William Lane (bookseller)

William Lane (1746–1814) was a publisher and bookseller in London in the late 18th century best known now for his founding of the wildly successful Minerva Press.[1]

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

Career

Around 1790 Lane established the Minerva Printing Press in Cree Church Lane, Leadenhall Street, moving ca.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. Granger, William (1808), "Biographical Memoirs of William Lane", Granger's New and Complete Wonderful Museum and Magazine Extraordinary, vol. 6
  2. 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
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