Constable's Miscellany volume XXXVI, engraving by William Miller Constable's Miscellany Archibald Constable . Three numbers made up a volume; many of the works were divided into several volumes. The price of a number was one shilling .[ 1] Constable's Miscellany of Original and Selected Publications, in the Various Departments of Literature, Science, and the Arts .
Archibald Constable died in 1827, and the Miscellany was taken over by a consortium of Aitken, Henry Constable, and a London publisher. When the publisher went bankrupt in 1831, the project became relatively dormant.[ 2] [ 3] [ 4] [ 5]
Background and influence
Projected before the Panic of 1825 , the Miscellany was dedicated to George IV of the United Kingdom , a privilege gained for Constable by Walter Scott . The initial plans were more ambitious; Constable himself became bankrupt in 1827, and this final project proceeded under constraints.[ 6]
The Miscellany's first editor was John Aitken .[ 2] Murray's Family Library [ 7] [ 1]
Constable's project is recognised as initiating a publishing phenomenon of the later 1820s. Cheap editions marketed as small libraries were seen also in the Library of Useful Knowledge Library of Entertaining Knowledge Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia Henry Colburn and Abraham John Valpy .[ 5]
Constable's Miscellany
Volume
Year
Author
Title
I
1826 (3 vols.)
Basil Hall
Voyage to Loo-Choo and other places in the Eastern Seas in the Year 1816 [ 8]
IV
Hugh Murray
Adventures of British Seamen [ 9]
V
Walter Scott , introduction
Memoirs of the Marchioness of La Rochejaquelein [ 9]
VI (2 vols.)
1827
Andrew Crichton
Converts from Infidelity [ 10]
VIII (2 vols.)
1827
Michael Symes
An Account of an Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava in the Year 1795 [ 11]
X
1827
George Moir
Table Talk, or Selections from the Ana [ 9] -ana )
XI
Perils and Captivity [ 9]
XII
Henry Glassford Bell (editor)[ 12] Selections of the Most Remarkable Phenomena of Nature [ 9]
XIII (2 vols.)
1827
John Martin
An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands
XV (2 vols.)
Robert Chambers
History of the Rebellions in Scotland in 1745, 1746 [ 9]
XVII
Orlando W. Roberts
Voyages and Excursions in Central America [ 9]
XVIII (2 vols.)
Friedrich Schiller Historical Works [ 9]
XX (2 vols.)
Richard Thomson
An Historical View of the Manner, Customs, Literature, &c., of Great Britain [ 9]
XXII
1827
General Register of Politics, Science and Literature [ 9]
XXIII
John Gibson Lockhart
Life of Burns [ 9]
XXIV (2 vols.)
Henry Glassford Bell
Life of Mary, Queen of Scots [ 9]
XXVI
Francis Wrangham
Evidences of Christianity [ 9]
XXVII (2 vols.)
Adam Neale (two parts)[ 13] Memorials of the Late War [ 9]
XXIX (2 vols.)
John Russell (brother of James Russell )[ 14]
A Tour in Germany in 1820, 1821, 1822 [ 9]
XXXI (2 vols.)
Robert Chambers
History of the Rebellions in Scotland, under Montrose and Others, from in 1638 till 1660 [ 9]
XXXIII (3 vols.)
Christophe Guillaume de Koch History of the Revolutions in Europe [ 9]
XXXVI (2 vols.)
John Dundas Cochrane
A Pedestrian Journey through Russia and Siberian Tartary [ 9]
XXXVIII
Derwent Conway
Narrative of a Journey through Norway, Sweden and Denmark [ 9]
XXXIX
John Smythe Memes
History of Sculpture, Painting, and Architecture [ 9]
XL (2 vols.)
Edward Upham
History of the Ottoman Empire [ 9]
XLII
1829
Robert Chambers
History of the Rebellions in Scotland under the Viscount of Dundee and the Earl of Mar in 1689 and 1715 [ 15]
XLIII (2 vols.)
John Parker Lawson
History of the Most Remarkable Conspiracies Connected with European History [ 9]
XLV
Gilbert White
The Natural History of Selborne [ 9]
XLVI
J. D. Sinclair
An Autumn in Italy [ 9]
XLVII (2 vols.)
1829
Michael Russell
Life of Oliver Cromwell [ 16]
XLIX
Telesforo de Trueba y Cosio
Life of Hernan Cortes [ 9]
L (2 vols.)
Henry Stebbing
History of Chivalry and the Crusades [ 9]
LII
William Cooke Stafford
History of Music [ 9]
LIII (2 vols.)
1830
John Donald Carrick
Life of Sir William Wallace of Elderslie [ 17]
LV (2 vols.)
Robert Chambers
Life of James the First [ 9]
LVII (3 vols.)
1830
Fauvelet de Bourrienne Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte [ 18]
LX (2 vols.)
Thomas Keightley
History of the War of Independence in Greece [ 9]
LXII
Telesforo de Trueba y Cosio
History of the Conquest of Peru by the Spaniards [ 9]
LXIII (2 vols.)
Alexander Sutherland
The Achievements of the Knights of Malta [ 9]
LXV
James Augustus St John
A Journal of a Residence in Normandy [ 19]
LXVI (2 vols.)
1831
Derwent Conway
Switzerland, the South of France and the Pyrenees in MDCCC.XXX
LXVIII
1831 (4 vols.)
Alexander Wilson Charles Lucian Bonaparte Robert Jameson (editor)
The American Ornithology [ 20]
LXXII
1831
John Styles Memes
Memoirs of the Empress Josephine [ 21]
LXXIII (2 vols.)
1831
William Cooke Taylor [ 22] History of the Civil Wars in Ireland
LXXV
1832 (2 vols.)
Thomas Brown
The Book of Butterflies, Sphinxes and Moths [ 23]
LXXVII
1832
Robert Mudie [ 24] A Popular Guide to the Observation of Nature
LXXVIII (2 vols.)
1833
Cyrus Redding
A History of Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea [ 25]
LXXX
1834
Thomas Brown
The Book of Butterflies, Sphinxes and Moths , vol. 3[ 26]
Revival of the series
"A version of the series was revived in the mid 1850s, the early 1880s, and, finally, in 1928..."[ 27]
Notes
^ a b William Goodhugh (1827). The English gentleman's library manual: or, A guide to the formation of a library of select literature; accompanied with original notices, biographical and critical, of authors and books 107– 9. Retrieved 26 September 2013 .^ a b Stephen, Leslie , ed. (1885). "Aitken, John" Dictionary of National Biography ^ Frances Milton Trollope (1838). One Fault: A Novel . Retrieved 26 September 2013 . ^ The Athenaeum . Retrieved 27 September 2013 .^ a b Royal A. Gettmann (10 June 2010). A Victorian Publisher: A Study of the Bentley Papers 28– 30. ISBN 978-0-521-15320-1 . Retrieved 27 September 2013 . ^ Hewitt, David. "Constable, Archibald". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography doi :10.1093/ref:odnb/6101 . (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) ^ Scott Bennett, John Murray's Family Library and the Cheapening of Books in Early Nineteenth Century Britain , Studies in Bibliography Vol. 29, (1976), pp. 139-166, at p. 141. Published by: Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40371632
^ Basil Hall (1826). Voyage to Loo-Choo, and other places in the eastern seas, in the year 1816: Including an account of Captain Maxwell's attack on the batteries at Canton; and notes of an interview with Buonaparte at St. Helena, in August 1817 . Retrieved 26 September 2013 . ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae James Augustus St. John (1831). Journal of a Residence in Normandy ii– iii. Retrieved 26 September 2013 . ^ archive.org. ^ Constable's miscellany of original and selected publications in the various departments of literature, science, & the arts . Retrieved 26 September 2013 .^ Archibald Constable (1827). Constable's miscellany of original and selected publications in the various departments of literature, science, & the arts . Retrieved 26 September 2013 . ^ Lee, Sidney , ed. (1894). "Neale, Adam" Dictionary of National Biography ^ Lee, Sidney , ed. (1897). "Russell, James (1790-1861)" Dictionary of National Biography ^ archive.org. ^ Michael Russell (1829). Life of Oliver Cromwell . Retrieved 26 September 2013 . ^ Constable and co, ltd (1826). Constable's miscellany of original and selected publications . Retrieved 26 September 2013 . ^ Constable and co, ltd (1830). Constable's miscellany of original and selected publications . Retrieved 26 September 2013 . ^ Constable's miscellany of original and selected publications in the various departments of literature, science, & the arts . Retrieved 26 September 2013 .^ Archibald Constable (1831). Constable's miscellany of original and selected publications in the various departments of literature, science, & the arts . Retrieved 26 September 2013 . ^ Archibald Constable (1831). Constable's miscellany of original and selected publications in the various departments of literature, science, & the arts . Retrieved 26 September 2013 . ^ Lee, Sidney , ed. (1898). "Taylor, William Cooke" Dictionary of National Biography ^ Thomas Brown (1832). The Book of Butterflies, Sphinxes, and Moths: Illustrated by Ninety-six Engravings Coloured After Nature . Retrieved 26 September 2013 . ^ Lee, Sidney , ed. (1894). "Mudie, Robert" Dictionary of National Biography ^ Archibald Constable (1833). Constable's miscellany of original and selected publications in the various departments of literature, science, & the arts . Retrieved 26 September 2013 . ^ Details - The book of butterflies, sphinxes and moths; illustrated by one hundred and forty-four engravings, coloured after nature; in three volumes - Biodiversity Heritage Library . biodiversitylibrary.org. Retrieved 4 February 2017.^ Constable's Miscellany , seriesofseries.com. Retrieved on 19 March 2017.
