing account with John andJamesRivingtonduring the 1750s. The document reveals that in 1750 Richardson printed the fourth edition of hisFamiliar Lettersand charged the Rivingtons £6 6s., one third of the printing costs, for 1,500 copies. CharlesRivingtonhad owned a one-third share in the work, and his sons thus each possessed a one-sixth share. Other printing jobs done by Richardson for the Rivingtons in 1750 were 750 copies of Patrick Delany'sTwenty Sermons on Social Dutiesat a cost of £25 11s. 6d., 2,500 copies of the two-volume eighth edition of James Hervey'sMeditations and Contemplationsat a cost of £67 9s., and 2,000 copies of Miller'sThe Gardeners Kalendarat a cost of £31 14s. 6d.

TheRivingtonbrothers announced their separation in theLondon Evening Postfor 6 March 1756:

The Partnership between JOHN and JAMESRIVINGTON, Booksellers, being this Day dissolv'd by mutual Consent: All Persons who are indebted to the said Partnership are desir'd to pay their respective Debts to JohnRivingtonin St. Paul's Church-yard; and all Persons having any Demands on the said Partnership, are desir'd to bring or send their Accounts to the said Shop, in order to receive Satisfaction for the same.

The Trade continues to be carried on by JohnRivington, in St. Paul's Church-yard; and byJamesRivingtonin Paternoster Row. Any Orders which they shall be favour'd with at their respective Shops, will be gratefully receiv'd and punctually executed,

By their most oblig'd, and obedient Servants,

JOHNRIVINGTON,

JAMESRIVINGTON.

Although the advertisement says that anyone who owed money to the partnership should pay JohnRivington, James was claiming for himself the money owed by American booksellers. On 17 May 1757 John wrote to John Stevens of Boston, Massachusetts, who owed the firm £81 18s. 7d. for books ordered on 4 September 1754; James had attempted to collect the payment. John warned Stevens that James's demand was illegal, for a power of attorney of 5 March 1756 prevented James from receiving such payments. He added that James had been making similar demands on other customers' accounts and closed: "I am sorry I am forced to write in this manner in relation to my Brother, but in Justice to my own family I am obliged to do it."

Immediately beneath the announcement in theLondon Evening Postdissolving the partnership,JamesRivingtonhad inserted a second notice:

JAMESRIVINGTON,from St. Paul's Church-yard, AND JAMES FLETCHER, jun.from Oxford, BOOKSELLERS, Beg Leave to acquaint their Friends, THAT they have enter'd into Partnership, and open'd a Shop in Pater-noster Row, near Cheapside; Where their Favours will be most gratefully received.

James Fletcher Jr. was the son of an Oxford bookseller with whom the Rivingtons had been doing business; in 1755 the Rivingtons and James Fletcher Sr. had jointly published seven works, six of them sermons preached at Oxford. James Fletcher Jr. was freed in April 1756 and remained in partnership withJamesRivingtonat the sign of the Oxford Theatre in Paternoster Row until they were declared bankrupt in January 1760. According to the bankruptcy records, the partnership had favoredRivingtonfrom the beginning, when "it was agreed between them ... thatJamesRivingtonwas to have two thirds of the Profits arising from such Trade and ... James Fletcher the Remaining third of the Profits[,] that the management of the Business of the shop was chiefly left to ... James Fletcher but the Care of the Books and Cash and Raising and paying the money belonging to the ... partnership were undertaken and conducted by ...JamesRivington."

Before forming the partnership with Fletcher,Rivingtonhad established what was to prove a mutually profitable business relationship with Smollett. On 14 and 19 November 1751, at two sales of the books and shares of copyrights of John Osborn Sr., theRivingtonbrothers had made their first investments in Smollett's writings. They paid £17 for a one-eighth share inRoderick Random(1748), £13 15s. for a one-eighth share in Smollett's translation of Alain-René Lesage'sGil Blas(1749), and £28 10s. for a one-eighth share in Smollett's projected translation of Miguel de Cervantes'sDon Quixote, which was not published until 1755. On 5 May 1753 Smollett signed an agreement withRobert Dodsley,William Strahan, andJamesRivingtonpromising to compile for themA Compendium of Authentic and Entertaining Voyages, a seven-volume work that was published in 1756.

Sometime in 1755, apparently atJamesRivington's behest, Smollett committed himself to writeA Complete History of England, whichRivingtonand Fletcher published in four quarto volumes in 1757 and 1758. It was a resounding success, and in 1758 an octavo edition began appearing in weekly sixpenny installments published byRivingtonand Fletcher along with Richard Baldwin. A legend persists thatRivingtondevised an ingenious method for advertising the new edition, sending a package of the prospectus to every parish clerk in England with a halfcrown enclosed to have them distributed through the pews of the church; the people read the papers instead of listening to the sermon, resulting in a large demand for the work. The publishers also widely advertised theComplete Historyin the newspapers during the two years it appeared in installments. Their efforts at marketing the work paid off: on 28 September 1758 Smollett said in a letter that "the weekly sale of the History has increased to above Ten thousand," and two years later the printerWilliam Strahanclaimed thatRivingtonhad made ten thousand pounds from the work. Smollett's biographer Lewis M. Knapp terms such a sale of a historical work "unprecedented."

Probably in 1759 Smollett contracted withRivingtonfor a long-term project,The Present State of All Nations, which was published in 1768-1769, afterRivingtonand Fletcher's bankruptcy, by Richard Baldwin, William Johnston, S. Crowder, and George Robinson and John Roberts. Another agreement in 1759 concerned plans for a new review-miscellany,The British Magazine: or, Monthly Repository for Gentlemen and Ladies, to begin in January 1760. In this case it seems likely that Smollett engagedRivington, rather than the other way around, as the periodical was in its editor's control rather than the publishers'.Rivingtonand Fletcher brought in another publisher, the relatively unknown Henry Payne, to join them in the endeavor; his role in the project became prominent whenRivingtonand Fletcher declared bankruptcy on 3 January 1760.