Fig. 1: Some authorities claim this work, a polyglot dictionary, is the first use of subscription publication in England. Tired of dealing with his fickle patron, the author asked the public to underwrite the book's costs by subscribing to the work prior to publication.
Fig. 2: By the eighteenth century, more and more popular works were published by subscription. This is one of several copies of Camilla that belonged to the Duchess of York, a subscriber, along with Jane Austen, Edmund Burke, Maria Edgeworth, and David Hume. The subscriber's list consumes thirty-eight pages. One can be certain that it was poured over by those whose names were, and were not, included, whether or not one was actually interested in reading the novel. In many cases, those seeking to move up the social ladder, and with sufficient resources at their disposal, would willingly subscribe to a publication just to see their name in proximity with royalty and other illustrious persons of the age.
