Entries of copies are dated 2 Oct 1746-30 Dec 1773; information given includes name (not address) of property owner and until May 1770 sometimes signature of property owner, share (usually the 'whole'), title of work, often name of author, amount paid (usually 6d per title), number of copies [ie of the work] (usually nine) received, and from Jul 1755 initials of official ('RH' [R Horsfield, see page 259] until Dec 1765, thereafter 'GH'); with integral index by property owner, and separate index arranged by title or by author's name followed by title eg Canin's Poems. (See Copies field below for later index).
At the top of the first page is written 'A Register of the Copies of Books beginning the 29th day of September 1746 pursuant to an Act of Parliament in the Eighth Year of the Reign of Queen Anne Entituled an Act for the Encouragement of Learning by Vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the authors or Purchasers of such Copies during the Times therein mentioned. Mr Thomas Brewer, Master; Mr Thomas Ridge, Stephen Theodore Janssen Esq, Wardens'.
16 pages at the rear of the volume are blank.
On front fly leaf is a pencil note in a 20th-century hand: 'Dr Johnson's Dictionary p 154 Vol II'.
Inserted are:
pages 124-125: running account by Messrs Mount & Page [of copies ordered?]. On reverse [totals?] alongside names: Robinson & Dodsley; The Editor; and Blackwell .
pages 134-135: note which reads 'A Sermon preached at Pinners Hall, on occasion of the Death of the Late Reverend James Foster DD. Who departed this life Nov 5 1753. With memoirs of his Life and Character By Caleb Fleming. Entered by John Payne and Robert Whitworth', undated
pages 150-151: letter from John Swinton junior to Mr Alexander Kincaid and Company, booksellers in Edinburgh, authorising the transfer of a book entitled An Abridgement of the Public Statutes in Force and Use relative to Scotland from the Union [...], with a note 'This to be given into Stationers Hall with the Book', 24 Jan 1755.
Significant entries include:
page 55: Henry Fielding's Tom Jones, entered for Andrew Millar, 3 Feb 1748.
page 132: Samuel Richardson's The History of Sir Charles Grandison vols 1-2, entered for himself, 1 Oct 1753.
page 134: Samuel Richardson's The History of Sir Charles Grandison vols 3-4, entered for himself, 7 Nov 1753.
page 136: Samuel Richardson's The History of Sir Charles Grandison vol 5, entered for himself, 5 Dec 1753.
page 139: Samuel Richardson's The History of Sir Charles Grandison vol 6, entered for himself, 11 Mar 1754.
page 154: Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, entered for J & S Knapton, T & T Longman, C Hitch and L Hawes, A Miller and R & J Dodsley, 10 Apr 1755.
page 293: Horace Walpole's Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of Richard III, entered for J Dodsley, 2 Feb 1768.
page 294: [Laurence Sterne's] A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, entered for J Becket and PA Dehoudt, 27 Feb 1768.
page 335: Oliver Goldsmith's The Defeated Village, entered for himself, 26 May 1770.
page 375: Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer, entered for Francis Newbery, 26 Mar 1773.
page 380: Phillis Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral, entered for A Bell, 10 Sep 1773.
