Big Daddy Cary's Divine Comedy: Part 1
Cary's 1814 Divine Comedy
Henry Francis Cary’s translation of the Divine Comedy is arguably one of the most iconic versions ever published. For over 50 years it was the gold standard until it was toppled by Longfellow in 1867. Strangely, Cary’s Comedy was not an immediate success.
Cary published his first edition in 1814, twice. I’ll explain below. 1819 saw the second edition published with, as he put it, corrections. In 1831, though it says Third Edition on the title page, it is just a reprint of the 1819 second edition with no corrections. Then in 1844, making more revisions, he published his fourth edition. This was the last one published during his lifetime.
1814 Henry Francis Cary - Divine Comedy - TWICE?
As covered in the previous post The Early Infernos: 1805-1812, Cary published his Inferno in two volumes, 1805 and 1806 respectively. The sales for his Inferno were small and unsatisfactory, so when, in 1813, he completed the Divine Comedy he could not find anyone to publish it.1
On New Year’s Day, 1814,2 Cary released his Divine Comedy which was published at his own expense. Since he was burdened with the cost, to save money he removed the Italian text, “The Life of Dante,” and used a minute font type on very small page.3 The result was three volumes that were very, very tiny and nearly unreadable. The lower-case letters range from 1 to 1 1/2 millimeters in height! One reviewer said, “Those of our readers who value their eyes more than their purse, will scarcely thank Mr. Cary for the microscopical typography with which he has been pleased to afflict them.”4
There is another 1814 edition which was published by Taylor & Hessey, but was it really published in 1814?
In 1817 Cary had a chance meeting with Samuel Coleridge. At this first meeting he borrowed a copy of Cary’s translation. In February of 1818 he referred to the translation in one of his lectures. In that same month it had a favorable review in the influential Edinburgh Review. This started a landslide of laudatory articles which led to Taylor & Hessey willing to publish Cary’s translation.5
In fact, they were “willing to take up the unsold copies of the 1814 impression and to produce a new one.”6 More specifically, it was in May of 1818 that Cary had a meeting with John Taylor and James Hessey at Coleridge’s house where he signed an agreement “by which they were to purchase the remainder of the old edition (about a thousand copies) for £109, and to pay £125 for the new edition of 750 copies.”7 The new edition refers to the second edition which was published in 1819.
I’m confused. This raises some questions about the 1814 Taylor and Hessey edition. If they purchased the remaining books, shouldn’t they be the J. Barfield editions because if they were the “remainder of the old edition” then wouldn’t it follow they were already printed and left over?
Let’s look at the evidence. The “newer” 1814 edition has Taylor and Hessey appearing on the title page (Printed for Taylor and Hessey). Further, the pages are a slightly larger size with a different binding from the J. Barfield editions, but the text is exactly the same. More specifically, the J. Barfield edition was printed as 16mo8 with a paper size of 102 cm x 65 cm (approx. 4” x 2 1/2”). One source says the 1814 Taylor & Hessey is “in a larger format with imprint London, Taylor & Hessey.”9 It is not really that much larger being only 110 cm x 70 cm (approx. 2 3/4” x 4 1/4”). That would be an 1/8 of an inch extra in each direction, yet the text size is exactly the same as the original J. Barfield.
Another difference is that J. Barfield is now listed on the half-title page (J. Barfield, Printer, Wardour-Street, Soho), and A. Spottiswoode is now listed on the last blank page as the printer (London. Printed by A. Spottiswoode, New-Street-Square). A. Spottiswoode is Andrew Spottiswoode, nephew to the famous publisher Andrew Strahan. Andrew was “associated with his uncle for some ten years”10 before taking over his uncle’s business in 1819 (with his brother Robert).11
Here's what I think, based on the evidence presented above. Taylor and Hessey printed more copies of the 1814 edition in 1818. On the title page it states, “Printed for Taylor and Hessey” and on the last page it states, “by A. Spottiswoode, New-Street-Square.” Since the text of this edition is identical to the J. Barfield edition it could easily be assumed that the original plates (made by Barfield) were used. Therefore, Andrew Spottiswoode printed these newer editions, while he was working for his uncle, Andrew Strahan, for Taylor and Hessey using J. Barfield’s original plates.
They should have changed the year. Does anyone know if reprinting a book in a different year, but keeping the original publish date was a common practice in the early 1800’s?
It was not until 1819 that Taylor & Hessey published the second edition of Cary’s Divine Comedy. This and the rest of the Cary brood will be discussed in the next post.
Cunningham, Gilbert F. The Divine Comedy in English, A Critical Bibliography, 1782-1900. Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd, 1965, p. 18.
King, Robert Wylie. “Parson Primrose”; the Life, Work and Friendships of Henry Francis Cary (1772-1844) Translator of Dante. New York, George H. Doran, 1925, p. 100.
Cunningham, Gilbert F. The Divine Comedy in English, A Critical Bibliography, 1782-1900. Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd, 1965, p. 18.
Monthly Review, March, 1815, p. 322.
Cunningham, Gilbert F. The Divine Comedy in English, A Critical Bibliography, 1782-1900. Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd, 1965, p. 19.
Ibid.
King, Robert Wylie. “Parson Primrose”; the Life, Work and Friendships of Henry Francis Cary (1772-1844) Translator of Dante. New York, George H. Doran, 1925, p. 118.
Ibid, p. 101.
Farrar, Clarissa P. and Austin P. Evans. Biography of English Translations from Medieval Sources. Columbia University Press, 1946, p.143.
Austen-Leigh, Richard Arthur. The Story of a Printing House; Being a Short Account of the Strahans and Spottiswoodes. London, Spottiswoode & Co., 1912, p. 36.
“Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History.” Spottiswoode and Co - Graces Guide, www.gracesguide.co.uk/Spottiswoode_and_Co. Accessed 23 July 2024.https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Spottiswoode_and_Co