Benjamin Motte (; November 1693 – 12 March 1738J. J. Caudle ''Dictionary of National Biography'') was a London publisher and son of Benjamin Motte, Sr. Motte published many works and is well known for his publishing of

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer, essayist, satirist, and Anglican cleric. In 1713, he became the Dean (Christianity), dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and was given the sobriquet "Dean Swi ...

's ''

Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', originally titled ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'', is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clerg ...

''.

Background

Benjamin Motte was born in the parish of St Botolph (Aldersgate), London to Benjamin Motte Sr. and Anne Clarke. He was born in early November 1693 and baptised soon after on 14 November. Some of his first mentions are of his early publications and when he took over Benjamin Tooke's publishing business.Ehrenpreis p. 739 It was not under 7 February 1715 that Motte was free from his publishing patrimony, and he took off as a bookseller in 1719. Motte's place of business in

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

(London) was located in Middle Temple Gate. This space was passed to Motte by his predecessor, Benjamin Tooke, and then passed to Motte's replacement, Charles Bathurst, in 1738 upon his death. Motte was then asked to become partners with the Tooke publishing firm after Benjamin Tooke's brother, Samuel Tooke, died in December 1724, and as he took the position, he became the only active member of the publishing firm. On 21 December 1725, Motte married Elizabeth, the daughter of Rev. Thomas Brian, and had two children. Throughout his career, Motte had three apprentices: George Hall, Thomas Isborne, and Jonathan Russell. After taking over the Tooke publishing firm, he partnered with his brother, Charles, until 1731. Although he had no partner from 1731–1734, Motte took up his apprentice, Charles Bathurst, as his apprentice. In 1726,

sent Motte a copy of ''

'', to be printed anonymously. Motte took great care to protect the identity of the author and employed five publishing houses to speed production of the book and avoid pirating. In 1727, Motte formed his first direct contract with Swift and

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early ...

to publish their ''Miscellanies''. As part of the contract, Motte paid Tooke for the original copyright to the work. Motte's work with Jonathan Swift was complicated and risky; one, ''An Epistle to a Lady'', brought about Motte's arrest in 1734. Edmund Curll, as was his habit, claimed that he had the rights to some of Swift's miscellanies. Curll had obtained the works illegitimately and had published them to spite Swift, and he used the controversy with Motte to attempt to generate publicity. Although Curll was unwilling to do anything about the reproduction, Pope turned from Motte as his publisher for a fourth edition of the ''Miscellanies'' over a payment dispute and other publication-related complaints.Ehrenpreis p. 743 Pope finally bought out his contract with Motte for twenty-five pounds. Near the end of his life, in 1735, Motte sued the printer George Faulkner of

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

over Faulkner's importing into Britain of Swift's ''Works''. In Motte v. Faulkner, Motte claimed that many of the works reproduced were under copyright held by Motte from the purchase of the original copyright for many of Swift's writings from Tooke and from a contract directly with Swift to publish ''Gulliver's Travels''. The London courts upheld Motte's claim and ordered that Faulkner's edition of Swift's ''Works'' to be kept from importation into England.

Publications

Although Motte is most known for his production of Jonathan Swift's ''Gulliver's Travels'', he produced other great works. Many of these works were published on his own, but he did work with many other printers including Samuel Ballard, Charles Bathurst, Bernard Lintot, William Mears, James Round, George Strahan, and Jacob Tonson. English Works published by Motte: * Eustace Budgell's ''Works'' * Samuel Butler's '' Hudibras'' * William Chillingworth's ''Works'' * William Giffard's ''Cases in midwifry'' (1734) * Alexander Pope's "Verses on Gulliver" *

Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet, (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector. He had a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British ...

– ''A Voyage to the Islands of Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica'' * Jonathan Swift's '' Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World'' * Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope's ''Miscellanies in Prose and Verse'' (1727, 1728, 1732) * Joseph Thurston ''The Toilette'' (1730) *

John Vanbrugh Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restor ...

's ''Works'' *

William Wycherley William Wycherley ( ; April 16411 January 1716) was an English Army officer and playwright best known for writing the plays '' The Country Wife'' and ''The Plain Dealer''. Early life Wycherley was born at Clive near Shrewsbury, Shropshire, ...

's ''Country Wife'' (1731) Works published by Motte and other publishers: *

Abraham Cowley Abraham Cowley (; 161828 July 1667) was an English poet and essayist born in the City of London late in 1618. He was one of the leading English poets of the 17th century, with 14 printings of his ''Works'' published between 1668 and 1721. Early ...

''Works'' translation – Mears and Strahan *

John Dryden John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration (En ...

's '' Don Sebastian'' – Strahan * George Farquhar's ''Comedies'' Lintot and Strahan *

Thomas Otway Thomas Otway (3 March 165214 April 1685) was an English dramatist of the Restoration period, best known for '' Venice Preserv'd'', or ''A Plot Discover'd'' (1682). Life Otway was born at Trotton near Midhurst, the parish of which his father ...

's ''Venice Preserv'd'' – Strahan * Thomas Otway's ''Works'' – Lintot, Strahan, and Tonson * J. Saunders Saunders ''The compleat fisherman'' (1724) – Mears and S. Tooke * Jonathan Swift's ''A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation'' (1738) – Bathurst * William Willymott's ''English examples to Lily's grammar-rules, for children's Latin exercises'' (1727) – Round English translations published by Motte: *

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; ; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide insight into the politics and cu ...

's ''Works'' *

Euclid Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...

's '' Elements'' * Eutropius's ''Works'' *

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...

's ''

Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, value, mind, and language. It is a rational and critical inquiry that reflects on ...

'' (as ''The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy...'', 1729) * Andrea Pozzo's ''Rules and Examples of Perspective Proper for Painters and Architects'' (1707) *

Terence Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a playwright during the Roman Republic. He was the author of six Roman comedy, comedies based on Greek comedy, Greek originals by Menander or Apollodorus of Carystus. A ...

''Works'' * Jacques Auguste de Thou's ''Works'' * Gerhard Johann Vossius's ''Works'' English translations published by Motte and other publishers: *

Desiderius Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

's ''Colloquia'' – Strahan *

Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ; 55–128), was a Roman poet. He is the author of the '' Satires'', a collection of satirical poems. The details of Juvenal's life are unclear, but references in his works to people f ...

's ''Works'' – Ballard and Mears *

Samuel von Pufendorf Samuel von Pufendorf (; ; 8 January 1632 – 26 October 1694) was a German people, German jurist, political philosopher, economist and historian. He was born Samuel Pufendorf and Nobility, ennobled in 1694; he was made a baron by Charles XI of ...

– ''The Whole Duty of Man, According to the Law of Nature'' (1735) – trans. Andrew Tooke, R. Gosling and J. Pemberton *

Sallust Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (, ; –35 BC), was a historian and politician of the Roman Republic from a plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became a partisan of Julius ...

's ''Works'' – Ballard * Seneca's ''

Epistulae morales ad Lucilium ' (Latin for "Moral Letters to Lucilius"), also known as the ''Moral Epistles'' and ''Letters from a Stoic'', is a letter collection of 124 letters that Seneca the Younger wrote at the end of his life, during his retirement, after he had worked ...

'' – Lintot, Strahan, and Tonson *

Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

's ''

History of the Peloponnesian War The ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' () is a historical account of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), which was fought between the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta) and the Delian League (led by Classical Athens, Athens). The account, ...

'' – Lintot Misc. contributions: * ''Oratio Dominica'' "The Lords Prayer in Above a Hundred Languages, Versions, and Characters" (1713) – Motte was typographer for the various languages of the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manusc ...

. He also wrote the preface and signed it "B. M. Typogr. Lond." * The Royal Society's ''The Philosophical Transactions From the Year 1700 (Where Mr Lowthorp Ends) to the Year 1720'' edited by Motte in 1721.

Notable publications

The 1728 ''The Last Volume'' of Swift and Pope's ''Miscellanies'' including Pope's ''Peri Bathous'' provoked many pamphlets to be produced against the books. Motte's edition of

's '' Principia'' (1729) was translated by Andrew Motte (1696–1734), his brother a mathematician and very briefly the lecturer on

geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

Gresham College Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in Central London, England that does not accept students or award degrees. It was founded in 1597 under the Will (law), will of Sir Thomas Gresham, ...

.Smet and Verelst p. 1 This was the first English edition and the first translated edition that included the Scholium Generale found in the second Latin edition (1726). This edition was the most commonly taught version of Newton's ''Principia'' in English and was therefore considered the "authorized version". However, even when later revised by

Florian Cajori Florian Cajori (February 28, 1859 – August 14 or 15, 1930) was a Swiss-American historian of mathematics. Biography Florian Cajori was born in Zillis, Switzerland, as the son of Georg Cajori and Catherine Camenisch. He attended schools firs ...

this edition was deemed "awkward" and "inaccurate" in some locations since it was based on the second Latin edition. Motte's edition of William Giffard's ''Cases in midwifry'' is the earliest published record of using Chamberlen forceps during

childbirth Childbirth, also known as labour, parturition and delivery, is the completion of pregnancy, where one or more Fetus, fetuses exits the Womb, internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section and becomes a newborn to ...

.Radcliffe, Walter. ''Milestones in midwifery; And, the Secret Instrument'' Jeremy Norman Co. 1989

Notes

References

* * *
List of Motte's 1720 publications
3 May 2008 * Shapiro, Alan E

American Institute of Physics. 3 May 2008
Fleet Street And The Press
Reprinted by Old and Sold's Antiques Digest 3 May 2008

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Motte, Benjamin 1693 births 1738 deaths British printers