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[CAVE, Edward, (ed.)]
The Gentleman's Magazine: or, Monthly Intelligencer.
Publisher: for the Author [and others], 1731–1814
Stock code: 71413
Price: £17,500 Currency Conversion
An excellent run from the first volume onwards of the work that gave birth to one of the major publishing forms of the modern era, the magazine. "It began modestly as a digest of London newspapers and periodicals for country customers (an orientation signalled in Cave's editorial pseudonym, Sylvanus Urban), but it went on to prosper and survive until 1922. At 6d. and seven octavo half-sheets it truly gave 'more in quantity, and greater variety, than any Book of the kind and price' (Bavius)" (ODNB). "By January 1739 original matter had largely replaced … extracts; the magazine assumed a more serious character, and included parliamentary reports, maps, music, and a record of publications. The change in the character of the paper was in accordance with suggestions made to the editor by Samuel Johnson, who at this time became a regular contributor (until 1744), with considerable influence on its management. He at first edited, and subsequently wrote, the parliamentary reports. The Gentleman's Magazine lasted until 1914" (Oxford Companion to English Literature, Sir Paul Harvey, ed.) After Cave's death in 1754, the magazine was run by his family until John Nichols took it over in 1778. The periodical is inevitably rich in historical interest. Of particular note is an early printing of the American Declaration of Independence (vol. XLVI, August 1776) among much else on the American Revolution; while volume LXXVI Part 2 (November 1806) contains the first printing of the classic children's poem The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast by William Roscoe (see Carpenter and Prichard, Oxford Companion to Children's Literature). As usual, the first few volumes comprise early reprints (Jan 1731 is the fifth edition; Feb 1731, the fourth; and so on). Cave's success at first took him by surprise; he was compelled to reprint magazines from the earliest years to match demand for back numbers and volumes. From vol. IV onwards in this set all parts are first editions.
116 volumes, octavo. Late 18th- and early 19th-century calf, sides ruled with a double gilt fillet, smooth spines with gilt centre-tools, red morocco lettering-pieces, marbled endpapers. 1,663 engraved plates (334 folding, 7 hand coloured). A few joints split or heads of spines chipped but a particularly nice set and an unusually long run of this famous periodical from its first issue, uniformly bound (only the simple gilt decoration on the spines differing a little as the set was put together over the years). Provenance: rococo bookplates of Edward Warner of Leyton in the earlier volumes, succeeded by 19th-century armorial bookplates of his son, Thomas Courtenay Warner.
