| Description | (Annexed is a transcript of a letter from a correspondent in Paris, 11 December.)
["We send you copy of our Paris friend’s letter, and after perusal desire you will comply immediately wi[th] what he wishes; he begs the two setts of each author may be charged at the very lowest price, as they are specimens for the booksellers; he also wants to know the quantity of each book, & if a long credit would be given by Mrs. Baskerville to any very safe purchasers who would contract for the whole or for a large parcel. The french booksellers are always allowed very long Credits by their own Countrymen. As they seem to treat seriously in this business every one of their query’s should be answered distinctly & expeditiously. We are with great regard, Sir, Your most obedt. Servt. (signed) J. Motteux & Co."
Copy of a Letter receiv’d from Paris dated 11 Decr. 1775.
"Agreeable to what I had the pleasure to write to you in my letter of 27th Novr. I had last Saturday a conversation of near two hours with the person who conducts at present the first foundery of printing Characters at this place relative to the Stock of the late Mr. Baskerville. He has given me every means I could wish for to dispose of it here, and told me how to apply to the Minister for as I had foreseen it nobody but the King can make a purchase of ye kind, and the Ministers to whom I must apply are luckily great admirers of Typographical Performances. I shall accordingly deliver them this Week two Memorials I have ready for them, but as in all probability they’ll appoint somebody of the profession to examine the particulars of my proposal I want details which I must beg of you to procure me as soon as possible from the Widow or the person who conducted the foundry and the Presses under the inspection of Mr. Baskerville. You have sent me a Specimen of the different Characters, I want two or three more even half a dozen, if some friend was coming over directly to bring them. The Memorandum of the Punches Matriss’s & Moulds I understand perfectly well and I suppose the number mean the quantity of pieces that compose each kind of Letter. Pray inquire into it. You do not say what quantity of Letters there is left of what kind, their condition, and if they are to make part of the purchase. They sell them here by weight, & fetch little when they have been worked. Pray give me all the particulars you can relative to that article. Mr. Baskerville had a particular kind of Ink and Paper, the glazing of the last in particular was as much admired as his Character I suppose the composition of those articles was a secret, has he transmitted it to his Widow and does it make part of her bargain? Another thing which was also much admired was the neatness of his Editions, I apprehend that depended much on his Workmen but it may also be that he had some particular proceedings in the execution. To treat with the Minister or the person he’ll name I shall want all these particulars to enable me to conclude at once, and I shall leave you the Arbitrator of the compensation of my trouble if I succeed, for if I do not I shall think myself sufficiently rewarded by my endeavours to serve one of your friends. The only favor I beg is that in case of any foreign applications from this Country to Mrs. Baskerville, that she will not hearken to them, but refer them to me, and you know me well enough to assure her that her confidence will not be misplac’d. As to the different Editions that remain of Mr. Baskerville’s Classicks, they form a separate article for which I am in treaty with a very capital Bookseller. You must be so kind to send me [by] way of Calais two setts of each Author in a case directed &c. &c.] |