Benjamin Motte - Background

Background

Benjamin Motte was born in St Botoloph (Aldersgate), London to Benjamin Motte Sr. and Anne Clarke. He was born in early November 1693 and baptized 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.

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 (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 late 1723, 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, Jonathan Swift sent Motte a copy of Gulliver's Travels, 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 in order 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. 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 over Faulkner's importing into Britain of Swift's Works. In Motte v. Faulkner, Motte claimed that 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.