SOURCE: "Barham and Bentley," The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. LVI, No. 3, July, 1957, pp. 337-46.

In the essay that follows, Gettmann describes the working relationship and friendship between Barham and publisher Richard Bentley.

The story of the relations between R. H. Barham and Richard Bentley will throw some light upon mid-nineteenth-century publishing and especially on the financial aspects of a best seller, The Ingoldsby Legends. Barham became associated with the House of Bentley in 1837 when, according to his son, the publisher sought the "auxiliar services" of his father for the Miscellany. Bentley himself said that it was in November, 1839, that Barham offered to replace Charles Oilier whose engagement as literary adviser with the firm ceased at that time.¹ The two men had been friends since their schooldays at St. Paul's, and their letters show that Bentley was asking advice of Barham as early as 1837. It may...