in it,
and he lived at a time when the individual testimony of men was of
greater weight than now. There were no organs of literary or educational
opinion, no academies or bodies of men especially esteemed as juries in
the case of any book on trial, and indorsements were looked for as
essential to the success of any new venture. There was no great public
to show its interest by buying, and there were no publishers of capital
and organization to relieve the author of publishing labor. In the
recently published correspondence of Jeremy Belknap and Ebenezer
Hazard,[5] one may read the difficulties encountered by a scholarly man
in getting his historical work published. The correspondence for two
years between these gentlemen, with reference to the publication of
Belknap's "History of New Hampshire," a volume of five hundred pages,
shows that every detail of paper, print, and binding, and almost all
arrangements for securing subscriptions, fell upon the author and his
friend, acting for and with him. Subscribers were sought with painful
endeavor, one at a time, and all the points at issue were discussed in
letters which seemed sometimes to travel by chance.

Webster, without money, and almost without friends, but with the kind of
faith which works miracles with other people's faith, succeeded at
length in persuading Hudson & Goodwin, printers in Hartford, to issue an
edition of five thousand copies of the spelling-book. John Trumbull and
Joel Barlow were his chief supporters, the latter backing him with a
little money. The printer was the publisher then; and an author, in
making his arrangements, was accustomed to sell the right to print and
publish to various printers in various parts of the country,--a custom
which continued through the first quarter of the century. The isolation
of the several settled communities rendered collision between the
several dealers unlikely; and, in the absence of quick communication, no
place had any advantage except as a depot for the neighboring district.
Rights to print were granted for fourteen years. Such a contract was
made in 1818 by Webster with Mr. Hudson, who was to pay $3,000 a year
during the term. The reader will recall similar arrangements in Irving's
ventures. The popularity of the speller rendered it liable to piracy,
especially in the ruder parts of the country, and as late as 1835 Mr.
Webster writes to his son, established as a bookseller in Louisville: "I
would suggest whet