A History of Booksellers, the Old and the NewCurwen, Henry
History
A History of Booksellers, the Old and the New
Curwen, Henry
Book industries and trade -- Great Britain -- History; Booksellers and bookselling -- Great Britain -- History
Charles, the founder, was succeeded by John and James, who carried on
the publishing business conjointly for several years, after which James
joined a Mr. Fletcher, in St. Paul’s Churchyard, with whom he brought
out Smollett’s “History of England,” by which £10,000 was cleared--the
largest profit that had yet been made on any single book. This success,
however, encouraged James to neglect his affairs, and he took to
frequenting Newmarket; racing and gambling soon ended in a failure,
and in 1760 he thought it advisable to start for the New World. Here,
in Philadelphia, he commenced his celebrated _Gazette_, and, as he
advocated the British interests and took the loyal side, his premises
were destroyed by the rebels, and his type cast into republican
bullets. James Rivington then came back to London, where he obtained
the appointment of “King’s printer to America,” and furnished afresh
with types and presses he returned to recommence his _Royal Gazette_,
which he carried on boldly up to the withdrawal of the British troops;
and as he had contrived somehow, it is said by forwarding early
intelligence, to propitiate the enemy, he was allowed to continue his
paper, which soon died for want of subscribers; but until 1802 he lived
in New York, leaving many descendants there. Even in those early and
unsophisticated days, Yankee gentlemen had contracted the habit of
“cowhiding” obnoxious or impertinent editors, and the wit of the _Royal
Gazette_ was in its time sufficiently stinging and personal to involve
its proprietor in many of these little difficulties. James Rivington
relates rather an amusing story of an interview with Ethan Allen,
one of the republican heroes, who came for the express purpose of
administering chastisement. He says:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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