the book collector
period are few and far between, and mostly consist of subscription slips 43 and mentions of parcels of books being transported from London. 44 Specific titles are very rarely mentioned, and book deal- ers are not often mentioned by name. A box of books was received in 1778 from ‘ye Swan at Holbein Bridge’, 45 perhaps a descendant of the London bookseller John Swan (d.1775), whilst the Wakefield stationer John Meggitt was a more local source. 46 The false spines were crafted in London and, bearing in mind the way in which Chippendale worked, it seems most likely that the contact with the binder was through him. On the surface this would suggest that the pool of possible candidates is considerable. Although Chippendale’s shop at number 62, St Martin’s Lane was located well away from the traditional sites we associate with the book trade - St Paul’s, Ludgate, Fleet Street - he would have had access to a vast array of competing booksellers, stationers and book- binders. Although the area around Soho was on the periphery, it was still within the main book trade streets and districts. 47 St Martin’s Lane was pedestrianized and elegant, 48 and the area had attracted numerous engravers, print sellers and booksellers, including Hogarth, Bernard Lintot, Thomas Hookham and the Noble broth- ers, who established their first circulating library just o V St Martin’s Lane in 1737. 49 Bookbinders also inhabited the area. In the 1790s Charles Hering the elder (d. 1809/1813?) established a bookbinding business in St Martin’s Lane which would become one of the major players of the period. It is worth noting too that the great Roger 43 . See, for example, subscription slips for Thomas Smith’s Perspective View of Chatsworth (April 18, 1744), and similar slips for James Thomson’s The Seasons (1729) and Riccoboni’s Histoire du Theatre Italien (1728), all in WYW1352/1/1/4. 44 . See, for example: WYW1352/3/4/3/2; WYW1352/3/4/3/1. 45 . WYW1352/3/4/3/1: it comprised: ‘A parcel o V books’, ‘Three poetical books from Mr. Bell:’ [presumably John Bell (1745–1831)?]and ‘one print for Master Winn’. 46 . WYW1352/3/4/3/2, 1790: Meggitt’s bill includes: ‘Nov. 22 Readg. Bu V ons Natl. History 2 vol. 4s’, ‘Dec. 27 Readg. The Favorite 2 vols.’ and ‘Dec. 28 Londn. Alm: Moro. 1/9’. 47 . See: J. Raven, The Business of Books (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007), fig 6.1. 48 . Raven, Business of Books, p. 186. 49 . J. Raven, Bookscape: Geographies of Printing and Publishing in London Before 1800 (London: The British Library, 2014), p. 138, and Raven, Business of Books , pp. 186–87.
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