Scholars working on prostitution in eighteenth-century London have devoted attention to Sally Salisbury (ca. 1692–1724), frequently making use of the earliest full-length biography, Authentick Memoirs of the Life Intrigues and Adventures of the Celebrated Sally Salisbury (1723). This article provides the first discussion of the work in terms of its publishing origins and bibliographical context. It describes a 1727 Chancery suit by Jonathan Taylor, stationer in Paternoster Row. Taylor alleges that four prominent members of the trade—Thomas Payne, Edmund Curll, John Applebee, and William Mears—conspired in 1723 to defraud him of payment amounting to £31, due for fifty reams of paper he supplied for a planned “History of Sally Salisbury.” The article explores this claim with reference to the group’s collaborations, their clandestine publishing habits, and a pattern of deception in their dealings with the trade. Internal evidence suggests Curll had a hand in compiling the Memoirs, while Payne advertised this work following Salisbury’s death. Examination of printers’ ornaments in the volume shows that they were all used in books connected with the four men. It is concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, Taylor’s claims are likely to be substantially true.
Pat Rogers (Mon,) studied this question.