Within studies of the influence upon eighteenth-century print culture of the Tatler (1709–1711) and the Spectator (1711–1712, 1714), little attention has been given to Addison and Steele’s innovative incorporation of a prefatory Latin or Greek quotation at the head of each issue. A unique feature at the time of the Tatler’s first publication, the initially unchanging motto quickly became a focus for attention, imitation and literary competition. When the rival journal the Female Tatler (1709–1710) appeared with similar paratextual adornment, the ensuing contest sparked a rapid intensification of the motto’s significance and function. This catalysed the development of issue-specific mottos, a technique that outlasted the Tatler print war to become involved in further political print contests until its ultimate adoption as a mark of genteel intellectualism in the Spectator. This article will examine the initial motivations for including a prefatory motto, exploring the unfolding conflict with the Female Tatler together with the way in which paratextual quotations were weaponized in this short, sharp rivalry. Further paratextual battles between the Examiner (1710–1711), Whig Examiner (1710) and Medley (1710–1711) will then be investigated, together with the Spectator’s use of the motto as a literary weapon to consolidate educational elitism in print culture.

At least four editions of James Lackington's Memoirs appeared in the four years following its initial publication in 1791. During this time both the text and its numerous paratextual devices were amended and expanded. Through adjustments to paratext, Lackington aimed to refine the nuance of his Memoirs in line with changing public tastes and ideas, and as a response to critics' accusations of self-aggrandisement. This article will explore how these paratextual alterations, which began as a means of modifying self-presentation, implicitly reveal a careful attention to detail that is in itself the most authentic representation of Lackington's personality and identity.A self-proclaimed entrepreneur from his youth, James Lackington was an individual with considerable talent when it came to making money. Although initially apprenticed to a shoemaker, he switched to selling books and would later claim to have entered business with only £5. By cheaply purchasing unsold 'remainder' stock from publishers, and by selling at a price that gave him only a small profit on each sale, he rapidly developed a strong and valuable business, opening the famous Temple of the Muses bookshop in London's Finsbury Square in 1794. That we know so much about his life is largely owing to a further entrepreneurial activity on Lackington's part, namely the composition of his autobiography, Memoirs of the First Forty-Five Years of the Life of James Lackington, Bookseller (1791).When Lackington wrote his life story, the memoir genre was typically comprised of 'recollections by the publicly prominent who chronicled their social accomplishments', and was thus perceived as the province of an intellectual or aristocratic elite. 1 The text itself is constructed in the form of letters, apparently addressed to a 'very particular friend' who Lackington claims in the preface had pressured him into writing the Memoirs, and who was supposed to 'digest the whole into a regular narrative'. Instead, this 'friend' decided that the text should be 'exhibited to [the public] in the plain and simple manner in which these letters were written'. 2 Jacob Sider Jost suggests that Lackington was a 'pioneering autobiographer', 3 albeit not necessarily an entirely truthful one. James Raven points out that many of 'Lackington's claims to originality [...] are not always correct', in particular those which assert personal innovation in key aspects of his business strategy. The purchasing of remainder stock, for example, was not unique to Lackington; his use of superlative phrasing in declaring that he was making books available 'on such moderate terms as were heretofore unknown' and enjoying the public's 'approbation to a degree eminent as unprecedented' certainly indicate a preference for narcissistic hyperbole rather than actual facts (Memoirs, p.vi, vii).

This survey will provide an insight into the most significant eighteenth‐century paratext research in British literary studies produced over the last 20 years, identifying and exploring the key themes and connections that have emerged. Ever since Gérard Genette's ground‐breaking book Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation (1997) scholars have begun to reconsider and address the function and interpretive value of the paratexts that frame, surround, or are attached to the edges of literary texts. In eighteenth‐century studies in particular, paratexts frequently constitute a critical and unique area for the expression of identity and for influencing how texts are read and interpreted. This article reviews the extensive body of scholarship that examines and focuses upon paratexts, and that collectively contributes towards the formation of the much‐needed new specialism of paratext studies.

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