Bernard Lintot (1675–1736; fl. 1690–1736)
Bernard Lintot, printer, bookseller, and stationer (1690–1736); at the Cross Keys in St Martin's Lane; at the Post Office in the Middle Temple Gate in Fleet Street.
Pat Rogers, University of South Florida
July 2023
Bernard Lintot achieved considerable prominence in the London book trade in the first third of the eighteenth century. He is remembered mostly for his association with Alexander Pope and John Gay, but he issued works by several other leading authors, among them the plays of Nicholas Rowe, George Farquhar, Richard Steele, Susanna Centlivre, Colley Cibber, and Ambrose Philips, as well as the poems of Mary Chudleigh and Thoms Parnell. His Miscellanies introduced to the world not just items by some of these writers, but also poems by Anne Finch, William Wycherley, Elizabeth Rowe, Samuel Garth, and the Duke of Buckingham, along with many others. He could not rival Jacob Tonson senior in respect of sumptuous editions of classic texts, but his name was preserved above all by his sponsorship on generous terms of Pope’s Iliad and Odyssey translations. These turned out to be more than major literary productions, since they constituted landmarks in the history of author-publisher relations. The world of books in the English enlightenment would look quite different without Lintot’s contribution.
Barnaby Bernard Lintot was born near Horsham in Sussex on 1 December 1675, the son of a yeoman. His father had died by the time he was apprenticed to a London bookseller in 1690, after which he was freed in 1700. He was clothed in 1708 as a member of the Stationers’ Company, in which he subsequently served as one of the wardens. In 1700 he had married a widow named Catherine Langley, by whom he had two daughters and a son, baptized between 1701 and 1705. His first shop was located at the Cross Keys in St. Martin’s Lane, with later moves to the Post House in the Middle Temple Gate in Fleet Street; and the Cross Keys between the two Temple Gates in Fleet Street, alternatively “next to Nandy's Coffee House at Temple Bar, the first house east of Inner Temple Lane” or simply “near Temple Bar.” The last of these was the site of his business in his most productive years during the second and third decades of the century. His son Henry, who would take over after Bernard’s retirement, used the form “opposite St Dunstan’s Church,” which was where the elder Lintot was buried on 9 February 1736, six days after his death. A few weeks earlier, Pope had reported that he was in the country, “ill of an asthma.”
His publishing career began in 1698 and he soon established a reputation for the dramatic works that featured heavily on his list, a speciality that he retained in he following decades. John Dunton wrote in his gossipy Life and Errors (1705) that Lintot “is a Man of very good Principles,” meaning probably a reliable Whig, who “will never want an Author of Sol-Fa, so long as the Play-house will encourage his Comedies,” hinting perhaps at a deal with the management at Drury Lane theatre. Lintot always had an eye for a saleable item, and he did well with works such as A Cruising Voyage Round the World by Woodes Rogers (1712), which propelled the castaway Alexander Selkirk to sudden fame. The great chill that left the Thames frozen in early 1716 allowed him to set up a stall in the hope of finding customers among those attending the temporary fairground on the ice.
His greatest professional success came with the coveted award of a licence to print votes of the House of Commons from most of the reign of George I. He showed initiative in other aspects of the trade, for example in May 1714 when he set up the Monthly Catalogue of book publications, still an invaluable source for bibliographers. His activity included many co-partnerships with other booksellers, for example in the roster of eminent figures named in the imprint of the bulky six-volume Collection of State Trials (1730), where his name appears in the imprint along with those of Tonson, Roberts, Darby, Walthoe, Knapton, Buckley, Mears, Bettesworth, Innys, Longman, Osborn, Woodward, Gilliver, Motte, Midwinter, Hitch, Gosling, Browne and several others. Between them, these men dominated the world of London publishing.
Nevertheless, it is the connection with Pope that has done most to preserve Lintot’s place in history. Even before the Homer translations got under way, Pope had included the first version of what was then entitled The Rape of the Locke in Lintot’s Miscellaneous Poems and Translations (1712), the first in a series of such volumes extending to 1727 that Pope is now believed to have edited for the bookseller. The links were further developed by items such as Windsor-Forest (1713), the full Rape of the Lock (1714), and The Temple of Fame (1715). It was not until the late 1720s that the association began to break down, as the poet began to take ever greater control over the marketing of his works. Ultimately this resulted in disputes late in Pope’s life over copyright issues with Bernard’s son and successor Henry.
One thing emerging very clearly is that Lintot could take a joke against himself. Surprisingly, the 1712 collection has room for “Verses to be Prefix’d before Bernard Lintot’s new Miscellany” that is a satire on this very kind of production. It jokingly compares Lintot’s output with that of Elzevier, Plantin, Estienne and Aldus Manutius, some of the most celebrated figures among printers of the past. Their books, we are told at the end of the poem, “are useful but to few, / A Scholar, or a Wit or two.” By contrast, “Lintot’s for gen’ral Use are fit; / For some Folks read, but all Folks sh—.” The bookseller is given a minor role in the prose pamphlets that Pope brought out in the next few years, while his scatty and profane conversation is mocked in a letter to Lord Burlington written in 1716, describing a ride with “the enterprizing Mr.Lintott, the redoutable rival of Mr.Tonson.” He also received some collateral damage during the skirmishes that surrounded the Iliad translation, particularly in a ballad by John Oldmixon called The Catholick Poet: or, Protestant Barnaby’s Sorrowful Lamentation (1716), which ends with the bookseller’s petition for redress, following the losses he has incurred to his finances and reputation as a consequence of the Homer volumes.
As he must have expected, he was given something to do in The Dunciad, where the second book portrays “lofty Lintot” as he contends in the mock-heroic games against his disreputable rival Edmund Curll. Despite boasting of his prowess, he loses out in the race after Curll makes uses of an illegal substance in the shape of “magic juices for the course” (actually ordure from the sewers close to the Temple wall). Lintot is allotted quite a long speech in Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift, professing lack of interest in the “antiquated stuff” that the Dean produced. But this is no more than literary osmosis, since Swift had little to do with Lintot, and any animosity just seeped through from Pope’s works.
In the early 1730s Bernard’s name starts to appear less frequently in imprints, and that of his son (who had become a member of the Stationers’ Company by right of patrimony) more often. He spent more time on an estate he had bought in Sussex, and was nominated as High Sheriff of the county in 1735. He died before he could take office and his son was appointed in his stead. Henry (1703–58) enjoyed a successful career, and attained the lucrative position of the king’s law printer in 1749. This allowed him to augment the firm’s extensive list of legal works, including collections of statutes and reports of cases in Chancery, the King’s Bench and other courts. A third generation was represented by Henry’s daughter Catherine, who gradually disposed the literary rights she had inherited and sold half of the law patent to Samuel Richardson. She died in 1816, the widow of a baronet, to whom she had originally brought a dowry of £45,000. By that date the imprint of Pope’s works no longer contained the name of Lintot, but her grandfather lived on in the annals of the book trade through his well-timed approach to Pope, a venture which brought poet and publisher a large stock of money and historical prestige.
There is no comprehensive account of Lintot’s career. The best short survey is that of James McLaverty in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography For his complicated dealings with Pope, see David Foxon, Pope and the Early Eighteenth-Century Book Trade (Oxford, 1991).
A Dictionary of the Printers and Booksellers who were at Work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1668 to 1725, by Henry Plomer (1922)
LINTOT, or LINTOTT (BARNABY BERNARD), bookseller in London, (1) Cross Keys in St. Martin's Lane, 1698; (2) Post Office, in the Middle Temple Gate in Fleet Street, 1701-4; (3) Cross Keys (and Crown), (a) between the two Temple Gates in Fleet Street, (b) next Nando's Coffee House, Temple Bar, 1709-36. 1698-1736. This eminent publisher was born at Southwater, Horsham, on December ist, 1675. He was the son of John Lintot yeoman and was probably a nephew of the Joshua Lintot who was printer to the House of Commons between 1708 and 1710. Bernard Lintot was bound apprentice to Thomas Lingard in December 1690, was afterwards turned over to John Harding, and became a freeman of the Company in March 1699. In 1698 his name appears on the imprints of Crowne's Caligula and Vanbrugh's Relapse. He married on October 13th, 1700. He very soon became noted as the publisher of poems and plays by Farquhar, Fenton, Gay, Parnell, Pope, Steele, and other famous authors. In 1712 he published Micellaneous Poems and Translations by several hands, in opposition to Tonson's Miscellany; it contained the first version of The Rape of the Lock. In 1713 Lintot was the highest bidder for the copyright of Pope's Iliad, and became proprietor. The first volume appeared on June 6th, 1715, the last in 1720. Owing to the appearance in Holland of a pirated duodecimo edition, Lintot was robbed of much of his expected profit, being compelled to issue a similar cheap edition in this country. For the Odyssey, which he published in 1725-6, Lintot agreed to pay Pope £600, and to supply free of charge copies for Pope's subscribers. Pope insisted that free copies should also be sent to the subscribers found by Broome. This led to a quarrel, and Pope pilloried Lintot in The Dunciad, and elsewhere. During the severe frost of 1715-16 Lintot was one of those who set up stalls on the frozen Thames. After the accession of George I he was appointed one of the printers of the Parliamentary votes, and kept this office until 1727. Lintot took his son Henry into business in 1730. He died on February 3rd, 1736, and his will, made in 1730, was proved on February 14th, by his son. Lintot served the office of renter warden of the Company of Stationers in 1715, and in 1729 and 1730 was under-warden. He is described by Swift as large and fair in person and character; Young says that he was choleric. Pope gives an amusing account [Letter cxx, ed. 1730] of Lintot's conversation, in which the latter reveals his arts in managing translators and correctors and critics of tongues unknown to himself. He was noted for posting up the titles of his new books, printed in red. [D.N.B., T.C., &c.]
Dictionary of National Biography (1885–1900)
LINTOT, BARNABY BERNARD (1675–1736), publisher, the son of John Lintott, yeoman, was born at Southwater, Horsham, Sussex, on 1 Dec. 1675. He was probably a nephew of the Joshua Lintot who was printer to the House of Commons between 1708 and 1710. He was bound apprentice at Stationers' Hall to Thomas Lingard in December 1690, was afterwards turned over to John Harding, and was made free of the company in March 1699. He rarely used the name Barnaby, and after some years spelt his surname with one 't.' In 1698 his name appears on the imprint of Crowne's 'Caligula' and Vanbrugh's 'Relapse' as 'at the Cross Keys in St. Martin's Lane;' but he afterwards moved to the Cross Keys and Crown, next Nando's Coffee-house, which was the first house east of Inner Temple Lane. On 13 Oct. 1700 Lintot was married at St. Bartholomew's, Smithfield, to one Katherine, who was born in January 1664. A son, Henry, was born in 1703. In 1702 he published 'Examen Miscellaneum, consisting of verse and prose,' and besides books on graver subjects he afterwards published poems and plays for Pope, Gay, Farquhar, William King, Fenton, Parnell, Steele, Rowe, &c. Farquhar received from 15 l. to 30 l. each for his plays, Gay 43 l. each for 'Trivia' and 'Three Hours after Marriage,' King 32 l. 5s. each for the 'Art of Cookery' and the 'Art of Love,' Rowe 50 l. 15s. for 'Jane Shore' and 75 l. 5s. for 'Lady Jane Grey,' and Steele 21 l. 10s. for the 'Lying Lovers.' In 1708 Lintot was called on by the Company of Stationers to take upon him their livery; in 1715 he was renter-warden, in 1722–3 he was elected into the court of assistants, and in 1729 and 1730 was under-warden. In 1709 he published Fenton's 'Oxford and Cambridge Miscellany Poems,' and in 1712 'Miscellaneous Poems and Translations, by several hands,' in opposition to 'Tonson's Miscellany.' In some verses which first appeared in this volume, but were afterwards enlarged, Swift said of Lintot,
His character's beyond compare,
Like his own person, large and fair.
The last poem in the book was Pope's 'Rape of the Lock,' in its first form. In the following year, after the appearance of Addison's 'Cato,' Lintot published a piece by Dennis criticising the play, and Pope seized the opportunity of attacking Dennis in the well-known 'Narrative of Dr. Robert Norris,' in which Lintot was described as a friend in attendance on Dennis in his madness. Steele thereupon wrote to Lintot to say that Addison wholly disapproved of the way in which Dennis had been treated in this piece. In 1713 Pope put forth proposals for a translation of the 'Iliad,' in six quarto volumes, to be published by subscription. Lintot, the highest bidder among the booksellers, became proprietor, and articles of agreement were signed on 23 March 1713–14, by which he agreed that Pope should have two hundred guineas for each volume, and all the subscription money (Egerton Charters, Brit. Mus. 128). Subscriptions were received for 654 copies, and only 660 were printed. Pope therefore received, altogether, about 5,300 l., for Lintot supplied the subscription copies free of charge. The first volume appeared, after unavoidable delay, on 6 June 1715, and on 10 Feb. 1715–16 a new agreement was signed, by which Pope was to receive four hundred guineas in lieu of the subscription money for the second volume, then in the press (Egerton MSS. Brit. Mus. 1951, f. 2). The last volume appeared in 1720. Lintot hoped to recoup himself by the copies of the work which he printed in folio, in paper of two sizes; but owing to the appearance in Holland of a pirated duodecimo edition he was compelled at once to issue a similar but more convenient cheap edition. In a 'merry' letter to Lord Burlington, written about 1716, Pope describes a conversation which he had with Lintot while riding to Oxford, and explains how Lintot, who knew no languages himself, arranged for work to be done by translators and critics. During the severe frost of 1715–16 Lintot seems to have set up business on the Thames: 'In this place Boyer plies; there's Lintot's stand' (Nichols, Literary Anecdotes, i. 118). In 1717 he published a collection of 'Poems on several occasions,' by various hands, and an edition of Pope's 'Poems' (Egerton Charters, 129). After the accession of George I he was disappointed at not being made one of the stationers and booksellers to the king, and he subsequently wrote to Lord-justice Parker that he was pressing his interest to serve the prince and princess (Stowe MSS. No. 233). He was, however, appointed, with Tonson and William Taylor, to be one of the printers of the parliamentary votes, and he kept this office until 1727. In 1719 he paid 51 l. 5s. for a twentieth share in the 'Daily Courant,' and in 1722 Tonson assigned to him half of Steele's 'Conscious Lovers' for 70 l. On 6 Feb. 1718 Lintot had entered into a partnership agreement with Tonson for the purchase of plays during eighteen months following that date. For Pope's 'Odyssey,' for which Broome and Fenton were largely responsible, Lintot agreed, on 18 Feb. 1723–4, to pay Pope 600 l. for the five volumes, and to supply free of charge copies for Pope's subscribers (Egerton Charters, 130). The first volume appeared in April 1725, and the last in June 1726. A quarrel afterwards arose because Lintot objected to supply free copies not only to Pope's but to Broome's private subscribers, and Lintot threatened proceedings in chancery. Pope and Fenton called Lintot a scoundrel and wretch, but he cannot have made much by the 'Odyssey,' and Pope doubtless misled him as well as the public as to the amount of the translation that would be contributed by Broome. In 1728 Pope introduced Lintot into the 'Dunciad,' and in 1735 into the 'Prologue to the Satires;' but he made no more serious charges than that Lintot was stout and clumsy, and that he adorned his shop with 'rubric posts,' to which titles of books, in red letters, were affixed. Dr. Young says that Lintot was a 'great sputtering fellow,' liable to fits of rage (Spence, Anecdotes, and Love of Fame, Satire iv.) In 1726, having made additions to his father's property in Sussex, Lintot tried, without success, to ascertain his pedigree and arms. From 1730, when his son Henry was admitted to the freedom of the Company of Stationers, and obtained the livery, the business was carried on in the joint names of father and son, and Lintot probably spent most of the remaining years of his life at Horsham. Broome House, Fulham, is said to have been his residence, but was more probably that of his son (Thorne, Environs of London, p. 224). In November 1735 he was nominated high sheriff for Sussex, but he did not live to enjoy the honour, which was, however, at once bestowed upon his son. He died on 3 Feb. 1736, 'the next week after he came to town' (Pope to Broome, 25 March 1736), and his will, made in 1730, was proved on 14 Feb. by his son, the sole executor.
[Pope's Works, ed. Elwin and Courthope; Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, i. 13, 28, 61, 77–8, 81, 93, 109, 110, 118, 138, 187, 196–7, 241, 368, ii. 165, viii. 161–76, 293–304; Nichols's Lit. Illustr. ii. 707; Swift's Works; Spence's Anecdotes; Lower's Worthies of Sussex, p. 276; Sussex Archæological Collections, viii. 275–7; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. iv. 149, 6th ser. i. 475, ii. 76, 293.]
by George Atherton Aitken
Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition (1911)
LINTOT, BARNABY BERNARD (1675–1736), English publisher, was born at Southwater, Sussex, on the 1st of December 1675, and started business as a publisher in London about 1698. He published for many of the leading writers of the day, notably Vanbrugh, Steele, Gay and Pope. The latter’s Rape of the Lock in its original form was first published in Lintot’s Miscellany, and Lintot subsequently issued Pope’s translation of the Iliad and the joint translation of the Odyssey by Pope, Fenton and Broome. Pope quarrelled with Lintot with regard to the supply of free copies of the latter translation to the author’s subscribers, and in 1728 satirized the publisher in the Dunciad, and in 1735 in the Prologue to the Satires, though he does not appear to have had any serious grievance. Lintot died on the 3rd of February 1736.
Notes & Queries "London Booksellers Series" (1931–2)
LINTOT, BERNARD. Born in 1675, he was apprenticed to Thomas Lingard, at Stationers' Hall in 1690, and in 1699 was made a Freeman of the Company. In 1698 he set up business at the Cross Keys in St. Martin's Lane, and then moved to the Cross Keys and Crown, next Nando's Coffee House in Inner Temple Lane. Soon he became one of the foremost publishers of the day, being associated with Pope. Gay, Steele, Rowe and Farquhar. He held many offices in the Stationers' Company. His great rival and competitor was Jacob Tonson, as a counterblast to whose Miscellany he brought out 'Lintot's Miscellany' in 1712. In February, 1718, he made a treaty with the Tonsons, whereby he became a partner in all the plays they should publish after July, 1719, and it was in virtue of this that he shared in the publication of Steele's 'Dramatick Works' in 1722. In 1730 he took his son, Henry, as a partner, and the firm traded under the name of B. and H. Linton [sic.]. Bernard Lintot died in 1736.
—Frederick T. Wood, 12 September 1931
LINTOT, BERNARD. One of his addresses has been omitted. This is supplied by Plomer—after leaving the Cross Keys in St. Martin's Lane he moved to the Post Office in the Middle Temple Gate in Fleet Street. He was there 1701–4.
—Ambrose Heal, 7 November 1931