Part ff. 21–5 - Copy of an agreement between (A) John Dryden and (B) Jacob Tonson for Dryden’s translation of Virgil, 15 June 1694

4 single sheets, 1 folded sheet (f. 24)

A agrees to translate ‘with all the convenient speed from the Latin into English verse all the Eclogues Georgics and Eneid of Virgil and prepare them for the press with such notes preface or dedication as he shall think most fitting’. He agrees not to write, translate, or publish anything else until he has finished this work, except for the translation of ‘a little French Book of painting’ which he has agreed to make for ‘some Gentlemen Virtuoso’s and Painters’; the writing of any new original poem or book of prose not exceeding the price of 1s. when printed; and the publication of a comedy by his son John Dryden (The Husband his Own Cuckold), and the writing of the prologue, epilogue, or songs for that play. B will have the copyright in the translation of Virgil, and will pay A in return £200 in instalments when specified parts of it are complete. B will provide at his own costs all the brass cuts or plates formerly printed with Ogilby’s translation of Virgil in folio which can be obtained, buy so many more as are wanting to complete the number of one hundred (excluding Ogilby’s portrait and the frontispiece), and print them as directed by A. B agrees that he will endeavour to find as many people as there are cuts in the book to subscribe 5 guineas each (payable in instal-ments, as specified), to be paid to (A) for each of the books delivered to these persons. The names and arms of the subscribers will be engraved on their respective plates. Any money paid to B by any person over the said 5 guineas shall be paid to A, and A will give B a receipt for it, and B agrees to make oath before a Master in Chancery how much subscription money he has received, and to pay these sums to A on request. B will deliver to A as many books as he wants of the same, size, volume, letter, and paper, as the aforementioned hundred volumes, and including the same prints, for which A will pay as much above the selling price of the said books on common paper as the charge of printing on the best paper amounts to. Any difference between the parties on this point is to be left to the determination in writing of three persons to be chosen by them. There shall be no more copies printed on fine paper than those which are subscribed for, and B shall not make any proposals for printing a second edition until A has disposed of the books which are to be subscribed for. When A has completed the translation as far as Book VI of the Aeneid he may publish advertisements in the Gazette or elsewhere, giving notice that only subscribers can have books on fine paper, and advising the date on which subscriptions are to be received, and when A has completed his translation he will declare the number of books to be printed on fine paper, which B will print accordingly. If one hundred subscribers are not found by the time the translation of Book VI of the Aeneid is completed, A will return to B the subscription money he has received, and A shall be free to make a new agreement with B or any other person for the translation, and B will return to A as much of the translation as he has received. For the performance of this agreement the parties mutually bind themselves in £200.

(Transcript in an unidentified hand.)

Five sheets, each pasted to a guard in Crewe MS 21 (ff. 21–5).

The original and its counterpart are in the British Library (Add. Ch. 8429 and Add. MS 36933). They are printed in The Works of John Dryden, ed. E. N. Hooker, etc. (1956–2000), vi. 1179–82.