Lackington was not the only man of his time who perceived that the conditions of literature were displaying at least a chance of change; that the circle of the book-buying public was incessantly enlarging, and that, by supplying the best books at the cheapest remunerative rates, not only would the progress of education be accelerated, but that the very speculation would bring fortune as well as honour to the innovators in the Trade. One of the first booksellers to adopt this principle was John Bell, whose name is still preserved in _Bell’s Weekly Messenger_. His _British Poets_, _British Theatre_ and _Shakespeare_, published in small pocket volumes, carried consternation into the trade, but scattered the English classics broadcast among the people. He was the first to discard the long s. He was soon rivalled by Cook and Harrison, and all three were distinguished, not only by publishing in little pocket volumes, exquisitely printed, and embellished by the best artists for the many, what had before been produced in folios and quartos for the few, but as the inventors of the “number trade,” by which even expensive works were sold in small weekly portions to those to whom literature had hitherto been an unknown luxury. Such were the _Lives of Christ_, _The Histories of England_, _Foxe’s Book of Martyrs_, _Family Bibles with Notes_, and _The Works of Flavius Josephus_. Many of these “number books,” though of no great literary merit, exhibited every possible attraction on their copious title-pages, and were announced with the then novel terms of “beautiful,” “elegant,” “superb,” and “magnificent.” [Illustration: Andrew Donaldson. (_From an Etching by Kay. 1789._)] [Illustration: Stationers’ Hall, near Paternoster Row. (_From an Etching by R. Cole. 1750._)]