William Lane (bookseller)

William Lane
Born1746
Kingdom of Great Britain
Died1814 (aged 67–68)
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Occupation(s)Publisher, bookseller

William Lane (1746 – 1814) was an English publisher and bookseller in London, best known now for his founding of the wildly successful Minerva Press.[1]

Career

Around 1790, Lane established the Minerva Printing Press in Cree Church Lane, Leadenhall Street, moving c. 1792 to no. 31 Leadenhall Street.[2] The Minerva Press issued works by Courtney Melmoth and others.[1] Subscribers to Lane's Circulating Library (established circa 1774)[3] included Leigh Hunt.[4][nb 1] Around 1799 John Darling and Anthony King Newman joined Lane as "Lane, Darling, Newman & Co."[2] In 1804 Lane retired and Newman took over the business.[6][7]

  • Trade card, Lane's Circulating Library, 1793
    Trade card, Lane's Circulating Library, 1793
  • Trade card, Lane's Circulating Library, c. 1795
    Trade card, Lane's Circulating Library, c. 1795
  • Trade card, Lane's Circulating Library, c. 1795
    Trade card, Lane's Circulating Library, c. 1795
  • Trade card, Minerva Library, c. 1795
    Trade card, Minerva Library, c. 1795

Notes

  1. ^ Competitors included circulating libraries of John Booth, Carpenter, Cawthorn, Cheesewright, Creighton, Thomas Dangerfield, Dutton, William Earle, Thomas Hookham, David Ogilvy, Parson, Tegg, and Thomas Vernor.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b Granger, William (1808), "Biographical Memoirs of William Lane", Granger's New and Complete Wonderful Museum and Magazine Extraordinary, vol. 6
  2. ^ a b Andrew W. Tuer (1888), "Introduction", Dame and her Donkeys Five, Field & Tuer, Leadenhall Press
  3. ^ "London Circulating Libraries", The Times, London, 2 September 1913, OL 14020865M
  4. ^ Autobiography of Leigh Hunt, A. Constable & Co., 1903
  5. ^ John Feltham (1807). "Circulating Libraries". Picture of London, for 1807 (8th ed.). London: Richard Phillips.
  6. ^ Monthly Magazine, 1 March 1814
  7. ^ Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review, September 1858

See also