Troubles Faced by an Inexperienced Young Printer: George de Backer’s Edition of Racine, 1699/1700

Abstract

Abstract A.-J. Guibert’s Bibliographie des oeuvres de Jean Racine publiees au XVIIe siecle et oeuvres posthumes (Paris 1968) lists a collected ‘Oeuvres de Racine. Nouvelle edition’ in two volumes 12° with imprint ‘A Brusselles, chez George de Backer’, 1700, of which Guibert was unable to trace any copies. The preceding entry in the bibliography is for another ‘Nouvelle edition’ with imprint ‘A Paris, chez Jean Pralart’, 1699-1700, also in two volumes 12°, and Guibert describes the copy at Versailles. A few copies of De Backer’s edition exist in libraries in the UK. This article demonstrates that the Paris imprint is fictitious and that these two ‘editions’ are in fact two issues of the same edition, printed by George de Backer in Brussels. Both issues exist in different states, and the article attempts to define their relationships. The sole rights to print Racine’s works in the Habsburg jurisdiction were awarded to De Backer in 1694 for nine years. The article suggests reasons for the long delay in starting the work and considers the problems faced by the relatively young and inexperienced De Backer and the measures he took which may have led to the different states.