| Name: |
JOHNSON, Joseph |
| County: |
London |
| Town: |
London |
| Address(es): |
Gracechurch St. Lamb St. Golden Anchor, Fenchurch Street Opp Monument, Lombard Street, Fish Street Hill, No 8 'The Globe' Paternoster Row, No 44 Paternoster Row, No. 72 St Paul's Churchyard |
| Book Trades: |
Bookseller, Publisher |
| Non-Book Trade: |
Not known |
| Trading Dates: |
1761 (date of freedom) - 1809 |
| Biographical Dates: |
1738 (date of birth) - 1809 (date of death) |
| Notes: |
Son of farmer. Apprenticed to George Keith 1752. Free Musicians' Co; livery 6/7/1791. Trading as Johnson & Davenport (1765-8); Johnson & Payne (1768-70). Member of the ‘Chapter Coffee House’ group of booksellers, alongside Thomas Becket, Thomas Cadell, John Rivington, William Strahan (the King’s printer), Thomas Longman and the Dilly Brothers, James Boswell, Thomas Davies, Peter Elmsley and Thomas Payne (Braithwaite, 2003). In 1783 he became the official bookseller for the ‘Society for Promoting Knowledge of the Scriptures’ and in 1791 acted for the ‘Unitarian Society for promoting Christian Knowledge and the Practice of Virtue by the Distribution of Books.’ (Braithwaite, 2003) In 1794 he was summoned as a crown witness in the trials of Thomas Hardy and John Horne Tooke, and was cross-examined about his role in publishing their works. (Braithwaite, 2003) Found guilty of publishing a seditious libel - A Reply to Some Parts of the Bishop of Landaff’s Address to the People of Great Britain (1798) by Gilbert Wakefield. Put on trial on 17 July at the Guildhall, where he was found guilty of wilful criminal publication and sentenced to six months in the King’s Bench Prison and fined £50 (and asked to provide sureties totaling £700). (Braithwaite, 2003) Died at St Paul's Churchyard on 20 December 1809. Succeeded by Joseph Johnson & Co (1810-15) SFIP 419827 (1779) (HOLDEN02/5) |
| Sources: |
- Maxted, Ian, The British Book Trades 1775-1787: an index to insurance policies (Exeter Working Paper No. 8)
- Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalogue
- Maxted, Ian, The London Book Trades, 1775-1800: a preliminary checklist of members (Folkestone, 1977)
Maxted, Ian, The London Book Trades, 1735-1775: a checklist of members in trade directories and in Musgrave's 'Obituary' (Exeter Working Papers in British Book Trade History No.3, 1984) - Plomer, Henry R. et al, A Dictionary of the Printers and Booksellers who were at work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1726 to 1775 (London, 1932)
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