370
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* B. L MAY 7, 100*.
by the Act of Parliament referred to, i.e.,
8 George II. cap. 13. In the date "25" of
the publication line of No. 2158 of the
' Catalogue of Satirical Prints in the British
Museum ' are distinct traces of a " 4 " under
the " 5 " ; this may be accounted for by sup-
posing that Hogarth found it desirable to
secure his copyright according to the Act,
which gave protection to works published
after or from 24 June, 1735.
The great success of ' A Harlot's Progress ' induced Hogarth to produce its fellow series. He caused advertisements to be issued which partly explain the history of the work and the mode of its publication. In the London Evening Post, 3 June, 1735, is the following :
"The Nine Prints, from the Paintings of Mr. Hogarth, one representing a Fair [i.e., 'Southward Fair,' which is No. 1960 in the National Collection], and the others a Rake's Progress, are now printing off, and will be ready to be delivered on the 25th instant. Subscriptions will be taken at Mr. Hogarth's, the Golden Head, in Leicester Fields, till the 23 of June, and no longer, at half a guinea to be paid on subscribing [the etching called 'The Laughing Audience,' B.M. No. 1949, was given as a receipt], and half a guinea on the delivery of the prints at the time above nientioned : after which the price will be two guineas, according to the Proposal. N.B. Mr. Hogarth was, and is, obliged to defer the publication and delivery of the above said Prints till the 25th of June, in order to secure his property, pursuant te an Act lately passed both Houses of Parliament, to secure all new-invented Prints that shall be published after the 24th instant, from being copied without consent of the proprietor, and thereby preventing a scandalous and unjust custom (hitherto practised with impunity) of making and vending base copies of original Prints, to the manifest injury of the Author, and the great discouragement of the arts of Painting and Engraving."
This advertisement was repeated on 14 June 1735.
In the London Daily Post, 27 June, 1735 p. 1, col. 1, we may read the following :
"Certain Printsellers in London, intending not only to injure Mr. Hogarth in his Property; bu also to impose their base Imitations (of his Eigh
u- i? ,-u v . Rak , e ' 8 Progress) on the Publick which they, being obhg'd to do only [by] what they could carry away by Memory from the sight o the Paintings [which were, of course, exhibited a the Golden Head], have executed most wretchedh both in Design and Drawing, as will be very obvious when they are exposed ; he, in order tc prevent such scandalous Practices, and that th Publick may be furmsh'd with his real Designs, ha permitted his Original Prints to be closely copiec and the said Copies will be published in a few Days and sold at 2s 6d. each Sett, by T. Bakewell EP a"" 1 Mapseller, next Johnson's Court ii
leet btreet, London.
This attempt to take the wind out of th sails of the plates by means of Bakewell am his versions of ' A Rake's Progress ' was no
entirely successful ; but as the British
Museum, rich beyond comparison as it is in
prints after Hogarth's designs, contains only
one print which, as a piracy, can be com-
pared with the reproductions of ' A Harlot's
Progress,' it seems that it was not without
ffect of a sort. See B.M. print No. 2186.
.s to Bakewell's licensed copies, which were
eversed and reduced from their originals,
ee B.M. No. 2159. It is true there were
lagiaries, not downright copies, of 'A Rake's
'regress,' as well as, strange to say, copies
rom the plagiaries. See B.M. No. 2171, No.
172, &c., in the above-named Catalogue,
which gives an exhaustive account of all
logarth's satirical prints, their subjects,
Elusions, and histories, as well as of the
- opies and piracies of them which are in the
British Museum. See likewise 'Hogarth and .he Pirates,' which was published, with llustrations, by Messrs. Seeley & Co., in e Portfolio. F. G. S.
The works of Samuel and Nathaniel Buck are recorded in Lowndes's ' Bibliographer's VTanual ' and elsewhere. The plates issued by
- he Bucks were probably faithful representa-
ions, and prove of special value in showing
- he extent of the destruction which has
'alien to the lot of our castle ruins since the middle of the eighteenth century. Plates are to be picked up at prices ranging from tialf-a-crown upwards, the large folding views of towns being priced more highly. The best show of the fine castle plates is (or was) to be seen in the Midland Railway Hotel at Derby, where a room was panelled with some hundreds of the prints.
I. C. GOULD.
" Publisht according to Act of Parlia- ment" refers, I believe, to 8 Geo. II. c. 13. This Act was amended in 1766 by 7 Geo. III. c. 38, which extended the time of protection from fourteen to twenty-eight years. These Acts were probably repealed by the first Victorian Copyright Act.
RALPH THOMAS.
The reply at the second reference is correct ; evidently an error in transcription was made. An excellent account of the work of the brothers Buck will be found in ' D.N.B.,' vii. 198. Any second-hand book- seller will report their engravings. I take it " published according to Act of Parliament " complies with clause 1 of the Copyright Act (Engravings), 8 Geo. II. c. 13, which states that all prints shall be " truly engraved with the name of the proprietor on each plate, and printed on every such print or prints." These words do not appear on some twelve
