Barnaby Bernard Lintot
Encyclopedia
Barnaby Bernard Lintot (December 1, 1675 - February 9, 1736), English
publisher, was born at Southwater
, Sussex
, and started business as a publisher in London about 1698. He was apprenticed to a bookseller in 1690 and was not officially freed of his contract until 1700, but he began selling books independently at the sign of the Cross Keys in St. Martin's Lane before that, and six plays
appeared with his imprint in 1698.
By concentrating his stock primarily on literary authors, Lintot was a rival of Jacob Tonson
's. In 1700, he married Catherine Langley, a widow, and moved his shop to Fleet Street
at the Post House. In 1705, he moved his shop again, to its most permanent location, at the Cross Keys on Fleet Street, next to Nandy's Coffee House and right by Temple Bar
. From 1705 to 1712, he published all the plays put on at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
, and he was one of the leading publishers of literary authors, including the dramas of George Farquhar
, John Dryden
, William Congreve
, Richard Steele
, Susanna Centlivre
, and Colley Cibber
.
In 1712, Lintott attempted to set up his own Miscellany series to counter Tonson's Poetical Miscellanies, which had been edited by Dryden, and so he got Alexander Pope
to assemble Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. This volume contained the first version of Pope's The Rape of the Lock
. Pope became a friend and author for Lintott, and many of Pope's friends began to sell their works to Lintott as well. John Gay
and Nicholas Rowe
, in particular, became clients of Lintott's, and Lintott published Pope's Works of 1717, Gay's Poems on Several Occasions in 1720, and Rowe's Works in 1728. Despite the early rivalry, in 1718, Lintott made an arrangement with Jacob Tonson that the two publishers would share in any future plays either house printed, and throughout his career Lintott established multiple publishing agreements with his rivals.
As a publisher, Lintott focused on works of literature, but he also published legal guides, the literary criticism
of John Dennis
, and the philosophical works of noted deists
. He also increased the pay that he gave to authors who had proven successful and occasionally speculated on contemporary furores. He paid, for example, £105 to Colley Cibber for The Nonjuror and over £100 to John Gay for Poems on Several Occasions (after offering only £35 for Trivia). However, he also paid £130 to James Moore Smythe
for The Rival Modes, primarily because of the disagreement Smythe had had with Pope.
Lintott was the first to publish a catalogue of his holdings in 1714, with The Monthly Catalogue. He also, according to Pope, performed an early version of peer review
. When he had a translation that he had purchased, he would send it out to "gentlemen" to assess its accuracy before he published it. From 1714 to 1727, he was one of the primary printers to the House of Commons
.
In 1725, Pope and Lintot had a significant and complex quarrel. Lintott had paid Pope £2,201 for his translation of Homer
's Iliad
. Because of piracy and miscalculations, Lintott had not recouped the profit he anticipated. Thus, when Pope came to publish his translation of Odyssey
, Lintot was in no mood to offer the same terms. Pope therefore went to Jacob Tonson. He offered to do an edition of Shakespeare
for only £100 if Tonson would offer very good terms on Odyssey. Tonson, however, had arrangements with Lintot and declined to offer a better deal, and so Pope received only £337 from Lintot for the translation. Tonson, for his part, went ahead and advertised the new Shakespeare edition by Pope, and this infuriated Lintot, who complained in print. Pope quit Lintot at that point.
In 1725-1727, Pope referred to Lintot twice in his works. In the Narrative of Dr. Norris, Lintot is satirized lightly, and in the Full and True Account of the "poisoning" of Edmund Curll
he is struck a bit more directly. However, in The Dunciad
, Pope took full revenge. Lintot is satirized several places in the poem. He is, first, given a memorable description as a "dabchick" flopping through bedpan slops (Lintot was a very large and clumsy man, according to contemporaries, with a tendency to "sputter" and to resort to exasperated profanity):
He is next satirized for being foolish enough to chase after the "Phantom More" (James Moore Smythe) and for winning the company and writings of the "Juno of majestic size" Eliza Haywood
.
Lintot went into semi-retirement in 1730. From that point on, his son, Henry Lintot, ran the publishing business with him, and Lintot moved out to Sussex. During his career, Bernard purchased lands adjoining his father's lands every time he had occasion, and so he had moderate estates by the time he gave his son a role in the business. In 1735, he was High Sheriff of Sussex
; he died of "an asthma" in February of 1736.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
publisher, was born at Southwater
Southwater
Southwater is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England with a population of roughly 10,000. The village is administered from the Horsham District Council Offices. Much of the population of Southwater originated from the brick industry which thrived in the...
, Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, and started business as a publisher in London about 1698. He was apprenticed to a bookseller in 1690 and was not officially freed of his contract until 1700, but he began selling books independently at the sign of the Cross Keys in St. Martin's Lane before that, and six plays
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
appeared with his imprint in 1698.
By concentrating his stock primarily on literary authors, Lintot was a rival of Jacob Tonson
Jacob Tonson
Jacob Tonson, sometimes referred to as Jacob Tonson the elder was an 18th-century English bookseller and publisher....
's. In 1700, he married Catherine Langley, a widow, and moved his shop to Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
at the Post House. In 1705, he moved his shop again, to its most permanent location, at the Cross Keys on Fleet Street, next to Nandy's Coffee House and right by Temple Bar
Temple Bar, London
Temple Bar is the barrier marking the westernmost extent of the City of London on the road to Westminster, where Fleet Street becomes the Strand...
. From 1705 to 1712, he published all the plays put on at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
, and he was one of the leading publishers of literary authors, including the dramas of George Farquhar
George Farquhar
George Farquhar was an Irish dramatist. He is noted for his contributions to late Restoration comedy, particularly for his plays The Recruiting Officer and The Beaux' Stratagem .-Early life:...
, John Dryden
John Dryden
John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
, William Congreve
William Congreve
William Congreve was an English playwright and poet.-Early life:Congreve was born in Bardsey, West Yorkshire, England . His parents were William Congreve and his wife, Mary ; a sister was buried in London in 1672...
, Richard Steele
Richard Steele
Sir Richard Steele was an Irish writer and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine The Spectator....
, Susanna Centlivre
Susanna Centlivre
Susanna Centlivre born Susanna Freeman, also known professionally as Susanna Carroll, was an English poet, actress and one of the premier dramatists of the 18th century. During her long career at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, she became known as the Second Woman of the English Stage after Aphra Behn...
, and Colley Cibber
Colley Cibber
Colley Cibber was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style...
.
In 1712, Lintott attempted to set up his own Miscellany series to counter Tonson's Poetical Miscellanies, which had been edited by Dryden, and so he got Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
to assemble Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. This volume contained the first version of Pope's The Rape of the Lock
The Rape of the Lock
The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope, first published anonymously in Lintot's Miscellany in May 1712 in two cantos , but then revised, expanded and reissued under Pope's name on March 2, 1714, in a much-expanded 5-canto version...
. Pope became a friend and author for Lintott, and many of Pope's friends began to sell their works to Lintott as well. John Gay
John Gay
John Gay was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for The Beggar's Opera , set to music by Johann Christoph Pepusch...
and Nicholas Rowe
Nicholas Rowe (dramatist)
Nicholas Rowe , English dramatist, poet and miscellaneous writer, was appointed Poet Laureate in 1715.-Life:...
, in particular, became clients of Lintott's, and Lintott published Pope's Works of 1717, Gay's Poems on Several Occasions in 1720, and Rowe's Works in 1728. Despite the early rivalry, in 1718, Lintott made an arrangement with Jacob Tonson that the two publishers would share in any future plays either house printed, and throughout his career Lintott established multiple publishing agreements with his rivals.
As a publisher, Lintott focused on works of literature, but he also published legal guides, the literary criticism
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
of John Dennis
John Dennis
John Dennis was an English critic and dramatist.-Life:He was born in Harrow, London. He was educated at Harrow School and Caius College, Cambridge, where he took his B.A. degree in 1679. In the next year he was fined and dismissed from his college for having wounded a fellow-student with a sword....
, and the philosophical works of noted deists
Deism
Deism in religious philosophy is the belief that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized religion, can determine that the universe is the product of an all-powerful creator. According to deists, the creator does not intervene in human affairs or suspend the...
. He also increased the pay that he gave to authors who had proven successful and occasionally speculated on contemporary furores. He paid, for example, £105 to Colley Cibber for The Nonjuror and over £100 to John Gay for Poems on Several Occasions (after offering only £35 for Trivia). However, he also paid £130 to James Moore Smythe
James Moore Smythe
James Moore Smythe was an English playwright, fop,and wastrel. He was appointed by the King to the Office of, Co-Paymaster of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms. He was born James Moore.He was the son of Arthur Moore M.P. , for Great Grimsby, and his 2nd wife Theophila Smythe, dau...
for The Rival Modes, primarily because of the disagreement Smythe had had with Pope.
Lintott was the first to publish a catalogue of his holdings in 1714, with The Monthly Catalogue. He also, according to Pope, performed an early version of peer review
Peer review
Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...
. When he had a translation that he had purchased, he would send it out to "gentlemen" to assess its accuracy before he published it. From 1714 to 1727, he was one of the primary printers to the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
.
In 1725, Pope and Lintot had a significant and complex quarrel. Lintott had paid Pope £2,201 for his translation of Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
's Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
. Because of piracy and miscalculations, Lintott had not recouped the profit he anticipated. Thus, when Pope came to publish his translation of Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
, Lintot was in no mood to offer the same terms. Pope therefore went to Jacob Tonson. He offered to do an edition of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
for only £100 if Tonson would offer very good terms on Odyssey. Tonson, however, had arrangements with Lintot and declined to offer a better deal, and so Pope received only £337 from Lintot for the translation. Tonson, for his part, went ahead and advertised the new Shakespeare edition by Pope, and this infuriated Lintot, who complained in print. Pope quit Lintot at that point.
In 1725-1727, Pope referred to Lintot twice in his works. In the Narrative of Dr. Norris, Lintot is satirized lightly, and in the Full and True Account of the "poisoning" of Edmund Curll
Edmund Curll
Edmund Curll was an English bookseller and publisher. His name has become synonymous, through the attacks on him by Alexander Pope, with unscrupulous publication and publicity. Curll rose from poverty to wealth through his publishing, and he did this by approaching book printing in a mercenary...
he is struck a bit more directly. However, in The Dunciad
The Dunciad
The Dunciad is a landmark literary satire by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times. The first version was published in 1728 anonymously. The second version, the Dunciad Variorum was published anonymously in 1729. The New Dunciad, in four books and with a...
, Pope took full revenge. Lintot is satirized several places in the poem. He is, first, given a memorable description as a "dabchick" flopping through bedpan slops (Lintot was a very large and clumsy man, according to contemporaries, with a tendency to "sputter" and to resort to exasperated profanity):
- "As when a dab-chick waddles thro' the copse,
- On feet and wings, and flies, and wades, and hops;
- So lab'ring on, with shoulders, hands, and head,
- Wide as a windmill all his figure spread . . .
- Full in the middle way there stood a lake,
- Which Curl's Corinna chanc'd that morn to make,
- (Such was her wont, at early down to drop
- Her evening cates before his neighbour's shop,)
- Here fortun'd Curl to slide; loud shout the band,
- And Bernard! Bernard! rings thro' all the Strand." (II 59-70)
He is next satirized for being foolish enough to chase after the "Phantom More" (James Moore Smythe) and for winning the company and writings of the "Juno of majestic size" Eliza Haywood
Eliza Haywood
Eliza Haywood , born Elizabeth Fowler, was an English writer, actress and publisher. Since the 1980s, Eliza Haywood’s literary works have been gaining in recognition and interest...
.
Lintot went into semi-retirement in 1730. From that point on, his son, Henry Lintot, ran the publishing business with him, and Lintot moved out to Sussex. During his career, Bernard purchased lands adjoining his father's lands every time he had occasion, and so he had moderate estates by the time he gave his son a role in the business. In 1735, he was High Sheriff of Sussex
High Sheriff of Sussex
-History:The office of High Sheriff is over 1000 years old, with its establishment before the Norman Conquest. The Office of High Sheriff remained first in precedence in the counties until the reign of Edward VII when an Order in Council in 1908 gave the Lord-Lieutenant the prime office under the...
; he died of "an asthma" in February of 1736.