William Pickering (publisher)

William Pickering (2 April 1796 – 27 April 1854)[1] was an English publisher, notable for introducing cloth binding to British publishing.

Pickering began working as an antiquarian bookseller before 1820, and quickly moved into publishing. In 1819 he began publishing a series of Diamond Classics- small books set in tiny type, that were offered in a uniform binding of cloth or leather at an affordable price of 6 shillings. These are probably the first publishers' bindings in cloth- an innovation which had a rapid and profound impact on the publishing industry. Pickering also published original work: from 1828 he became Samuel Taylor Coleridge's publisher, as well as bringing out the first edition in ordinary typography of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience. [2] He specialised in scholarly editions of classic authors, both of ancient and English literature, including important editions of Blake, Malthus, Boswell, Johnson, Marlowe, Shakespeare and Isaac Walton.

After William Pickering’s death, the business was carried on by his son, Basil Montagu Pickering; on his death, in 1878, it was purchased by ‘old Mr Chatto’, one of the founding partners of Chatto and Windus and became Pickering and Chatto, a name which survives today in two (now separate) companies: the academic publisher Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) and the antiquarian bookseller of the same name.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "History of Wood Engraving". University of North Texas. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  2. ↑ Keynes, Geoffrey. William Pickering publisher: a memoir and a check-list of his publications. London: The Galahad Press, 1969.
  3. ↑ "Pickering & Chatto Antiquarian Booksellers". Retrieved 2014-03-17.

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