ABSTRACT
T HE author in early eighteentlH:entury England is often seen as escaping from dependence on aristocratic and political patronage in order to seek his fortWle from the public at large. Whether he became freer or
richer is arguable. Alexandre Beljame from across the Channel has hailed the creation of a republic of letters, with Alexander Pope as first citizen. I Less philosophical eyes have wept the emergent author newly enslaved by booksellers more rich and powerful than ever before.2 How should one explain the frequent attempts by eighteenth-century authors, noticeably after 1715, to publish on their own account? As an exercise of new-found freedom, or a desperate attempt to beat the bookseller at his own game? Why else should an author have gone to the trouble of doing it himself?
