James Lackington (Born in Wellington, Somerset, 31 August 1746;[1] died 22 November 1815[2] in Budleigh Salterton, Devon[3]) was a bookseller who is credited with revolutionizing the British book trade. A shoemaker's son trained as a cobbler, he showed early initiative, selling pies and cakes in the street when aged 10. Lackington taught himself to read and arriving in London in August 1773 with two shillings and sixpence, eventually became a wealthy man. He is best known for refusing credit at his shop – no exceptions – and by instead receiving cash in return for every item was able to reduce the price of books throughout his store. He printed catalogues of his stock; the first contained 12,000 titles.[4] He bought whole libraries and published writers' manuscripts. He also saved remaindered books from destruction and resold them at bargain prices, firmly believing that books were the key to knowledge, reason and happiness and that everyone, no matter their economic background, social class or gender, had the right to access books at cheap prices.
Lackington wrote two autobiographies: Memoirs of the First Forty-Five Years of the Life of James Lackington (1791) and The Confessions of James Lackington (1804), to which were appended Letters, on the bad consequences of having daughters educated at Boarding Schools.[5] He considered himself to have been blessed with two happy marriages, the first to Nancy, who died of fever, then Dorcas.
Lackington's main bookstore in Finsbury Square was called "The Temple of the Muses" and was said to have been large enough "that a mail-coach and four were driven round the counters at its opening" (Mumby and Norrie, 1974) in 1793.
His love of books is exemplified in the tale that, on arriving in London with his wife, he spent their last Half-crown on a book of poems. He explained "if I had bought a dinner we should have had it tomorrow and the pleasure would be over; but should we live fifty years we shall have these poems to feast on."
Lackington retired in 1798, leaving the "Temple of the Muses" in the hands of his third cousin George Lackington.