Charles Lewis (1786–1836) was a prominent English bookbinder.

Life

Born in London, Lewis was fourth son of Johann Ludwig, a political refugee from

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, and brother of

Frederick Christian Lewis Frederick Christian Lewis (1779–1856) was an English etcher, aquatint and stipple engraver, landscape and portrait painter and the brother of Charles Lewis (1786–1836). Life He studied under J. C. Stadler and in the schools of the Royal ...

and of George Robert Lewis. In 1800, he was apprenticed to the leading bookbinder Henry Walther. After he had spent five years in the forwarding department, Walther refused his request to enter the finishing shop, and so Lewis practised fine work on his own account, into the small hours. On leaving Walther in 1807, Lewis worked as a journeyman in several other shops, finally setting up in business on his own account in

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

. He later moved to premises in Denmark Court, and on to Duke Street, St. James's. With C. Kalthoeber he was employed by William Beckford on the

Fonthill Abbey Fonthill Abbey—also known as Beckford's Folly—was a large Gothic Revival country house built between 1796 and 1813 at Fonthill Gifford in Wiltshire, England, at the direction of William Thomas Beckford and architect James Wyatt. It was b ...

library.

Thomas Frognall Dibdin Thomas Frognall Dibdin (177618 November 1847) was an English bibliographer, born in Calcutta to Thomas Dibdin, the sailor brother of the composer Charles Dibdin. Dibdin was orphaned at a young age. His father died in 1778 while returning to En ...

(Lord Spencer's librarian) was an admirer of his work and character, and recommended him to other bibliophiles. Lewis was foremost among the bookbinders of London by 1823 and employed 23 journeymen. Lord Spencer (the owner of the Althorp library) had employed him at least as early as 1814 and Dibdin's ''Biblitheca Spenceriana'' mentions 235 works (some being in more than one volume) as having bindings by him; Lewis must also have bound many later books for Lord Spencer which are outside the scope of the ''Bibliotheca Spenceriana''. Many of Dibdin's descriptions include remarks complimentary to Lewis.Lister, Anthony (1989) "The Althorp Library ... its Formation and Growth". In: ''Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester''; vol. 71, no. 2, pp. 83-84 Lewis died of

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

on 8 January 1836. He was succeeded by his eldest son. Francis Bedford had lived with Lewis for some time, and carried on Lewis's style, which was in contrast to the more ornate school of Robert Rivière. According to Dibdin Lewis combined the taste of

Roger Payne Roger Searle Payne (born January 29, 1935) is an American biologist and environmentalist famous for the 1967 discovery (with Scott McVay) of whale song among humpback whales. Payne later became an important figure in the worldwide campaign to e ...

with "a freedom of forwarding and squareness of finish very peculiar to himself"; he was also successful in book restoration. His main colours were buff or subdued orange for Russia bindings, and French grey for Morocco.

Notes

Attribution

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Charles 1786 births 1836 deaths English people of German descent Bookbinders