Bibliographer: Corey Branch

The Egg, or the Memoirs of Gregory Giddy

This is a hollow sculpture made with clay and paper-mache cutouts from a facsimile of the text. It literalizes The Egg’s epigraph’s metaphor for interpretation, and offers a metaphor for the idea of the novel’s development.

Traditional Description

Anon. The Egg, or the Memoirs of Gregory Giddy, Esq; with the lucubrations of Messrs. Francis Flimsy, Frederic Florid, and Ben Bombast. To which are… 1st ed. London: S. Smith, 1772.

 THE | EGG, | Or the MEMOIRS of | GREGORY GIDDY, Esq; | With the LUCUBRATIONS of | Messrs. FRANCIS FLIMSY, FREDERIC FLORID, and | BEN BOMBAST. | To which are added, | The Private Opinions of PATTY POUT, LUCY LUSCIOUS, | and PRISCILLA POSITIVE. | Also the MEMOIRS of a Right Honourable PUPPY. | Or, the | B O N  T O N display’d: | Together with Anecdotes of a | Right Honourable SCOUNDREL. | [dividing line] | Conceived | By a Celebrated H E N, | And laid before the PUBLIC by a Famous | COCK-FEEDER. | [dividing line] The Title of our EGG is but the Shell, | The Meat, or Sense, its Excellence will tell. | Then crack the Shell, with Candour read the Book, | And judge the Author as you judge a Cook. | Come with a sharp keen mental Appetite; | We hope our Egg will feast you with delight. | If Satisfaction’s giv’—we think, at least, | You ought to thank the Founder of the Feast. | [dividing line] L O N D O N: Printed for S. SMITH, in Pater-Noster-Row, and sold by all other | Booksellers in Town and Country. | 1772 [handwritten]

 Pagination: only Arabic numbers. The first three pages after the title (the ‘advertisement’) are as follows: no number, bracketed 1, bracketed 2. Then, when the first chapter starts, the page count resets to 1 (and is then represented in parentheses) up to the last page (232).

 Format: duodecimo

 Contents: A1r illustration, A2v title, A2r-A3r “advertisement” [more like a preface], Text B1v-G12r, H1v title of new book, H1r dedication (misprinted as I), text H2v-L8r.

 Notes:

Sourced from the British Library.

ESTC Number: T096811

Microfilm Reel#:Eighteenth Century Collections Online: Range 836

Comedic image of a man emerging from an egg on very first page. Compare subtext with poem on title page (both are about cracking eggs, but for different purposes).

No blank pages at beginning or end—maybe not scanned.

This was actually two novels in one: the Gregory Giddy story, and the Puppy Memoirs. Chapter numbers reset at beginning of Puppy Memoirs, though page numbers do not. No indication of different author.

The signature series at start of new book was misprinted as I (it should have been H). I checked the leaves immediately before and after to correctly identify it.

Odd chapter order: VIII, XI, X, XI (again), which might be intentional (the second XI begins “I know this chapter’s incorrect…”).

My individual copy: title page, someone underlined “Giddy” and wrote in 1772 (date of publication) at bottom. Occasional black spots on bottom pages (sometimes marring signature number), but infrequent. Probably ink blotches. There is a stamp on the final page, but it’s difficult to read. I can make out latinate words (-sitas suffix) and maybe a date (--77).