Record

CollectionGB 0231 University of Aberdeen, Special Collections
LevelItem
Ref NoMS 30/2/99
Alt Ref NoMS 30 c. 99
TitleWilliam Creech to James Beattie from Edinburgh
Date14 December 1772
Extent1 Item
Administrative HistoryWilliam Creech [1745-1815] Bookseller in Edinburgh. He attended Edinburgh University, and originally intended to enter medicine, but was apprenticed to bookseller Alexander Kincaid in 1764, becoming Kincaid partner when the latter's partnership with John Bell dissolved in 1771 - just after the firm had published the first edition of the first book of the Minstrel. His shop became a well-known meeting place, and he published the work of many of the Scottish literati. Beattie had a long and generally happy relationship with him from 1771, both personally and in business matters
DescriptionDilly's proposal is mean and contemptible, particularly as Dilly had recently told him that he proposed a gratuity of ten guineas to Beattie for the trouble he had taken over the fourth edition of the Essay. Creech, who only owned a quarter of the book, would have been ashamed to name so small a sun (Dilly purchased Bell's share and therefore owns all exept Creech's fourth). Creech will tell Dilly that Beattie should have thirty guineas immediately and twenty more when half the impression is gone. Creech is prepared to advance his share though he has only been concerned in the second impression and is a loser by the third edition of The Minstrel according to a class book at Oxford?
Access StatusOpen
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