The list of friends and scholars who played parts in the making of this edition covers a period of more than three decades, and it includes persons no longer able to enjoy our thanks. Out of respect we turn to this group first. All of the following scholars, now deceased, responded graciously to George Rousseau’s queries. Robert Adams Day spent a summer shortly before his death making notes on our notes. Leila Brownfield, George Rousseau’s dedicated research assistant at UCLA, died checking and sorting the notes for the umpteenth time. Maud Hoff marked every one of Smollett’s passages she judged to be in need of annotation. Curt Zimansky of the University of Iowa was one of the first to read a version of these notes in the 1970s when they were still handwritten. Farther back still, Lewis Knapp, Smollett’s modern biographer, was forthcoming in his view of what a modern scholarly edition of Peregrine Pickle should include, as was his friend Lillian de la Torre. Professor James Clifford was a source of inspiration and humility. Finally, Paul-Gabriel Boucé must be mentioned as George Rousseau’s unique source of inspiration—and aspiration—in the making of this edition.
George Rousseau is especially grateful to Giles Barber, at the Taylorian Institution, Oxford, who wrote a thesis on Bolingbroke’s intellectual links with France that was useful for reconstructing Smollett’s attitudes; Jeremy Black, for answering queries about Lady Vane’s circle; Howard Erskine-Hill and David Parrott, for providing materials about the smugglers and small armies described in Lady Vane’s memoirs; Henry Fulton, who shared his knowledge about Smollett’s travels at midcentury; Jeffrey Hackney, for assisting in the reconstruction of the complex legal arrangements between Lord and Lady Vane in their separation pact; Roger Hambridge, for combing eighteenth-century periodicals and journals; H. M. Mensonides, Municipal Archives of The Hague, for sending manuscript material and checking Dutch newspapers published in The Hague during 1745–50 concerning the players of the Comédie-Française; Ronald Paulson, for his discussions of the visual aspects of the novel for more than two decades; Ruth Perry, for sibling and family matters; Pat Rogers, for his speculations about Smollett’s second novel in relation to his letters; Susan Staves, for corresponding about aspects of women’s property; Randolph Trumbach, for discussing gender arrangements in Smollett’s urban milieu; Augustus Veenendaal, of the Royal Library in The Hague, for providing materials about Dutch and English political figures and identifying recondite Dutch originals; Helmut Watzlawick, the eminent Genevan historian of travel in the period of Casanova, for confirming some of the originals of personages Lady Vane mentions in her curious travels. Albrecht B. Strauss read two copies of the original draft of the manuscript.
John Zomchick is grateful to his colleagues in the Department of English at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, for their assistance over the years. Allen Carroll provided invaluable and wise advice on everything from Shakespeare to Salisbury Plain. Joe Black, now at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, generously shared his knowledge of printers and printing in the period. Misty Anderson gave advice on the illustrations and generally was willing to listen to and advise against hunches. Heather Hirschfeld made herself available as a consultant on things and echoes Shakespearean. Outside the Department of English, Professor Judy M. Cornett from the College of Law helped on matters of legal history and read a version of the introduction to this volume. David Tandy answered numerous queries over many years about Greek and Latin matters; John Friend helped prepare the Greek characters for the press. Clerk Shaw provided valuable information about Plato’s concept of the good. Paul Barrette helped with information about Paris then and now. Erec Koch provided help with the scenes set in France and put John Zomchick in contact with colleagues at other universities for additional assistance: Michelle Longino of Duke University supplied the source of a comment on Persian perceptions of the French, and Linda Carroll of Tulane University helped uncover the source of the two lines of Italian found near the end of chapter 106. Alan Rutenberg read and made suggestions on a draft of the introduction. Over the years, James Thompson has been an advisor, teacher, and dear friend. He read the introduction to the volume and helped arrange for the reproduction of the Cruikshank illustrations from the book held at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Jim May and Patrick Spedding read the entire manuscript and provided invaluable suggestions for improvement. Jim also stepped in to review the bibliographical description after the death of Skip Brack. Lincoln Faller helped sort out questions about the illustrations by Rowlandson by comparing a volume held at the University of Michigan to the one that was chosen for this volume. Several other curators and librarians helped with the illustrations: Molly Schwartzburg, Curator of British and American Literature at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin, kindly took time out from her other duties to look for Rowlandson’s illustrations; Laurie Klein of the Beinecke Library, Yale University, was gracious enough to reshoot the frontispieces to the fourth edition until they were right; finally, Susan Riggs of the Earl Gregg Swem Library, the College of William and Mary, made extraordinary efforts at the eleventh hour to help identify the provenance of the Rowlandson prints in their collection. Daniel Schierenbeck, now at the University of Central Missouri, was the first research assistant to work on the volume. He was succeeded by Teresa Saxton, who provided additional research and spent a summer reading the text for errors. She was succeeded, in turn, by Kathryn Powell, who secured permissions for the illustrations and read proofs. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the John C. Hodges Better English Fund, and the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tennessee provided financial support in the last stages of the preparation of this volume.
John Zomchick also wishes to express a special debt of gratitude to three of the guiding figures of the Smollett edition: to Jerry Beasley, for offering him the opportunity of contributing to this project and for his support in general over the years; to Alex Pettit, for his wit and patience, skill and care in guiding the volume to completion; to Skip Brack, who provided advice, information, and encouragement along the way. Without the efforts of Alex and Skip, it is an open question whether Peregrine Pickle would have taken its place beside the other volumes in the Georgia Edition of the Works of Tobias Smollett.
Skip Brack played a—if not the—central role in the entire Georgia Smollett edition. While this final volume was being copyedited, Skip succumbed to cancer. Skip worked on Peregrine Pickle through illness and treatments for illness, remissions, and the final recurrence of the disease. In recognition of his dedication to the Smollett edition and a lifetime of scholarly accomplishments, this volume is dedicated to his memory.
Finally, John Zomchick’s debt to his family is greatest of all: to Nathaniel Morgan, Sarah Elizabeth Zomchick, Simon Anthony Zomchick, and his loving wife, Katie Morgan, this volume is also dedicated.