Sales catalogue 616: Maggs Bros

Date:
1935
Reference:
WA/HMM/CM/Sal/13/153
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sales catalogue 616: Maggs Bros. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    8/132 page 2
    AINSWORTH’S ‘‘ TOWER OF LONDON.’’ THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN WILLIAM HARRISON AINSWORTH, GEORGE CRUIKSHANK AND RICHARD BENTLEY (POR THE PUBLICATION OF DHE ho W iin Or LONDON.’’ WITH AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED FROM BARHAM TO CRUIKSHANK ON THE THIRD PAGE, DATED 27th AUGUST, 1840. Endorsed by Cruikshank ‘‘ Tower of London Agreement.’’ £10 10s An extremely interesting document, being the copy in the hand of Richard Barham of the agreement between Ainsworth, Cruikshank, and Bentley, the author, illustrator and publisher of ‘‘ The Tower of London.’’ Barham, besides witnessing the agreement, is mentioned as the arbitrator. ec 4 It is agreed ... ‘‘That Mr. Ainsworth execute the literary portion of the work. ‘¢That Mr. Cruikshank do furnish three illustrations on steel, and such wood cuts as may be deemed expedient, in each number. ‘¢That Mr. Bentley do publish it and use his best exertions to promote its success as practised by the most respectable firms in the trade. ‘That Mr. Bentley receive one third of the net profits, but that he be not in any way a partner in the work (which is the joint property of Messrs. Ains- worth and Cruikshank) and that we have no controul over the management or execution of the work. . . . ‘‘ Tt is distinctly understood that Mr. Bentley is to be the Publisher only, and not in any way a part proprietor of the work, but at the same time the publication is not to be transferred from his hands unless upon good and sufficient grounds to be approved of by an arbitrator. ‘** That the Revd. R. H. Barham be the arbitrator. ‘That in case the work shall, after it has been concluded in numbers, be published in a collected form, Mr. Bentley shall have a third share of the profits of the first three thousand copies, and that in case a farther issue than the said three thousand shall be made Mr. Bentley shall have the option of a pre-emption ; that is to say that it shall not be disposed of to any other publisher at a price which Mr. Bentley shall be willing to give. é ‘That Messrs. Ainsworth and Cruikshank shall continue the said work until it shall be completed in the said thirteen numbers unless it shall appear to the satisfaction of the arbitrator above named that the profits are not such as to make its continuation expedient.’’ Etc. AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT SIGNED OF A POEM ENTITLED “SOU JOURS EN VAVANitIs Comprising four verses of eight lines each on I page, 4to. £1 5s The first verse of this poem reads :— ‘¢ His Mother was a Prince’s child, His sire a crowned king ; There lacked not to his wishes wild What the broad earth could bring: Strong knees were supple at his whim Swords glimmered at his will: Brave Fortune! yet it wearied him His spirit thirsted still!’’ Etc.
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