@23122023
TWO
CENTURIES OF UK BOOKBINDING
The
evidence from newspapers
Note: All images are © British Library Board; and texts within images are © British Newspapers Archive. The text of this essay is © Edmund M. B. King.
Trade advertisements,
articles, auction notices, obituaries, and other stories of interest were
selected, and a ‘cutting’ of the article was stored as an image. Normally,
these were selected from the first page of results displayed. The list of
newspapers consulted is at Appendix B. The results of the searches can be found
in an Index of Bookbinders at Appendix A. No attempt was made to find all the
citations for a bookbinder.
The citations grouped
themselves into three broad categories:
1. A trade advertisement for one bookbinder
(individual or business)
2. A trade advertisement, where bookbinding
is just one of several trades being undertaken (bookselling, stationery,
printing, etc.) - frequently, multiple repeat advertisements were paid for;
3. Small articles, which feature a story -
topics as diverse as accidents, robbery, circulating libraries, emigration,
binder’s shops in newspaper offices, auctions of a binder’s tools/ equipment, obituaries,
treatment of leather, gift bindings. These articles/ subjects are included in
the Index of Bookbinders.
Advertisements
Many bookbinders
advertised themselves solely as engaged in the Bookbinding trade. Examples are:
a) CHAMBERLAIN’S Bookbinding! (Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 27
June 1916 page 4);
b) William GRAY Bookbinder ‘…is selling copies of “Faith and Fancy”’
(Caledonian Mercury 19 August 1745 page 8);
c) A. HART Bookbinder, 49 Coggeshall Road, Braintree. Estimates
Given. (Essex Herald 20 January 1890 page 4);
d) John LINN Bookbinder, at Locke’s Head upon the Middle of the
Tyne-Bridge, Newcastle. (Newcastle
Courant 29 July 1738 page 3 and 5 August 1738 page 4) ‘He purchases
Gentlemen’s Libraries or any Parcel of old books’;
e) MATTHIAS’S Bookbinding, 22, Gloucester Street, Gloucester. (Gloucester
Journal 8 January 1887 page 1);
f) Edwin MORAN Bookbinder, 28 Villiers Street. ‘Books Bound with
Elegance and Durability.’ (Sunderland Daily Echo 20 January 1875 page 1);
g) Francis THOMAS Bookbinder, 15, Boscawen Street, Truro. (Royal
Cornwall Gazette 27 December 1817 page 1).
More numerous are
advertisements where several trades are stated, including that of bookbinding.
Booksellers, Printers, Stationers were the most common trades advertised, such
as:
h) Henry Hunter BLAIR Bookseller, Stationer,
Printer, and Bookbinder, Books Bound. (Alnwick Mercury 12 January 1884
page 4);
i) George BOGGAN Steam Printing, Bookbinding,
Paper Ruling, and Stationery Works, 9 and 11 York Street, Sunderland. (Sunderland
Daily Echo 21 May 1878 page 1);
j) Frank H. HILLS Printer, Stationer,
Bookseller, Bookbinder and Newsagent, Post Office, Sevenoaks (Kent &
Sussex Courier 19 October 1877 page 8).
k) Less common was the offer of Joseph LEE
Bookseller and Stationer, in High Street (next door to the White-Lyon),
Ipswich, who stated: ‘Libraries gilt and letter’d. at reasonable prices, at
Gentlemen’s own Houses.’ (Ipswich
Journal 4 & 11 & 18 February 1749 page 4).
l) ‘Books bound’ was a small part of the
operations of C. & W. THOMPSON Booksellers, Stationers, Pattern-Card
Manufacturers, Dealers in Genuine Patent Medicines, Printing Neatly &
Expeditiously Executed, Books Bound, No. 1 Market Place, & 54 Westbar,
Sheffield (Sheffield Independent 20 May 1820 page 1).
m) Music Selling was one of the trades engaged
in by J. H. GREAVES Printer, Bookseller, Stationer, Music Seller, Books Bound,
36, Snig Hill, Sheffield (Sheffield Independent 18 December 1845 page
1).
A
number of bookbinders repeated their advertisements, such as
n) C. F. TIMEAUS Printer, Stationer, Bookseller, Bookbinder, Die
Sinker & Engraver, 90, High Street Bedford. Bedfordshire Times and
Independent 12 November 1887 page 4; 19 November 1887 page 4; 3 December
1887 page 6; 10 December 1887 page 8; 7 January 1888 page 5
o) A. HART Bookbinder, 49 Coggeshall Road, Braintree. Estimates
Given. Essex Herald 20 January 1890 page 4; 4 February 1890 page 4; 24
February 1890 page 4; 17 March 1890 page 1; 5 April 1890 page 1; 3 May 1890
page 1
p) DEIGHTON & CO. ‘…every description of bookbinding…is done on
the premises, at 53 High-Street, Worcester.’ Worcestershire Chronicle 18
January 1875 page 5; 25 January 1879 page 1; 1 February 1879 page 1; 8 February
1879 page 123 March 1879 page 4
Newspaper Offices and
binding
Perhaps unsurprisingly,
bookbinders worked in newspaper offices. One of the earliest found is that of
John Bagnall, printer of the Ipswich Journal, who in April 1724 was supplying
all kinds of stationery and offering to bind books in Calf or in Sheep (Ipswich
Journal 18 April 1724 page 4).
Bagnall was still
offering ‘Books neatly Bound’ in March 1734 (Ipswich Journal 2 March
1734, page 4 Colophon).
Figure
1: Ipswich Journal, 2 March 1734
In 1867, John Kenmuir
DOUGLAS advertised Bookbinding amongst several other trades, all based at the
‘The “North Wales Chronicle” Steam Printing and Stationery Establishment.
Lithographic, Copper-Plate, and Letterpress Printer, Stationer and Bookbinder,
High Street, Bangor’ (North Wales
Chronicle 2 November 1867 page1).
Figure
2: North Wales Chronicle, 1867
J. & J. Gibson, of The “Cambrian News” Printing Works in Aberystwyth, in December 1893, ran an extensive set of operations, which included Bookbinding.
Figure 3: Cambrian News, 1893
Circulating Libraries
Bookbinders were
conscious of the opportunities to acquire binding work from circulating
libraries. Some went one step further,
organising their own. In Saunders’s
Newsletter 18 February 1839 (page 3), G. BELLEW advertised : ‘Bookbinding
Establishment, Wholesale & Retail Paper, Stationery and Account Book
Warehouse, No. 21 South King Street Dublin … begs respectfully to acquaint his
Friends and the Public that he has opened a new Circulating Library, which will
be constantly supplied with every new book of merit’.
Figure
4: Saunders’s Newsletter, 18
February 1839
In the 1780s and 1790s, one
of the largest and most prestigious libraries in Bath was that of James
MARSHALL - ‘Marshall’s Library (late Mr. Pratt), Top of Milsom-Street, Bath …
offers the Nobility and Gentry a new and enlarged Catalogue of his Circulating
Library…’ (Bath Chronicle 8 October
1787 page 1).
Journeymen Advertisements
The bookbinding trade
needed new recruits, so advertisements were regularly placed for journeymen. A
couple of advertisements appeared in the Leeds Mercury for 1807. One was
placed by Edwards & Son, Halifax on the 2nd May 1807. C. Lawton,
a Bookseller, in Otley had advertised for one on 24th January 1807.
The Alnwick Mercury of 1st February 1855 advertised for a
journeyman printer and a journeyman bookbinder, with applications being made to
their Office.
Sales of bookbinding
equipment by auction
Bookbinders left their
business, and sometimes they suffered misfortune such as bankruptcy. In 1816, a
bookbinder was moving away from Hadleigh and selling his bookbinding tools,
amongst other household goods. The advertisement appeared in the Suffolk
Chronicle on 19 October (page 1): ‘To be sold at AUCTION. By Fenn and
Bryer. Part of the …Stock in Trade of a person in the Bookbinding and Fancy
Line…’
Figure
5: Suffolk Chronicle, 19 October 1816
E. [Edward?] Foden had
been made bankrupt and Margetts & Son advertised the auction of his goods,
including his bookbinding materials: ‘To Printers, Booksellers Stationers,
Bookbinders and the Public in General. To be sold at Auction by Margetts &
Son …on the Premises of Mr. E. Foden, Jury Street, Warwick, a Bankrupt…’ (Warwick
and Warwickshire Advertiser 24 June 1826 page 2).
Figure
6: Warwick and Warwickshire Advertiser,
24 June 1826
The auctioneers M. &
J. Alman organised the sale in 18 June 1827 of the stock and bookbinders tools,
etc., as a result of Messrs Hillyard and Morgan, Music Sellers and Bookbinders,
possibly going out of business (Bristol Mercury 18 June 1827 page 2).
Figure 7: Bristol Mercury 18 June 1827
A.T.
and E. Crow (auctioneers) advertised the sale of the effects of William
SINCLAIR ‘... who is declining Business…’, authorised the sale of his
Bookbinding Plant (Sunderland Daily Echo 27 November 1900 page 2).
Figure 8: Sunderland Daily Echo, 27 November 1900
The stock of an unnamed
bookbinder was to be sold by ‘Mr. NEILSON, Auctioneer, Gateshead. Bookbinding
Business to be disposed of.’(Newcastle Daily Chronicle 1 August 1864
page 2).
Figure
9: Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 1
August 1864
Accidents
Bookbinders’ premises had
machinery and flammable materials, so accidents did occur.
a) A fire happened at the workshop of bookbinder
John Berry ‘consuming two of his rooms’ before being brought under control (Carlisle
Journal 6 November 1802 page 2).
b) Bookbinder, John Dunn, caught his right hand
in a pinching machine and lost two fingers as a result (Edinburgh Evening
News 11 January 1898 page 2).
c) On the 29 November 1860, a fire caused the
‘Destruction of Norman and Metcalf’s Bookbinding Establishment, Leigh Place,
Brooke’s Market, Holborn.’ The cause was likely to have been arson (Morning
Chronicle 30 November 1860 page 3).
d) A tragic accident involved a Mr. Stephenson, bookbinder,
who was eating beef cakes in the Red Lion, Petty Curry, Cambridge, when a pin
lodged in his windpipe. He died of asphyxiation (Norfolk Chronicle 22
September 1781 page 2).
Robberies
Book binders had enough
equipment deemed valuable, so robberies were attempted.
a) Under the headline: ‘Daring Robbery in St.
John Street’, Frederick Pointon, book-binder, had been set upon, and robbed by
Mary Jenkins and an accomplice of 5s 6d, of a corkscrew and bookbinders type. (Cheshire
Observer 11 October 1856 page 6).
b) In Carnarvon, Hugh Jones, a Bookbinder, was
indicted for stealing three Welsh Bibles, and other books (North Wales
Chronicle 20 March 1875 page 6).
c) A bookbinder ‘on tramp’, Wm. SUMNERS, ‘…was
charged with stealing a topcoat…’ (Stamford Mercury 1 February 1861 page
5).
d) A more serious offence was the accusation that
Josiah Westley had forged two bills of exchange with intent to defraud Messrs.
Glyn and Co. Bankers… (Westmorland Gazette 25 October 1851 page 8).
Figure
10: Westmorland Gazette 25
October 1851
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK)
The Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge provided much work for bookbinders, owing to the numbers of
books sold by them.
a) The Liverpool District Branch meeting of the
Society reported to its annual meeting that it had sold: 963 Bibles, 906
testaments, 2,436 common prayer books, 1,352 bound books, 18,235 half-bound
[books] and school books (Manchester Courier 19 January 1828 page 2).
b) The Salisbury Annual Branch Meeting in early
1872 listed the books sold (in 1871): ‘Bibles, 546; ditto with Prayer, 16;
Testaments, 134; Prayer Books, 1,813; Books bound and half-bound, 4,399;
Tracts, 5,654; Apocrypha, 13; maps, 36; Church Services, 196, almanacks, 1,298;
total, 14,105’ (Hampshire Advertiser 27 January 1872 page 7).
Clearly, dissemination by
the SPCK of Bibles, prayer books and other publications was good business for
bookbinders, and give us a glimpse of the large amount of work undertaken, year
after year.
Figure 11: Manchester
Courier 19 January 1828
Figure
12: Hampshire Advertiser 27
January 1872
Exhibitions
A series of lectures on bookbinding
given at the Society of Arts in 1898, which were accompanied by an exhibition
in the Library, of one hundred and thirty bindings, many of which were lent by
private collectors (Morning Post 25 January 1898 page 3). The binding of
the official catalogues of the Great Exhibition of 1851 elicited a long letter
by John Wright, binder, of Soho, in which he complains of the lack of a fair
competition to bid for the work to bind the catalogues (Morning Chronicle
5 January 1853 page 3).
Strikes / Loss of Trade
COMBINATION. A long
article in 1826 drew attention to the recent difficulties encountered by
several trades, resulting in strikes by workmen in Dublin, including bookbinders
(Glasgow Herald 25 August 1826 page 1).
Under a somewhat
misleading heading ‘The Bookbinders’ Strike’, James Mahoney accused of
intimidating Robert Steer (Bookbinder?), who refused to come out on strike with
other men at the Armoury, Southwark (Reynolds’s Newspaper 20 March 1892
page 1).
Bookbinders employed by
Waterlow and Sons, and Shaw and Co., ‘…struck work on account of the refusal of
the firms to grant an eight hours day…’, asking for other bookbinders in
England to ‘block’ these two firms. (Morning
Post 17 November 1891 page 3).
Figure
14: Morning Post 17 November
1891
Miscellaneous articles
Sam. Campbell Bookbinder,
attested to the efficacy of Spilsbury’s Antiscorbic Drops: ‘Sir, I had been
grievously afflicted with a Scurvy in my Legs for several years, to such a
degree as to render me some considerable time incapable to work at my Business
of Book-binding…by Use of only a few bottles [of the remedy], through the
blessing of God, am now perfectly whole.’
(Norfolk Chronicle 18 January 1783 page 4).
In 1858, we find Wm. Kilpatrick,
stating that he was acting as an Agent for Virtue & Co. (Newcastle Daily
Chronicle 4 August 1858 page 1).
Figure
15: Newcastle Daily Chronicle 4
August 1858
Bookbinding even received
mentioned in a House of Commons debate, when Lord Russell, in a Resolution and
Speech to the House of Commons, 25 April, 1822, alluded to the advancement of
knowledge though the work of publishers, and one which: ‘… annually sold
5,000,000 of copies, employed sixty-two clerks; expended 5,000l. for
advertisements; and gave employment to 250
bookbinders.’ (Glasgow Herald 29 April 1822 page 2).
The virtues of using
caoutchouc as a means of binding leaves, were stated as early as 1837. In the
article: ‘Improvement in Book-Binding’, Mr. Hancock, its inventor, claimed that
the attachment of the leaves of a book using caoutchouc would dispense
‘…entirely with the process of sewing and of sawing.’ (Freeman’s Journal
6 September 1837 page 4).
Figure
16: Freeman’s Journal 6
September 1837
Bookbinders were listed
in the ‘marriage’ and ‘died’ notices in newspapers. Occasionally, small notices
were printed, as was the obituary for Archibald Steele, ‘Death of an Old
Edinburgh Book-binder’, who had worked for Oliver and Boyd in Edinburgh for
fifty-three years. (Edinburgh Evening News 28 September 1901 page 4).
Figure
17: Edinburgh Evening News 28
September 1901
There was quite a lot of
detail printed for the life of Edward John GRIFFIN: ‘Death in London of Mr. E.
J. Griffin, …until a few years ago well-known in Warwick as a Bookbinder.’ (Warwick
and Warwickshire Advertiser 11 March 1939 page 5).
These advertisements,
notices and articles reinforce the reality of bookbinding being embedded in
local life. With all this evidence, we are taken back into the circumstances of
the day, in which all manner of trades operated, together with glimpses of how
they lived and where they worked.
Appendix A: Index of Bookbinders/ Notices/Articles
1) John AISLEY Bookseller, Durham. ‘Books
neatly Bound.’ Newcastle Courant 15 January 1743 page 3; 22 January 1743
page 4
2) Robert AKENHEAD Bookseller, Newcastle. ‘Books Bound after the neatest and best Manner.’ Newcastle
Courant 9 October 1742 page 3
3) APPEAL OF THE JOURNEYMEN BOOKBINDERS
[Praise for the S.P.C.K. paying more to its binders for the Pearl Bible, than
other binders who bound for the British and Foreign Bible Society.] Exeter
and Plymouth Gazette 15 September 1849 page 8
4) An APPRENTICE is wanted to the Bookbinding
Business. Saunders’s Newsletter 22 July 1777 page 3
5) ARDEN PRESS LTD. [Move of companies to
Letchworth Garden City.] ‘Messrs W. H. Smith and Son, of Strand, London who are
removing their bookbinding business to the estate, Messrs. Dent and Co.,
Publisher, of Covent Garden, who are also transferring their bookbinding
department here, and the Arden Press Ltd., Publishers and Bookbinders.’ Herts
Advertiser 15 December 1906 page 8
6) W. ATKINSON Machine Printing
Establishment, Market Place, Penrith. ‘Printing, Engraving and Bookbinding.’ Penrith
Observer 6 August 1861 page 8
7) ATKINSON and POLLITT Kendal. ‘Bookbinding
in cloth, Roan, Calf or Morocco… at reasonable prices.’ Westmorland Gazette
13 April 1889 page 7
9) John BAGNALL Printer, St. Nicholas Street.
Ipswich Journal 18 April 1724 page 4 colophon ‘Books bound in Calf,
Sheep, etc.’; 2 March 1734 page 4 Colophon: ‘And books neatly bound’
10) George Thomas BAGGULEY Newcastle-under-Lyme
‘Bookbinder to three Queens’. Aberdeen Press and Journal 8 August 1950
page 3.
11) William BANCKS Bookseller and Stationer,
Mill Gate, Wigan. Manchester Mercury 12 June 1764 page 4
12) Henry BAZLEY ‘Charge of Abduction against a
Bookbinder. … Henry Bazley, a bookbinder of S. Bishop’s-court, Clerkenwell
…charged…with having taken Elizabeth Morey, a girl under the age of eighteen,
out of the possession of her mother.’ Reynolds’s Newspaper 24 September
1891 page 6
13) G. BELLEW Bookbinding Establishment,
Wholesale & Retail Paper, Stationery and Account Book Warehouse, No. 21
South King Street Dublin ‘… begs respectfully to acquaint his Friends and the
Public that he has opened a new Circulating Library, which will be constantly
supplied with every new book of merit’. Saunders’s Newsletter 18
February 1839 page 3
14) John BERRY ‘…a fire broke out in the
Workshop of Mr. John Berry, Bookbinder in Temple Lane, Liverpool…’ Carlisle
Journal 6 November 1802 page 2
15) J. BIGWOOD Bookbinder and Paperhanger
&c. 4 Poplar Place, Thomas Street, Trowbridge. ‘…has re-commenced in
Business… Books bound to Pattern.’ Wiltshire Times 1 August 1863 page 1
16) Henry Hunter BLAIR Bookseller, Stationer,
Printer, and Bookbinder, Books Bound. Alnwick Mercury 12 January 1884
page 4
17) George BOGGAN Steam Printing, Bookbinding,
Paper Ruling, and Stationery Works, 9 and 11 York Street, Sunderland. Sunderland
Daily Echo 21 May 1878 page 1
18) A NOBLE BOOKBINDER. Prince Aginski ‘has
established in this City (Paris) a bookbinder’s work-shop’ Bradford Observer
16 November 1835 page 6
19) BOOKBINDERS ‘Meeting of Bookbinders [of the
City of Dublin].’ Freeman’s Journal 19 November 1830 page 4
20) BOOKBINDING ‘Books Bound in Plain and
Elegant Bindings, on reasonable Terms, at the Gazette Office,
Market-Place, Lancaster.’ Lancaster Gazette 21 February 1857 page 7
21) BOOKBINDING CLASSES ‘…first Report to the
Council of the Consultative Committee on the Teaching of Bookbinding in London
Technical Schools.’ Morning Post 22 June 1908 page 3
22) BOOKBINDING EXHIBITION at the Society of
Arts. Morning Post 25 January 1898 page 3
23) BOOKBINDING FOR WOMEN. Penrith Observer
11 March 1902 page 6
24) BOOKBINDING ‘Improvement in Book-Binding.’
Mr. Hancock’s invention of Caoutchouc. Freeman’s Journal 6 September
1837 page 4
25) F. J. BROOKE ‘(late Fuller and Co.)
Bookseller, Stationer, Printer, Bookbinder, and Fancy goods Factor, Broad
Street, Worcester.’ Worcester Journal 23 June 1900 page 1
26) Thomas BURROUGH Bookseller and Stationer,
Devizes. ‘Books neatly Bound, Lett’rd and Gilt.’ Salisbury and Winchester
Journal 20 January 1752 page 4
27) CAMBRIAN NEWS
OFFICE Bookbinding, ‘Periodicals of every description bound cheaply’. Cambrian
News 12 June 1891 page 8
28) Sam. CAMPBELL Bookbinder. Attested to the
efficacy of Spilsbury’s Antiscorbic Drops. Norfolk Chronicle 18 January
1783 page 4
29) CARNAN and SMART, Reading. Reading
Mercury 24 November 1783 page 3; 29 December 1783 page 3
30) CHAMBERLAIN’S Bookbinding! 29 High Street,
Exeter. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 27 June 1916 page 4
31) J. CHEESEWRIGHT Book and Print Seller,
Stationer, Printer and Bookbinder, No. 3, High Street, next the Castle Bank
[Bristol].’ Advertises his ‘extensive library’ and ‘a spacious and comfortable
reading room’. Bristol Mercury 10 January 1835 page 1
32) W. V. COLE & SONS, 87 & 88 South
Street, Exeter. Western Times 11 October 1940 page 2; 22 November 1940
page 2.
33) COMBINATION [Strikes by Workmen in Dublin,
including Bookbinders] Glasgow Herald 25 August 1826 page 1
34) David CONDIE ‘Bookbinding and Stationery,
Black Friars, Broad Street, Worcester.’ Worcester Journal 9 August 1849
page 2
35) A. K. COWELL Printing, Bookselling,
Bookbinding, Butter-market, Ipswich. ‘Mr. R. N. Rose, finding it necessary to
dispose of his Business, A. K. Cowell has been induced to take it…’ Suffolk
Chronicle, 25 July 1818 page 2
36) DARING ROBBERY IN ST. JOHN STREET [CHESTER].
Frederick Pointon, book-binder, robbed by Mary Jenkins of 5s 6d, a corkscrew
and bookbinders type. Cheshire Observer 11 October 1856 page 6
37) DEIGHTON & CO. ‘…every description of
bookbinding…is done on the premises, at 53 High-Street, Worcester.’ Worcestershire
Chronicle 18 January 1875 page 5; 25 January 1879 page 1; 1 February 1879
page 1; 8 February 1879 page 123 March 1879 page 4
38) H. DEIGHTON Bookseller. ‘Books Bound.’ 19,
Pavement, York. York Herald 8 December 1827 page 2
39) DENT AND CO. [Move of companies to
Letchworth Garden City.] ‘Messrs W. H. Smith and Son, of Strand, London who are
removing their bookbinding business to the estate, Messrs. Dent and Co.,
Publisher, of Covent Garden, who are also transferring their bookbinding
department here, and the Arden Press Ltd., Publishers and Bookbinders.’ Herts
Advertiser 15 December 1906 page 8
40) John Kenmuir DOUGLAS ‘The “North Wales
Chronicle” Steam Printing and Stationery Establishment. Lithographic,
Copper-Plate, and Letterpress Printer, Stationer and Bookbinder, High Street,
Bangor.’ North Wales Chronicle 2 November 1867 page 1
41) JAMES DUFFY & CO. 'Prayer Books printed
and Bound in our own Factory.' 38 Westmoreland Street, Dublin. Freeman’s
Journal 11 December 1907 page 6
42) T. DUNN Bookseller, Binder, and Stationer,
the Corner of College Court in the Westgate Street. Oxford Journal 4
December 1779 page 3.
43) R. EAGLE & CO. Wholesale Stationers,
General Printers and Bookbinders, Engravers and Pattern Case Makers, 15, Church
Bank Bradford. Bradford Observer 12 October 1876 page 1
44) James FLEMING Bookseller, Books Bound,
Tyne-bridge Newcastle. Newcastle Courant 5 August 1738 page 4; 14
January 1749 page 3; 14 & 21 October 1749 page 3
46) W. FRANKLIN Neville Street (opposite the
Central Station) [Newcastle] Books Bound. Newcastle Daily Chronicle 24
June 1865 page 1; 21 August 1865; 30 August 1865
47) FREE EMIGRATION TO QUEENSLAND [for]
BOOKBINDERS. Kendal Mercury 30 September 1876 page 7
48) GENEROUS GIFT TO ST. MARY’S CHURCH [Bury St.
Edmunds] '... of Prayer Books and Hymn Books which are bound in whole calf,
black with gilt lettering and edgings.' Bury and Norwich Post 10 April
1900 page 5
49) GILBERT & M’DONALD Rose Street, North
Lane, ‘Accident in Edinburgh Bookbinders’. Edinburgh Evening News 7
December 1904 page 4
50) J. & J. GIBSON The “Cambrian News”
Printing, Lithographing, Bookbinding, and Die Stamping Works, Mill Street,
Aberystwyth. Cambrian News 29 December 1893 page 9
51) JOSEPH GLEAVE & SONS New Printing Office
and Stationery Warehouse, opposite the Royal Hotel, top of Market-street. Manchester Courier 31 March 1827 page 2
52) William GRAY Bookbinder ‘…is selling copies
of “Faith and Fancy”’ Caledonian Mercury 19 August 1745 page 8
53) J. H. GREAVES Printer, Bookseller,
Stationer, Music Seller, Books Bound, 36, Snig Hill, Sheffield. Sheffield
Independent 18 December 1845 page 1
54) Edward John GRIFFIN ‘Death in London of Mr.
E. J. Griffin, …until a few years ago well-known in Warwick as a Bookbinder.’ Warwick
and Warwickshire Advertiser 11 March 1939 page 5
55) J. & W. GRIFFIN ‘Bookbinding to any
pattern at the lowest possible prices. “Observer” Office, The Bridge, Walsall. Walsall
Observer and South Staffordshire Chronicle 19 August 1882 page 2; 11
November 1882 page 2; 10 May 1884 page 2; 3 January 1885 page 3
56) George HARRISON Stationery Warehouse &
Account Book Manufactory, 51 High Street Belfast. Belfast Newsletter 1 June 1830 page 2;
57) John HARRISON Bookseller ‘A catalogue of
Curious Books…’ Newcastle Courant 15 January 1743 page 3
58) A. HART Bookbinder, 49 Coggeshall-road,
Braintree. Estimates Given. Essex Herald 20 January 1890 page 4; 4
February 1890 page 4; 24 February 1890 page 4; 17 March 1890 page 1; 5 April
1890 page 1; 3 May 1890 page 1
59) W. C. HAYES Printer & Stationer,
Chipping Norton. Books Bound. Oxford Journal 20 February 1909 page 1
60) W. F. HEALEY & CO. General Printers,
Manufacturing Stationers and Bookbinders, Bridge-street Row, Chester. Wrexham
Advertiser 10 November 1860 page 1
61) William HENLEY Bookseller, Stationer,
Printer, Bookbinder. Gloucester Journal 8 January 1887 page 1
62) Frank H. HILLS Printer, Stationer,
Bookseller, Bookbinder and Newsagent, Post Office, Sevenoaks. Kent & Sussex Courier 19 October
1877 page 8
63) HILLYARD and MORGAN ‘To be sold by Auction
by Messrs. M. & J. Alman, on the Premises, by order of the Assignees of
Messrs. Hillyard and Morgan, Music Sellers and Bookbinders, No. 9, St. John
Street [Bristol]’. Bristol Mercury 18 June 1827
page 2
64) HODGE’S Bookbinding and Stationery, 56, High
Street, Exeter. Books Bound. Western Times 15 December 1855 page 4; 29
December 1855 page 4; 20 January 1856 page 4; 23 February 1856 page 4
65) HUMAN SKIN FOR BOOKBINDING. Exeter and
Plymouth Gazette 9 September 1902 page 3
66) Hugh JONES Bookbinder. ‘Charge against
Carnarvon Tradesman…Hugh Jones, Bookbinder, was indicted for stealing three
Welsh Bibles…’ North Wales Chronicle 20 March 1875 page 6
67) JOURNEYMAN, Advertisement for; placed by
Edwards & Son, Halifax. Leeds Mercury 2 May 1807 page 3
68) JOURNEYMAN, Advertisement for; placed by C.
Lawton, Bookseller, Otley. Leeds Mercury 24 January 1807 page 3
69) JOURNEYMAN BINDER, Advertisement for,
‘Application to be made at the Mercury Office No. 22 Bondgate Street Within,
Alnwick.’ Alnwick Mercury 1 February 1855 page 15
70) JOURNEYMEN BOOKBINDERS ‘Third Appeal of the
Journeymen Bookbinders of London. To their Brethren of all Trades in all parts
of the United Kingdom.’ The Odd Fellow 29 June 1839 page 4
71) JUBY Bookbinder, St. Margaret’s Green,
Ipswich. Ipswich Journal 17 March 1900 page 4
72) John KENDALL Jun. and Thomas KENDALL
Bookbinders, Booksellers, and Stationers, near the Red Lion Inn, in Colchester.
Ipswich Journal 6 May 1749 page 4
73) Benjamin KEITHLEY, Bookbinder, in
Coghill’s-court, Daine-street, ‘Lodgings to be let for the Summer Season,
County Wicklow. For further Particulars, inquire of …’. Saunders’s
Newsletter 7 July 1777 page 3
74) Wm. KILPATRICK Agent for Virtue & Co. Newcastle
Daily Chronicle 4 August 1858 page 1.
75) William KNIGHT and KING Printers,
Booksellers, Stationers, and Bookbinders, Higham ‘… having dissolved their
partnership…’ Essex Herald 26 August 1845 page 1
76) Benjamin LANSDOWN’S General Printing &
Bookbinding Establishment, Silver Street, Trowbridge. ‘Bookbinding in all its
Branches…’ Wiltshire Times 8 August 1863 page 8
77) LEATHER BOUND BOOKS [Treatment of] Birmingham
Daily Gazette 3 April 1908 page 2.
78) Joseph LEE Bookseller and Stationer, in High
Street (next door to the White-Lyon), Ipswich. ‘Libraries gilt and letter’d. at
reasonable prices, at Gentlemen’s own Houses.’
Ipswich Journal 4 & 11 & 18 February 1749 page 4
79) William LEICESTER Bookseller, Stationer,
Bookbinder ‘has opened a Shop adjoining Eastgate, Chester’. Chester
Chronicle 17 July 1789 page 3
80) John LINN Bookbinder, at Locke’s Head upon
the Middle of the Tyne-Bridge, Newcastle.
Newcastle Courant 29 July 1738 page 3 and 5
August 1738 page 4 ‘He purchases Gentlemen’s Libraries or any Parcel of old
books’
81) T. W. MADDOX Bookseller, Stationer, Printer,
and Bookbinder, South-Gate, Launceston. Royal Cornwall Gazette 29
September 1843 page 3
82) J. [James] MARSHALL ‘Marshall’s Library
(late Mr.[Samuel Jackson] Pratt), Top of Milsom-Street, Bath … offers the
Nobility and Gentry a new and enlarged Catalogue of his Circulating Library…’ Bath
Chronicle 8 October 1787 page 1
83) S. G. MASON (Chester) LTD. Printing and
Bookbinding, 10 St. John Street, Chester. Cheshire Observer 3 January
1969 page 16
84) MASSEY & CO. Printers and Bookbinders.
‘For First Class Bookbinding.’ Castle St. Trowbridge. Wiltshire Times 9
October 1948 page 5
85) MATTHIAS’S Bookbinding, 22, Gloucester
Street, Gloucester. Gloucester Journal 8 January 1887 page 1
86) George MATTON Stationer, Bookbinder, Machine
Ruler, and Book & Pager, 6 and 7 Greenwood-street, Corporation-street. Manchester
Courier 22 July 1854 page 2
87) Edwin MORAN Bookbinder, 28 Villiers Street.
‘Books Bound with Elegance and Durability.’ Sunderland Daily Echo 20
January 1875 page 1
88) James Fitzgerald MURPHY ‘A middle-aged
journeyman bookbinder’, received a legacy of £10,000 from an uncle in New South
Wales. Worcestershire Chronicle 20 July 1891
89) Mr. NEILSON, Auctioneer, Gateshead.
Bookbinding Business to be disposed of. Newcastle Daily Chronicle 1
August 1864 page 2
91) CITY OF NOTTINGHAM Public Libraries -
Bookbinding, ‘Tenders are invited for the Re-Binding of Books.’ Nottingham Journal 4 March 1939 page 2
92) OLIVER & BOYD [Bookbinders] Edinburgh
Evening News 28 September 1901 page 4
93) John PAAS ‘Horrible Murder at Leicester, of
Mr. Paas of London.’ Paas murdered by James Cook, Bookbinder. Preston
Chronicle 9 June 1832 page 4
94) PHILLIPS Bookbinding Friar Street, Ipswich. Ipswich
Journal 17 March 1900 page 4
95) J. POOLE Bookseller, Books Bound ‘as neat as
in London’, Eastgate Street, Chester. Chester Chronicle 4 September 1775
page 1
96) PUNCHARD & JERMYN Booksellers, Ipswich. Bury
and Norwich Post 11 July 1787 page 3.
97) Thomas ROBERTS ‘Lithographic Printing,
Engraving, Bookbinding, and General Stationery Office. Bookbinding in all its
branches.’ Wrexham Advertiser 15 April 1865 page 4
98) LORD RUSSELL – Resolution and Speech to the
House of Commons, 25 April, 1822. Glasgow Herald 29 April 1822 page 2
99) UNFORESEEN RESULTS ‘Unforeseen Results.’
[Bookbinders were being made unemployed
as a result of revisions to the text of Bibles and Prayer Books by the Ritual
Commissioners, which meant that no one wanted to order bound copies of the
existing texts, preferring to wait for the new.] Herts Advertiser 26
March 1870 page 3
100) THE WALTER SCOTT PUBLISHING CO. LTD. Printing,
Bookbinding and Stationery. Felling-on-Tyne. ‘The best, cheapest and quickest
work executed…’ Carlisle Journal
13 December 1912 page 4
101) SILVER BOOK OF THE GOSPELS, Finishing of. ‘The
Silver book of the Gospels.’ [How the bookbinder finishes the lettering in
silver.] The Odd Fellow 26 February 1842 page 4
102) William SINCLAIR ‘... who is declining
Business…’, authorised the sale of his Bookbinding Plant. Sunderland Daily
Echo 27 November 1900 page 2
103) William SMART Bookseller, Stationer, and
Binder has opened a genteel Shop, adjoining to the Town Hall in Worcester. Jackson’s
Oxford Journal 6 August 1774 page 1; 20 August 1774 page 2; 3September 1774
page 1; 10 September 1774 page 1
104) J. SMITH Bookbinding. Greenhow Factory, No. 8,
Greenhow Yard, Highgate, Kendal. Kendal Mercury 28 January 1871 page 2
105) Mr. SMITH
Bookbinder at the corner of Blackmore Street, committed suicide. Caledonian
Mercury 24 April 1732 page 1
106) W. H. SMITH AND SON [Move of companies to
Letchworth Garden City.] ‘Messrs W. H. Smith and Son, of Strand, London who are
removing their bookbinding business to the estate, Messrs. Dent and Co.,
Publisher, of Covent Garden, who are also transferring their bookbinding
department here, and the Arden Press Ltd., Publishers and Bookbinders.’ Herts
Advertiser 15 December 1906 page 8
107) W. H. SMITH & CO. Newsagents Booksellers
Bookbinders, 15 High Street, Tunbridge Wells. Kent and Sussex Courier 28
April 1933 page 6
108) W. H. SMITH & CO. [Stand at Exhibition]. London
Evening Standard 3 March 1908 page 10
109) SMITHS Bookbinding, Suitall, Ipswich. Ipswich
Journal 17 March 1900 page 4
110) SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF CHRISTIAN
KNOWLEDGE. Liverpool District Branch Meeting. [List of Books Sold] Manchester
Courier 19 January 1828 page 2
111) SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF CHRISTIAN
KNOWLEDGE. Salisbury Annual Branch Meeting. Hampshire Advertiser 27
January 1872 page 7
112) Archibald STEELE ‘Death of an old Edinburgh
Bookbinder’. Edinburgh Evening News 28 September 1901 page 4
113) Robert STEER ‘The Bookbinders’ Strike.’ James
Mahoney accused of intimidating Robert Steer (Bookbinder?), who refused to come
out on strike. Reynolds’s Newspaper 20 March 1892 page 1
114) Mr STEPHENSON, Bookbinder. [He was eating beef
cakes in the Red Lion, Petty Curry, Cambridge, when a pin lodged in his
windpipe. He died of asphyxiation.] Norfolk Chronicle 22 September 1781
page 2).
115) STRIKE OF BOOKBINDERS Morning Post 17
November 1891 page 3
116) STOCK OF BOOKBINDING MATERIALS ‘…to be
disposed of [by] J. Gaythorp, Bookseller. Carlisle Journal 7 February
1851 page 1
117) Wm. SUMNERS ‘…a bookbinder on tramp, was
charged with stealing a topcoat…’ Stamford Mercury 1 February 1861 page
5
118) Francis THOMAS Bookbinder, 15, Boscawen
Street, Truro. Royal Cornwall Gazette 27 December 1817 page 1
119) C. & W. THOMPSON Booksellers, Stationers,
Pattern-Card Manufacturers, Dealers in Genuine Patent Medicines, Printing
Neatly & Expeditiously Executed, Books Bound, No. 1 Market Place, & 54
Westbar, Sheffield. Sheffield Independent 20 May 1820 page 1
120) F. THOMPSON Bookseller, Stationer, Printer,
Bookbinder, News Agent, and Dealer in English and Foreign Fancy Goods, 24, High Street, Bedford. Bedfordshire
Times and Independent 2 August 1870 page 1; 6 August 1870 page 1; 30 August
1870 page 1
121) Will. THOMPSON & Thos. BAILY Printers,
Stamford. ‘Also Books neatly Bound…’ Stamford Mercury 19 August 1725
page 1; 7 November 1731 page 1
122) C. F. TIMEAUS Printer, Stationer, Bookseller,
Bookbinder, Die Sinker & Engraver, 90, High Street Bedford. Bedfordshire
Times and Independent 12 November 1887 page 4; 19 November 1887 page 4; 3
December 1887 page 6; 10 December 1887 page 8; 7 January 1888 page 5
123) [Mr.] TOMES ‘The new fashionable “Society”
style of Bookbinding… is now binding books of the ordinary novel size…’ 43 and
45 Bedford Street, Leamington. Warwick and Warwickshire Advertiser 24
July 1886 page 2
124) Thomas TROUD General Printing-Office. Superior
and Fashionable Bookbinding, Fore-Street, Taunton. Dorset County Chronicle
18 June 1829 page 1
125) F. W. WARD Bookbinding, 3, Watergate Row,
Chester. Cheshire Observer 10 January 1925 page 1
126) Mr. WATSON, Carver & Bookbinder, of Boston
[married] to Miss Sophia Crosby, Milliner, of this place. Stamford Mercury 12
December 1817 page 3
127) WEST MIDLANDS PRESS LIMITED ‘Capacity always
available for Bookbinding.’ The Old Square, Walsall. Walsall Observer and
South Staffordshire Chronicle 11 April 1963 page 12
128) Josiah WESTLEY ‘…of Blackfriars, Bookbinder,
was last week committed at Mansion House police-office, upon charges of having
forged two bills of exchange…with intent to defraud Messrs. Glyn and Co.
Bankers… Westmorland Gazette 25 October 1851 page 8
129) Mr. WHEELER Bookbinding, 20 & 21 St.
Mary-Street, Weymouth. Dorset County Chronicle 8 April 1880 page 20
130) C. W. WHITEHEAD Christmas Greeting Cards.
Printer, Stationer, and Bookbinder, Shop: 125, Fishergate Preston. Preston
Chronicle 29 November 1890 page 1
131) P. WILCOX, Stationer & Bookbinder, 12,
Bell-Street, Canal Terrace, Southampton. Hampshire Advertiser 28 June
1828 page 1
132) Joseph WILKINSON Stationer, Bookbinder, and
Genuine Patent Medicine Vendor, Pudding-Lane, Lancaster. Lancaster Gazette 30
November 1811 page 1
133) Robert WILSON & SON Booksellers,
Bookbinders, and Stationers, 1, St. Nicholas Street, Aberdeen. Aberdeen
Press and Journal 24 December 1862 page 4
134) WOMEN BOOKBINDERS ‘…a scale of rates for women
has been agreed…’ Nottingham Journal 29 October 1915 page 6
135) C. WRIGHT Bookseller, Stationer, Bookbinder,
Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham, opened a shop and ‘a small select circulating
library will speedily be established.’ Nottingham
Journal 19 December 1812 page 3
136) J. WRIGHT Bookseller, Binder and Stationer,
Account Book Manufactory No. 6 King Street, Manchester. Manchester Courier
31 March 1827 page 2
137) John WRIGHT [Letter to the Editor about] ‘The
Binding of the Catalogue of the Great Exhibition.’ Signed: ‘JNO. WRIGHT, 14
& 15 Noel-Street, Soho.’ Morning Chronicle 5 January 1853 page 3
APPENDIX B: List of Newspaper Titles consulted
|
Aberdeen Press
and Journal Alnwick Mercury Bath Chronicle Bedfordshire
Times Belfast
Newsletter Birmingham Daily
Gazette Bradford
Observer Bristol Mercury Bury and Norwich
Post Caledonian
Mercury Carlisle Journal Cambrian News Cheshire
Observer Chester
Chronicle Dorset County
Chronicle Edinburgh
Evening News Exeter and
Plymouth Gazette Essex Herald Freeman’s
Journal Glasgow Herald Gloucester
Herald Gloucester
Journal Hampshire
Advertiser Herts Advertiser Ipswich Journal Kendal Mercury Kent and Sussex
Courier Leeds Mercury Manchester
Courier Manchester
Mercury Morning
Chronicle (London) |
Morning Post
(London) Lancaster
Gazetteer London Evening
Standard Newcastle
Courant Newcastle Daily
chronicle Norfolk
chronicle North Wales
Chronicle Nottingham
Journal Oddfellow Oxford Journal Penrith Observer Preston
Chronicle Reading Mercury Reynolds’s
Newspaper Royal Cornwall
Gazette Salisbury and
Winchester Journal Saunders’s
Newsletter Sheffield
Independent Stamford Mercury Suffolk
Chronicle Sunderland Daily
Echo Walsall Observer Warwick &
Warwickshire Advertiser Western Times Westmorland
Gazette Wiltshire Times
and Trowbridge Advertiser Worcester
Journal Worcestershire
Chronicle Wrexham
Advertiser York Herald |
St. Albans
2022
Note: All images are © British Library Board; and texts within images are © British Newspapers Archive. The text of this essay is © Edmund M. B. King.
