Le magazin à la mode 1777-1778: a French periodical for an Irish audience.

mairekennedybooks

Oct 25

The nature and extent of the provincial book trade in eighteenth-century Ireland has been a relatively recent field of study (Adams 1987; Long 1996; Ó Ciosáin 1997 and 2011; Kennedy 1998 and 2009; Moore 2009; O'Callaghan 2010;). The book trade networks were countrywide from the first decades of the century, linking Dublin booksellers with their contacts in the major towns. They also became inter-regional from the 1760s and 1770s, while links with Dublin intensified. The provincial networks existed for the sale of books, periodicals, newspapers, paper, stationery, and luxury items carried by booksellers, such as patent medicines and musical instruments. From mid-century complex and far-reaching distribution channels can be identified which penetrated into the heart of the countryside bringing luxury commodities to areas which previously traded only in locally produced goods. The trading networks become visible in certain circumstances, such as the distribution of local newspapers and in the subscription and agency contacts between booksellers. The patent medicine distribution chain can also help to highlight the book trade grid.

The country trade consisted largely of cheap and popular literature, prayer books, almanacs, periodicals, schoolbooks, and chapbooks. However, subscription copies of more expensive works and books published in parts were also sold regularly by the country dealers. Books in French formed a small, but significant part of this trade from mid-century, in both Dublin and imported editions. I would like to explore the distribution channels for one such work, a French language periodical, printed in Dublin in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, and distributed throughout the country. This particular study, while focusing on the trade in French language books, also indicates the nature of the general distribution patterns of the regional book trade. The agents for the periodical in the provincial towns were major booksellers, who were frequently the printers of the local newspaper, and who carried on an extensive wholesale trade with the smaller towns in their regions.

The Magazin à la mode was a monthly periodical aimed at those learning French or perfecting their knowledge of the language. In format it closely resembled the literary periodicals of the day, Walker's Hibernian Magazine and Exshaw's London and Gentleman's Magazine, with reviews and extracts from the latest literary works. It was compiled by Charles Praval, a teacher of French in Dublin, where he conducted a French Evening School from at least 1774 to 1787. His wife, Eliza Praval, opened a boarding school at Platanus, Donnybrook, in 1785, where girls were taught French in addition to their other school subjects, but French was the 'language of the house' (Volunteer's Journal, 5 Aug 1785). Praval published several French textbooks in the course of his career ('Charles Praval: eighteenth-century French teacher in Dublin', mairekennedybooks.wordpress.com).

The Magazin, in octavo format, was published by William Whitestone between May 1777 and April 1778. Whitestone was printer, bookseller and proprietor of the paper warehouse at 33 Skinner Row, Dublin, and at 29 Capel Street from 1776. He was primarily a wholesaler of paper products and schoolbooks, who imported foreign paper from 1768. In 1775 he took his son, Henry, into partnership and they expanded the business to include imported foreign language books.

Written entirely in French, the Magazin claimed that: 'les personnes qui apprennent le François trouveront une source inépuisable d'instruction, & celles qui le savent y verront avec plaisir un recueil choisi de sujets intéressants' (Praval 1777-78). In spite of the frivolous title-page decorated with type ornaments noted by Pollard as the early work of printer, John Chambers (Pollard 1989, p. 205), the content covered a wide range of serious subjects. Reviews were printed of recently published books and periodicals such as Linguet's Annales politiques, civiles et militaires du XVIIIe siècle (1777); Voyage vers le pole du sud et autour du monde 1772-75 by James Cook (1777); and extracts from Raynal's Histoire philosophique et politique des deux Indes (1770). The Magazin featured lessons on historical geography and on the use of globes as well as news of theatrical and musical events, useful inventions, foreign news and local gossip. An engraved fold-out sheet of music accompanied each issue. Whitestone's advertisement, coinciding with the publication of the first issue of the Magazin, appeared in the Hibernian Journal (14-16 May 1777).

Le magazine à la mode (Juin 1777), title page. Charles Praval, Le parnasse françois (1780), title page.

The Magazin survived for only 12 issues, although there is no indication in the issue of April 1778 that it was to be the last. It is not altogether clear why it ceased publication, Praval continued to produce French textbooks and William Whitestone continued to publish them. It can only be supposed that the demand was not as great as expected, or that Praval found it difficult to compile over 90 pages of up-to-date material each month. Sales figures cannot be estimated, although five sets can be traced to contemporary libraries through the use of auction catalogues: Sir Thomas Bell, M. D., and another physician deceased (1795), Rev Doctor Usher, F.T.C.D., Mr Clarendon and another gentleman (1796), W. Semple, Esq. and another gentleman (1811), Joseph Cooper Walker (1817) and Paul Twigg, Esq. A. M., (1835).

The subscription to the Magazin was a half guinea per annum to subscribers or one British shilling per issue to non-subscribers. In the 'Avis au Public' the reader was provided with a list of 20 regional outlets in 16 of the larger provincial towns where subscriptions would be taken in (See table appended). By studying a number of these outlets it is possible to trace the further distribution networks by which books and periodicals reached the smaller commercial centres. In the case of booksellers who printed the local newspaper it is possible to follow their commercial network to the smaller towns and, in particular, to outlets which were not always bookshops, but inns, apothecary shops, grocery shops or shops which carried luxury commodities and where subscriptions were taken for the local newspaper.

Newspaper proprietors and their network of agents used the newspaper to advertise and sell a wide range of goods. They had the most wide ranging contacts in their own hinterlands, which represented what Feather, in his discussion of the eighteenth-century English book trade, called a 'ready-made system of deep market penetration' (Feather 1985, p. 37). Most of the distributors discussed in connection with the Magazin à la mode were also the local distributors and agents for certain patent medicines. James Williams, bookseller of Skinner Row, Dublin, was the Irish agent for Maredant's Antiscorbutic Drops, in September 1775 his network for the medicine closely paralleled William Whitestone's network for the distribution of the Magazin (Freeman's Journal, 15-17 Aug 1771; 2-5 Sept 1775; 9-11 Jan 1776). In six cases out of ten the selling agent was the same, i.e. the local bookseller and newspaper proprietor. In each case where the agent was the proprietor of the local newspaper he had a ready advertising medium, so that the product reached the widest possible public.

Whitestone's paper and stationery warehouse supplied the country booksellers with some of their staple commodities, Irish and Dutch writing paper, printing paper, parliament paper, city-parchment, merchant's account books, pocket books, and memorandum books. He offered to sell his imported foreign paper at the most moderate prices. In an advertisement in the Freeman's Journal of June 1770 for his paper warehouse he particularly targeted 'country merchants and others who buy to sell again' (Freeman's Journal, 31 May-2 June 1770; 3-5 Nov 1774). From the beginning his paper warehouse supplied the wholesale and retail trades. Feather identifies the importance of the legal market in provincial England, ranging from the 'gentlemen-amateurs' of the local bench to practising lawyers, and points to the role of the local printer and stationer who supplied lawyers and other members of the business community with paper, ink, wax and printed forms (Feather 1985, pp 35-6). It can be shown that legal stationery was much in demand in Irish country towns for anyone who had dealings with the law in its many forms. Whitestone supplied 'leases for lives and terms of years, printed on parchment and paper; Bonds and Warrants; Indentures; Ejectments; Decrees, Renewals and Dismisses &c. ... sold by wholesale and retail' to the country booksellers who, in turn, supplied this stationery wholesale to the smaller towns (Finn's Leinster Journal, 23-26 Dec 1772; Freeman's Journal,5-8 Nov 1774).

In addition to ordering printed forms from the wholesaler in Dublin it is possible that many provincial printers printed off copies from existing forms, though they would still have found it necessary to purchase the paper and parchment from the wholesaler. Edmund Finn of Kilkenny stocked 'Decrees, Renewals and Dismisses; large and small leases; single and double Bonds and Apprentices Indentures' which he sold on to the shops in the surrounding counties. Finn also claimed to give 'great encouragement to country shopkeepers, those who buy to sell again' (Finn's Leinster Journal, 26-30 Dec 1772). In August 1772 he advertised 'Affidavits for obtaining Premiums on Corn and Flour, pursuant to the late Act of Parliament' and 'Processes for the Leinster Circuit, with blank printed copies to serve for any Circuit' which he sold wholesale and retail (Finn's Leinster Journal, 15-19 Aug 1772).

Robert Stevenson of Newry advertised his books and stationery at the back of his edition of The battle of Aughrim by Robert Ashton in 1781. His range of papers was impressive, from Dutch and Irish writing paper to Prussian blue paper for ladies' work, marbled paper, pressing paper for clothiers, and parchment. Stevenson also dealt in stamps, warrants, tithe summonses, decrees, renewals and dismisses, processes etc. Thomas Ward of Lisburn specialised in modern books on history, law, physic and divinity, novels, classical and school texts, stationery, musical instruments and accessories. He took most of the major monthly periodicals and was willing to take on a new periodical when the Ulster Repository was published in May 1785 (Belfast Mercury, 24 May 1785). He gave the highest price for any library or parcel of books, which indicates that his business had a second-hand component (Belfast Mercury, 14 Jan 1785).

The French books which appear in the stocks of country booksellers normally fall into the categories of schoolbooks and primers, and popular reading matter. While translations were sometimes printed by the local booksellers, books in the French language only rarely appeared from their presses. The spread of schools teaching French in the provincial towns from the 1760s, testifies to the creation of a demand among the local populations for schoolbooks and other reading matter in French (Kennedy 2001). It is known that certain Dublin booksellers supplied the country market and, through them, imported and domestically reprinted French books made their way to the country shops.

In 1768 Edmund Finn advertised new books published by John Milliken in Dublin and sold at his bookshop in Kilkenny (Finn's Leinster Journal, 2-5 Nov 1768). John Ferrar advertised books published by James Williams in Skinner Row, Dublin, which went on sale at his New Printing Office in Limerick in 1770. They included The modern French dictionary at 3s.3d. bound (Limerick Chronicle, 29 Mar 1770). Hugh and James Ramsey in Waterford and Edmund Finn in Kilkenny were supplied with patent medicines by Williams, and so when The rational spelling book by John Entick was published by Williams in April 1777, it was sold by the Ramseys, while subscriptions for Finn's Leinster Journal were taken by Williams in Dublin (Waterford Chronicle, 1-4 Apr 1777; Finn's Leinster Journal, 31 Dec 1777-3 Jan 1778). Because of Kilkenny's inland situation Finn's imported books selling 'at Dublin prices' were certainly distributed by his contacts in Dublin, the Whitestones, James Williams and John Milliken. His copies of Boyer's French grammar, Rogissart's French grammar, Daubichon's French exercises, and Duval's French spelling book, for sale in 1768, would have followed this route (Finn's Leinster Journal, 9-13 July 1768).

From the evidence outlined it shows that the networks established to distribute books, stationery and patent medicines followed the same model, often using the same personnel at the nodes. The agent, a Dublin bookseller, sold his merchandise on to his contacts in the principal country towns. From each of these depots the merchandise was further distributed to the surrounding post towns which had contact with the main centre via the postal service two to three times a week (Watson's Almanack 1777, pp 117-121). Advertising was the key to the successful sale of such luxury items, and this was achieved through use of the local newspaper, printed by the local selling agent. By 1777 many of these lines of communication had been in operation for several years. It can be shown that Whitestone was in contact with the local newspaper proprietors from about 1768 when his paper warehouse was 'lately opened'. His advertisements appeared in the Limerick Chronicle in October 1768; in Finn's Leinster Journal in November 1768; in the Waterford Chronicle in 1770 and in the Londonderry Journal in January 1774 (Limerick Chronicle, 13 Oct 1768; Finn's Leinster Journal, 16-19 Nov 1768; Waterford Chronicle, 28 Dec 1770-1 Jan 1771; Londonderry Journal, 7 Jan 1774).

While the wholesale trade in stationery remained the mainstay of Whitestone's country business, he also began to advertise books from about 1770 when he offered country chapmen's books for sale, both wholesale and retail (Finn's Leinster Journal, 29 Dec 1770-2 Jan 1771). By 1772 he was offering 'New Entertaining Novels, as soon as published' and 'Country Chapmen's Books of every Denomination' (Finn's Leinster Journal, 23-26 Dec 1772; Londonderry Journal, 7 Jan 1774). Textbooks were ideal commodities for the wholesale trade, as they sold cheaply and it is known that they sold in larger numbers than any other type of publication. Whitestone's publications included several textbooks for students of French. In November 1775 Henry Whitestone published La Bruyère's Characters (La Bruyère1776; Freeman's Journal, 25-28 Nov 1775). William Whitestone published Perrin's Elements of French conversation and A grammar of the French tongue in 1777; La Bruyère's Les caractères de Theophraste and Perrin's Fables amusantes in 1778; and Perrin's Instructive and entertaining exercises in 1780. The rudiments of the French tongue was the first of Praval's works published by William Whitestone in 1775, followed by the Magazin à la mode in 1777-78, and another edition of The rudiments of the French tongue in 1779; The syntax of the French tongue, 1779; Le parnasse françois, 1780; and The idioms of the French language, 1783 (Freeman's Journal, 14-16 Mar 1775).

Whitestone would have distributed his textbooks via the existing network as part of his wholesale trade. I have selected four of the twenty booksellers from different parts of the country for closer scrutiny, each of whom was a newspaper proprietor in his/her own area. Extant runs of these newspapers reveal a wealth of evidence for the book trade in each region and allow us to trace the extent of the individual bookseller's business interests. It can be shown that each provincial bookseller subsequently had his/her own localised distribution network to the smaller towns and commercial centres. William Whitestone made use of this well established distribution network in the country towns to sell the Magazin.

George Douglas, Derry.

For the northern distribution of the Magazin à la mode George Douglas, printer and bookseller in Derry, was the local selling agent. In partnership with James Blyth he printed The Londonderry Journal at the Diamond from 1772 to 1775. In November 1775 the partnership was dissolved and Douglas became sole proprietor of the Journal at the Head of Ship Quay Street, while Blyth continued his extensive bookselling and stationery business at the Diamond (Londonderry Journal, 17 Nov 1775). In 1795/6 Douglas advertised the sale of the Journal and left Ireland for America in 1796 (Belfast Newsletter, 26-30 Oct 1795).

Douglas's contacts with William Whitestone stemmed from Whitestone's advertisements in the local newspapers and no doubt from the sale of paper and stationery from Whitestone's paper warehouse. In January 1774 the advertisement for Whitestone at the Shakespeare's Head in Skinner Row appeared in the Journal advertising papers, inks and books. Whitestone's advertisements appeared regularly in the Journal, so it is not surprising that in 1777 when the Magazin à la mode was published George Douglas in Derry was one of the commercial outlets for its distribution.

No list appears of the towns where subscriptions and advertisements were taken for the Journal. In his notice of the sale of the paper in 1795 Douglas claimed that it yielded a constant supply of advertisements and circulated over a great extent of populous country (Belfast Newsletter, 26-30 Oct 1795). In order to estimate the area of circulation of the Londonderry Journal in 1777 the contact addresses of advertisements which appeared in the paper during May and June, when the first issue of the Magazin became available, were surveyed. The circulation of the newspaper gives a clue to the extent of the readership and the towns which had contact with the printer or his agents. The following towns were most frequently the sources of advertisements: Derry; Belfast; Coleraine; Buncrana; Raphoe; Strabane; Donegal; Omagh; Limavady; Newtownstewart and Newry. All of these towns, with the exception of Newtownstewart and Buncrana, were post towns at the period, but the former was a market town for linen. Raphoe was the site of a diocesan library and a royal school and as such would have been a town with a literate population and likely cultural aspirations. Other towns in the catchment area of the Journal also had the benefit of higher level schooling. Royal schools in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, Armagh, Dungannon and Clogher, Co. Tyrone, founded in the early seventeenth century, would have raised the general level of education among certain groups in their area.

Douglas used his paper to advertise his other lines of business as was the usual commercial practice. He stated in his sale notice of the Journal that: 'being long and firmly established, being published in a Sea-Port town of considerable trade, yielding a constant supply of advertisements - and circulating over a great extent of populous country - will be found not only an advantageous article in itself, but will also be a certain introduction to other profitable branches of the Printing business' (Belfast Newsletter, 26-30 Oct 1795).

Edmund and Catharine Finn, Kilkenny.

Edmund Finn was bookseller, stationer, printer and proprietor of Finn's Leinster Journal in High Street, Kilkenny from 1767. He married Catharine Butler, sister of Michael Butler, printer in Kilkenny ('Edmund and Catharine Finn: enterprising booksellers in Kilkenny (1766-1801)', mairekennedybooks.wordpress.com,). After Finn's death on 5 April 1777 his widow, Catharine, took over the running of the business. The Finns were the local agents for Maredant's Antiscorbutic Drops, Dr Ryan's Antiscorbutic Drops, and Dr Ryan's Pectoral Essence of Colt's Foot, which were advertised extensively in the Journal (Finn's Leinster Journal, 29 Dec 1770-2 Jan 1771). In their bookshop they sold the annual publications, Watson's Almanack, Exshaw's English Registry, and the Ladies Own Memorandum Book, and the monthly periodicals Exshaw's Gentleman's and London Magazine and Walker's Hibernian Magazine. The monthly periodicals were distributed via the newspaper network and Finn ensured that subscribers received the periodicals with their newspapers. In the fourth issue of the Leinster Journal Finn set up the channel for the distribution of Exshaw's Gentleman's and London Magazine, he wished 'such Gentlemen as would chuse to be served regular with this Magazine, either in Town or Country' to send in their names and he would take 'particular Care to forward them with their newspapers' (Finn's Leinster Journal, 31 Jan-4 Feb 1767).

In June 1772 lottery tickets were on sale at Finn's lottery office, Kilkenny (Finn's Leinster Journal, 15-19 Aug 1772, advertisement dated 27 June). Finn also tried his hand at the sale of musical instruments, in 1768 he offered 'a right good Dulcimer, quite new' and in 1772 'Violins, German Flutes, Guittars and Barbary Organs &c. made by the best Makers in London and Dublin'. To accompany these he dealt in replacement strings for each instrument, books of instruction, musical cards and new songs and music for harpsichord and guitar 'all which he sells at Dublin prices for ready money' (Finn's Leinster Journal, 2-6 Jan 1768; 12-16 Dec 1772).

Finn's bookshop and stationery office was very much a wholesale concern, supplying almanacs and directories as well as 'every other article in the Bookselling and Stationary (sic) business' at wholesale and retail rates, he particularly targeted 'country shopkeepers, those who buy to sell again' (Finn's Leinster Journal, 26-30 Dec 1772). In 1767 he offered 'Country Chapmen's Books by the Hundred or Dozen, all at Dublin prices' (Finn's Leinster Journal, 4-7 Feb 1767). His stationery business was extensive, supplying printed forms such as leases, bonds, apprentices indentures, decrees, renewals and dismisses to the country shopkeepers. The supply of stationery for the Leinster Circuit Court was a lucrative business which continued throughout the 1760s and 1770s (Finn's Leinster Journal, 11-l4 Mar 1778). Books from the bookshop were regularly advertised in Finn's Leinster Journal. Schoolbooks in particular had a ready market. In an advertisement of 1768 Finn listed over 65 titles just imported 'For the use of Schools' comprising Latin grammars and readers, book-keeping textbooks and French language texts. Finn also advertised 'good copy paper for schoolboys ... and is constantly supplied with all sorts of school-books and classics' (Finn's Leinster Journal, 2-5 Nov 1768). The large number of schools in and around Kilkenny at this period formed the market for such items.

Listed among the 'school-books and classics' for sale was Fénélon's The adventures of Telemachus in French and English, embellished with cuts in two volumes neatly bound, selling at 6s.6d. This was advertised as one of Finn's new books just published in January 1768 with the translations of Letters from Emerance to Lucy by Madame de Beaumont in two volumes, bound at 5s.5d., and Beccaria's An essay on crimes and punishments with a commentary attributed to Voltaire priced at 3s. sewed (Finn's Leinster Journal 6-9 Jan 1768). Two other translations of French works were later described as 'published' by Finn, Madame Riccoboni's Letters from the Countess de Sancerre to the Count de Nance at 2s.8½d. and Bossuet's Universal history in two volumes at 6s.6d. (Finn's Leinster Journal 9-13 July 1768). It is unlikely that the above works were printed by Finn, the term 'published' is often used loosely in this context, whereas 'printed by' tends to be quite specific. More probably he was acting as retail agent for Dublin printings. In November 1768 he advertised new books published by John Milliken, bookseller at Skinner Row, Dublin, and sold at his bookshop which included two translations of Voltaire's works A defence of my uncle bound at 2s.2d. or sewed at 1s.7½d. and L'Ingenu, or the sincere Huron the second edition at 2s.2d. (Finn's Leinster Journal 2-5 Nov 1768). In 1784 Catharine Finn advertised copies of Boyer's French and English dictionary at £1.12s.6d. and Chambaud's French and English dictionary at 8s.1½d. (Finn's Leinster Journal 11-15 Dec 1784).

Finn's Leinster Journal, 25-28 Mar 1767; 4-7 Nov 1772, distribution agents for the Journal.

The distribution of Finn's Leinster Journal covered the Kilkenny area plus the neighbouring counties of Kildare, Carlow, Wexford, Waterford, Tipperary, North Cork, and Queen's County (Laois). Subscriptions and advertisements for the Journal were taken at the following towns in the first year of publication, February 1767 to January 1768:

James Williams, Dublin	James Lalor, Ballyragget, Co Kilkenny
Eugene Swiney, Cork	William Costigan, Durrow, Co Laois
Robert Dudley, Clonmel, Co Tipperary	George Brenan, Ballynakill, Co Kilkenny
James Brown, Mitchelstown, Co Cork	John Minchin, Rathdowney, Co Laois
William Durick, Carrick on Suir, Co Tipperary	John Tierney, Callan, Co Kilkenny
William Carrol, Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny	William Shee, Thomastown, Co Kilkenny
James Welsh, Knocktopher, Co Kilkenny	James Rosseter, Ross, Co Wexford
Edmund Byrne, Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow	Bernard Donovan, Waterford
William Rosseter, Graigue, Co Kilkenny	Richard Brazel, Carlow
Daniel Fitzpatrick, Freshford, Co Kilkenny	Patrick Common, Thurles, Co Tipperary
Thomas Paye, Urlingford, Co Kilkenny	Dennis McCraith, Clogheen, Co Tipperary
Andrew Mosse, Castledermot, Co Kildare	Edmund Finn, Kilkenny

The Journal was issued twice a week, on Wednesday and Saturday, and delivered to the above towns by 'proper messengers now established'. In 1767 Finn advertised for a horseman to deliver the Journal to Clonmel twice a week, the messenger was expected to provide his own horse (Finn's Leinster Journal 15-l8 Apr 1767). By 1777-78, the year of the distribution of the Magazin, the circulation was even wider and Catharine Finn could guarantee delivery of the Journal to Waterford, Clonmel, Cashel, Carlow and several other places on the day of publication. Circulation of the Journal though the post office gave access to 'the remotest parts of the Kingdom as well as to England'. In January 1778 Finn's Leinster Journal was 'regularly filed at the London, Chapter and Peele's Coffee-houses in London; the Grove and Parade Coffee-houses in Bath; the Merchants' Coffee-house in Cork and Nixon's Coffee-house in Waterford, at all which places Advertisements are taken in' (Finn's Leinster Journal, 31 Dec 1777-3 Jan 1778).

As in the case of the other local newspapers the centres in the post towns to which it was delivered were not usually bookshops, but often inns or general merchants who also dealt in specialised items such as patent medicines, stationery and books. James Rosseter in Ross, Co. Wexford, one of the centres for the delivery of the Journal, was a merchant who advertised a consignment of 'sixteen hogsheads of tobacco and a few barrels of tar' in July 1778 (Finn's Leinster Journal, 8-11 July 1778). Bernard Donovan ran The Angel Inn in Waterford, and in 1768 was selling the two volumes of An abridgement of Dr Newton's dissertations, distributed by Finn (Finn's Leinster Journal, 21-23 Mar 1768). Dennis McCraith was keeper of The Globe Inn in Clogheen, Co. Tipperary, while Thomas Paye kept The Sign of the Three Tuns and Munster Arms in Urlingford, Co. Kilkenny, and also sold groceries, men's and women's apparel, china, glass and delft (Finn's Leinster Journal, 28 Mar-1 Apr 1767; 5 May 1770; Waterford Chronicle, 10 May 1791). John Lalor was grocer at Ballyragget, Co. Kilkenny, Andrew Mosse ran a brewery, distillery and spirit warehouse at Castledermot, Co. Kildare, and John Minchin was a merchant at Rathdowney, Co. Laois, who specialised in funeral apparel (Finn's Leinster Journal, 16-19 Dec 1767; 2-5 Sept 1767; 10-14 Sept 1768). Daniel Fitzpatrick, Freshford, Co. Kilkenny, was agent for letting houses and lands (Finn's Leinster Journal, 25-28 Nov 1767; 11-15 July 1767; 18-21 Jan 1769). John Devereux, merchant in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, was a delivery centre for the Journal in June 1778 'from where it is conveyed to Wexford, and most other towns contiguous thereto' (Finn's Leinster Journal, 3-6 June 1778).

Finn's contact with William Whitestone began at least as early as 1768 when Finn's Leinster Journal carried the advertisement for the paper warehouse, which was newly opened (Finn's Leinster Journal, 29 Oct-2 Nov 1768). When La Bruyère's Characters was published by Henry Whitestone in 1775 Finn's Leinster Journal carried the advertisement and stated that it was published by H. Whitestone and sold by E. Finn (Finn's Leinster Journal, 30 Dec 1775-3 Jan 1776). Finn's network, in existence for ten years before the publication of the Magazin, would have been employed for its distribution. The delivery centres for Finn's Leinster Journal were clearly potential outlets for the sale of the Magazin.

John Ferrar, Limerick.

In the south-west the Magazin à la mode was taken by John Ferrar, bookseller, printer, stationer and proprietor of the Limerick Chronicle at the New Printing Office, Quay Lane, Limerick. Ferrar also distinguished himself as a poet, historian and public figure (Moore 2009). At his bookshop he sold lottery tickets, patent medicines and insurance. He was appointed by James Williams to sell Maredant's Antiscorbutic Drops (Limerick Chronicle, 20 Oct 1768). In 1769 he imported and sold 'French paper snuff boxes of the newest and most elegant patterns' as well as 'Imperial, Royal and Dutch Post papers' (Limerick Chronicle, 13 Mar 1769). Ferrar compiled and published the Limerick directory in 1769 'the only one of its kind printed here'. It was accompanied by a 'Perspective View', which Ferrar sent to London to be engraved (Limerick directory, 1769; Limerick Chronicle, 13 Mar 1769), he was unlikely to have had the skills or the equipment needed to execute engraved work.

The Limerick directory (1769), title page and perspective view.

One of Ferrar's earliest contacts with William Whitestone was in 1768 when an advertisement for Whitestone's paper warehouse, lately opened at Shakespeare's Head in Skinner Row, Dublin, was inserted in the Limerick Chronicle in October of that year (Limerick Chronicle, 13 Oct 1768). By the time the Magazin à la mode came on the market Ferrar was a substantial bookseller who had a network of book buyers in the Munster region. He regularly supplied his clientele with the monthly periodicals Walker's Hibernian Magazine; Exshaw's London and Gentleman's Magazine and The Monthly Review.

A proportion of Ferrar's customers must have been interested in titles in French and in translation from French, as we can see from his advertisements. As early as 1769 Ferrar had produced a catalogue of books either printed by him, or imported, to be given gratis to potential purchasers, though unfortunately none of his catalogues has survived (Limerick Chronicle, 13 Mar 1769). In March 1770 he sold the Modern French dictionary which was just published by James Williams at 3s.3d. bound (Limerick Chronicle, 29 Mar 1770). In July 1770 he printed part of his catalogue in the Limerick Chronicle. The French titles included Dictionnaire geographique portatif; Gil Blas, two volumes in French, and the English translation of Fontenelle's Dialogues of the dead, all selling at 2s.2d. (Limerick Chronicle, 26 July 1770). In the autumn of 1770 he advertised Moral tales by Madame de Beaumont in two volumes at 5s.5d. and Montesquieu's Works at £1.6s. (Limerick Chronicle 24 Nov 1770). By January 1779 Ferrar's annual catalogue was being prepared for the press and would 'contain a large and new collection of valuable books in the French and English languages'. It appeared in February and consisted of 'several thousand volumes, English and French'. It was distributed gratis at his printing office in Limerick, at all the places where his newspaper was delivered and at Daly's coffee-house in Cork. He claimed that 'this is the most extensive catalogue ever published in the country part of Ireland' (Limerick Chronicle, 11 Jan 1779; 15 Feb 1779).

It is clear from this that his catalogue of English and French titles was disseminated along the post route to the surrounding towns. The towns connected with Limerick by post in 1769 were: Dublin, Birr, Nenagh, Newport, Waterford, Clonmel, Cashel, Cork, Mallow, Charleville, Tralee, Rathkeale, Sixmilebridge and Ennis, with deliveries two or three times a week (Limerick directory, 1769). Subscriptions and advertisements for the Limerick Chronicle for 1769 were taken by John Wilkinson (fl. 1769-1778), apothecary and agent for Royal Eye Water, Birr, Co. Offaly; Thomas Stamer, Ennis, Co. Clare; William Smithis (fl. 1769-1778), Tipperary; Edward Dartnell (fl. 1769-1778), grocer at the Tree Sugar Loaves, Rathkeale, Co. Limerick; and John Pearse, Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare. The Chronicle was sent to these towns twice a week and also to Killaloe, Co. Clare, Newport and Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, and all parts of Kerry (Limerick Chronicle, 13 Mar 1769).

The advertisements printed in the Chronicle largely confirm this distribution, covering Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, Offaly, Kerry and North Cork. Edward Dartnell at the Rathkeale centre for the delivery of the Limerick Chronicle, advertised his grocery shop, the Three Sugar Loaves, in the Chronicle, where he sold fresh groceries just arrived from Dublin and 'some very essential articles in the Apothecary Business' (Limerick Chronicle, 13 Oct 1768; 13 Mar 1769). In May 1779 Ferrar requested his subscribers 'in and about Tipperary' to call for their newspapers to Edmond Dwyer's apothecary shop, where they would be regularly delivered (Limerick Chronicle, 13 May 1779). It is clear that Ferrar's commercial network extended that of William Whitestone from the main centre, Limerick, into the heart of the surrounding countryside. It is very possible that the Magazin appeared in Ferrar's annual catalogue as one of his French titles on offer. It is certain that this regional market was open to any title taken by Ferrar.

Hugh and James Ramsey, Waterford.

The Messrs Ramsey who took the Magazin à la mode were Hugh and James Ramsey, printers, booksellers and proprietors of the Waterford Chronicle from 1765, who carried on their business at The Quay, Waterford ('Hugh and James Ramsey: entrepreneurs and civic leaders in 18^th-century Waterford', mairekennedybooks.wordpress.com). They regularly advertised their stock of books in the Waterford Chronicle, using it as an extension to the sales potential of the bookshop. They carried the monthly periodicals Exshaw's Gentleman's and London Magazine; Walker's Hibernian Magazine and The Ladies' Magazine. In addition to the sale of books the Ramseys sold lottery tickets (Waterford Chronicle, 2-6 Aug 1771). They were the local agents of James Williams for Maredant's Antiscorbutic Drops. Hugh Ramsey was a land auctioneer in partnership with Hans Wallace. On 2 September 1771 they auctioned the library of Dr Eaton Edwards, Doctor of Physic, at the Exchange in Waterford, the catalogues were distributed from the bookshop (Waterford Chronicle, 12-16 July 1771). The stock of the Ramseys' bookshop included books in French and translations from the French. In 1770 they advertised Les oeuvres of Regnard in four volumes at 8s.8d. and Xenophon's La retraite de dix mille with notes by Le Cointe in two volumes at 6s.6d. in addition to two English titles, four maps and a music book (Waterford Chronicle, 28 Dec 1770-1 Jan 1771).

Waterford Chronicle, 1-4 Jan 1771, advertisement for William Whitestone; 16-20 May 1777, advertisement for Le magazin à la mode.

The Ramseys formed part of the network already known to William Whitestone before the publication of the Magazin à la mode. From 10 July 1770 the advertisement for Whitestone's paper warehouse 'lately opened ... opposite Dick's Coffee House in Skinner Row, Dublin' was carried in the Chronicle (Waterford Chronicle, 28 Dec 1770-1 Jan 1771, advertisement dated 10 July 1770). In May and June 1777 the advertisement in French appeared in the Waterford Chronicle for the first issue of the Magazin à la mode. It was advertised as 'just published by William Whitestone, bookseller in Dublin, and sold by H. and J. Ramsey'. The entire Table de matières was printed and the price was given as 1s.1d. (Waterford Chronicle, 20-23 May 1777). The selling price shows that the advertisement was intended for the public at large, and not for subscribers to the Magazin who paid the yearly rate of a half guinea (10s.6d.).

There is no evidence that the Ramseys ever produced a catalogue to help in the distribution of their book stock, but the regular advertisements carried by the Chronicle for new books penetrated the surrounding countryside and interested buyers could place their orders with Ramsey's bookshop or at the distribution centres for the Chronicle. The Chronicle was widely distributed, the proprietors claimed that 'its circulation and sale being much more than any Paper ever published in this City'. Subscriptions and advertisements for the Chronicle were taken for the entire south eastern region at the following centres: William Smith, bookseller, Dame Street, Dublin; Edmund Finn, Kilkenny; George Roe (fl. 1777-1788), merchant, Ross, Co. Wexford; James Wall, Newtown, and Mr Nagle, Pilltown, Co. Kilkenny; in Co. Waterford, John Fahay, Kilmacthomas, and Thomas Rogers Esq., Dungarvan; and in Co. Tipperary, Sam Holland, Cashel; John Danks, Carrick; Amyas Griffith Esq. Fethard; George Lloyd and Edmond Dwyer, Clonmel. It seems to have been regularly delivered to these centres, for the proprietors assured their readers that 'to all which Places proper messengers are now established at a considerable expense' (Waterford Chronicle, 28 Dec 1770-1 Jan 1771).

As in the case of the Limerick Chronicle, the network of the Waterford Chronicle followed the postal route and was delivered at each of the surrounding post towns. Private messengers, however, were also employed by the printers for a more efficient delivery service and 'neighbouring Gentlemen may depend upon being regularly served with this Paper at a very modest price' (Waterford Chronicle, 28 Dec 1770-1 Jan 1771). The French language advertisement for the Magazin à la mode carried in the Waterford Chronicle in May 1777, therefore, had a very wide potential clientele, overlapping in some cases with other centres where the Magazin was on sale, such as Kilkenny, or Clonmel, where the Waterford Chronicle was distributed in addition to the locally produced newspapers. The Magazin was of particular interest to schools teaching French, the readership of the Chronicle was clearly considered to include teachers as textbooks were very frequently advertised and teachers and schools inserted advertisements for their classes.

Conclusion.

The distribution of the Magazin à la mode displays a very obvious gap in the western region of the country. Two outlets only, Castlebar and Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, are west of the Shannon. No Galway bookseller or shopkeeper was agent for the Magazin. Mr Lynot in Galway was agent for Maredant's Antiscorbutic Drops in 1775. Alick or Ulick Lynott was listed as the Galway bookseller who subscribed to Faulkner's edition of Swift's Works in 1762 and is probably the same individual, perhaps he may not have been in business when the Magazin was published in 1777-78. It is not until 1793 that George Hynes advertised as a bookseller and proprietor of a circulating library in Galway (Connaught Journal, 9 Dec 1793), while at the end of the 1790s George Conolly was active as a bookseller, printer and library proprietor. Throughout the century, however, Galway seems to have been badly served by the book trade (Kinane 1996). The poor survival of the Connaught Journal, extant for the years 1793 and 1795 only, compounds the problem of understanding the Galway book trade before the 1790s.

From the examination of the above four newspaper proprietors and booksellers who were agents for the Magazin à la mode in 1777 and 1778 an obvious pattern of distribution is clear. The network radiates out from the printer in Dublin to the large provincial towns and from there onwards to the smaller post towns. As the network expands the booksellers distribute their books, newspapers and stationery to the inns, grocery and apothecary shops in the smaller towns and to the chapmen's satchels for the more inaccessible regions. It is also clear that books shared a common commercial network with other luxury goods such as patent medicines, musical instruments, fancy goods, paper and stationery and that in many cases the agent was the same for several of these expensive commodities.

The market for French textbooks and popular reading matter increased in Ireland from the 1770s and there are indications that demand existed in country areas as well as in fashionable metropolitan circles. French language books benefited from the localised networks established by the regional booksellers, which facilitated their diffusion to the smallest towns. The countrywide spread of schools teaching French helped create the market for such material, and in turn the schools were served by the local availability of textbooks and readers.

The distribution of the Magazin à la mode exemplifies the distribution channels in use in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. The development of the transport networks made this inter-regional trade possible. The modernisation which occurred in the course of the century facilitated the spread of literacy and local communities availed themselves of information through the medium of local newspapers from mid-century. As highlighted by Smyth this penetration of roads, canals, markets and newspapers began to erode regional and local peculiarities (Smyth 1992, p. 24). The tiered distribution networks are of particular interest as they draw attention to the chain of contacts linking the Dublin wholesaler to the small country grocer through a series of intermediate nodes. This intricate web carried books and periodicals into regions remote even from the provincial towns. Newspapers play a structural role in the identification of distribution networks, for they constituted a formative part of the networks.

Booksellers who distributed Le magazin à la mode.

Dublin	Whitestone, William (1753-1792) and Henry (1775-1792). 33 Skinner Row until 1776; 29 Capel St, 1776-92	Printers, wholesale and retail booksellers and stationers, proprietors of the paper and stationery warehouse. Publishers of the Magazin à la mode
Armagh	Anketell, Matthew (fl.1774-1778)	Printer
Athlone	Pennington
Ballinrobe, Co Mayo	Courtney, David (fl.1773-1778)	Agent for Royal Eye Water, 1773
Belfast	Hay, John (1735-1778), The Two Bibles, High St.	Bookseller and printer, agent for Maredant's Drops
Belfast	Magee, James (1736-1789), Crown and Bible, Bridge St.	Bookseller and printer. Printed the Belfast almanack and Magee's Belfast almanack, 1786, agent for Dr James's Powder
Carlow	Lahee. Possibly Charles Lahea (fl.1777-1788), Tullow St.	China and Glass Warehouse
Castlebar, Co Mayo	Thompson
Clonmel, Co Tipperary	Collins, Edward (1771-d.1794). Barrack St.	Bookseller, printer and wine merchant, agent for Maredant's Drops. Printer of the Hibernian Gazette, later the Clonmell Gazette. Mayor of Clonmel, 1787
Cork	Edwards, Mrs Mary (1770-1781). 3 Castle St.	Bookseller, printer and stationer, lottery agent. Printed for Cork Corporation
Cork	Hood, Daniel (1734-d.1792), opposite the Main Guard 1734-37; Tuckey's Quay 1760-1765; Daunt's Bridge 1782-84; Grand Parade 1787	Bookseller, bookbinder, subscription agent, lottery agent
Cork	Sullivan, Jeremiah (1777-1793), opposite the Exchange.	Bookseller and lottery agent. Printed the Gentleman's and citizen's Cork almanack, 1782
Cork	White, Thomas (1766-d.1803)	Bookseller and printer. Printed schoolbooks. Published the short lived Cork Journal. Agent for Maredant's Drops
Derry	Douglas, George (1770-1796)	Printer. Printed the Londonderry Journal 1772-95. Agent for Maredant's Drops. In 1796 he emigrated to America
Drogheda, Co Louth	Fleming, John (1769-1785)	Printer and bookseller. Printer of the Drogheda Journal from 1775
Kilkenny	Finn, Mrs Catharine (1777-1801; d.1832)	Printer, stationer and bookseller. Succeeded her husband, Edmund, after his death on 5 April 1777. Printed Finn's Leinster Journal. Agent for Royal Eye Water, Dr James's Powder and Maredant's Drops
Limerick	Ferrar, John (1765-1785; d.1804), Quay Lane.	Printer and bookseller. Printer of the Limerick Chronicle from 1768, agent for Maredant's Drops
Lisburn, Co Antrim	Ward, Thomas (fl.1777-1786)	Bookseller, bookbinder and stationer, dealer in musical instruments
Newry, Co Down	Stevenson (or Stephenson), Robert (1774-1788)	Bookseller and printer. Agent for Dr James's Powder. Printer of the Newry Journal 1775-88
Waterford	Ramsey, Hugh (1740-1785) and James (1765-1796), The Quay	Printers and booksellers. Printed the Waterford Chronicle from 1765. Agents for Maredant's Drops
Wexford	Moreton (or Morton), Richard (fl.1776-1778), Back St.	Proprietor of the Wexford Journal, 1776

An earlier version of this article was published as 'The distribution of a locally-produced French periodical in provincial Ireland: the Magazin à la mode, 1777-1778', Eighteenth-Century Ireland, 9 (1994), pp 83-98.

References:

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Feather, John, 1985. The provincial book trade in eighteenth-century England (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1985).

Kennedy, Máire, 1998. 'Eighteenth-century newspaper publishing in Munster and South Leinster', Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, 103 (1998), pp 67-88.

Kennedy, Máire, 1999. 'Readership in French: the Irish experience', in Gargett, G. and Sheridan, G. eds. The French enlightenment in eighteenth-century Ireland (Basingstoke and London, Macmillan Press, 1999), pp 3-20.

Kennedy, Máire, 2001. French books in eighteenth-century Ireland (Oxford, Voltaire Foundation, 2001).

Kennedy, Máire, 2009. 'William Flyn (1740-1811) and the readers of Munster in the second half of the eighteenth century', in John Hinks, Catherine Armstrong and Matthew Day, ed., Periodicals and publishers: the newspaper and journal trade 1740-1914 (Newcastle, DE, and London: Oak Knoll Press and The British Library, 2009), pp 73-94.

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La Bruyère, Jean de, 1776. Characters or manners of the age (Dublin, printed by J. Chambers for Henry Whitestone, 1776).

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Moore, Jennifer, 2009. 'John Ferrar 1742-1804: printer, author and public man', in John Hinks, Catherine Armstrong and Matthew Day, ed., Periodicals and publishers: the newspaper and journal trade 1740-1914 (Newcastle, DE, and London: Oak Knoll Press and The British Library, 2009), pp 45-72.

O'Callaghan, Ursula, 2010. 'Newspapers and print culture in eighteenth century Limerick', Limerick: Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ph.D. thesis.

Ó Ciosáin, Niall, 1997. Print and popular culture in Ireland, 1750-1850 (Basingstoke and London, Macmillan Press, 1997.

Ó Ciosáin, Niall, 2011. 'Oral Culture, Literacy, and Reading, 1800-50', in James H. Murphy, ed., The Oxford history of the Irish book, volume IV, The Irish book in English 1800-1891 (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011), pp 173-191.

Pollard, M., 1989. Dublin's trade in books 1550-1800 (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1989). p.205

Praval, Charles, 1777-78. Le magazin à la mode: dedié aux dames, Vol I, May-Dec 1777, pp 1-855; Le magazin à la mode: où bibliothèque instructive et amusante, Vol II, Jan-Apr 1778, pp 1-383, octavo, engraved music (Dublin, William Whitestone, 1777-1778).

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