The firm of Stockdale and Miller were his successful rivals.

Later and more prosperous novels, _O'Donnel_ in particular, were issued by Henry Colburn, and Phillips now disappears from Lady Morgan's life.

I have told the story of Phillips's relation with Lady Morgan at length because at no other point do we come into so near a contact with him.

In Fell's _Memoir_ Phillips is described--in 1808--as 'certainly now the first publisher in London,' but while he may have been this in the volume of his trade--and school-books made an important part of it--he was not in mere 'names.' Most of his successful writers--Sydney Owenson, Thomas Skinner Surr, Dr.Gregory, and the rest--have now fallen into oblivion.
The school-books that he issued have lasted even to our own day, notably Dr.Mavor's _Spelling Book_.

Dr.Mavor was a Scotsman from Aberdeen, who came to London and became Phillips's chief hack.