
Luke Batterham
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'PATIENCE, PATIENCE!': Carlyle supervises the Library Edition of his works, which was to be printed by Charles Robson, the printer grudgingly exculpated in this letter. Three collected editions of his works were to appear in Carlyle's lifetime, the Uniform Edition (1857-1858), Library Edition (1869-1871) and People's Edition (1871-1874): 'Each is important to the history of the texts, for in various ways Carlyle superintended their collection... The Library Edition, published in thirty volumes by Chapman and Hall (1869-1871), is the most lavish of the lifetime editions, selling for 6s. to 9s. per volume, or £15 for the set. Carlyle took special interest in the quality of this edition, the first attempt at a comprehensive printing of all his works... A limited number of substantive and accidental variants appear in this edition, and an "Author's Note" on the publication history of Sartor Resartus is added' (Rodger L. Tarr in The Carlyle Encyclopedia, 2004, edited by Mark Cumming, p. 140).