Publication

Title page of second volume.

Edition

This edition's title page states that it was “Printed for Robert Campbell by John Bioren” in Philadelphia in 1799. Given that Staunton’s work was originally printed in London several years prior, this would imply that the Tisch Special Collections copy is not a first edition, though the edition number is unclear.

John Bioren

Bioren was a printer-publisher in Philadelphia and is associated with works ranging from medicine bottle labels to Shakespeare. His company’s history details cooperation between at least sixteen other Philadelphia printers and publishers, including Robert Campbell. Bioren’s publishing of Staunton’s work reflects a wider trend at the end of the Enlightenment era, where the expansion of Western powers in the form of the British Empire was coupled with a surge in publishing of cosmopolitan titles like Staunton’s.