John Bagford (1650/51,

Fetter Lane Fetter Lane is a street in the ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. It forms part of the A4 road and runs between Fleet Street at its southern end and Holborn. History The street was originally called Faytor or Faiter Lane, then Fe ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

– 5 May 1716,

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

) was an English

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

, writer,

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

-collector, bookseller, and biblioclast.

Life

Originally a

shoemaker Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or cobblers (also known as '' cordwainers''). In the 18th century, dozens or even hundreds of masters, journeymen ...

by trade, his premises were in the

Great Turnstile Great Turnstile, Little Turnstile and New Turnstile are alleys between High Holborn and Lincoln's Inn Fields in London. They originally had turnstiles to prevent cattle from straying. They later became busy lanes and were built up with sh ...

. That business was not successful so he became active in the book-trading market in

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its roots ...

from 1680, travelling to

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

, and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

on this business and aiding such collectors as John Moore,

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

and Edward Harley, Sir

Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector, with a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British Mu ...

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...

and

John Woodward John Woodward or ''variant'', may refer to: Sports * John Woodward (English footballer) (born 1947), former footballer * John Woodward (Scottish footballer) (born 1949), former footballer * Johnny Woodward (1924–2002), English footballer * Jo ...

. Becoming friends with fellow antiquarians such as Thomas Hearne,

Humfrey Wanley Humfrey Wanley (21 March 1672 – 6 July 1726) was an English librarian, palaeographer and scholar of Old English, employed by manuscript collectors such as Robert and Edward Harley. He was the first keeper of the Harleian Library, now the Har ...

and Thomas Baker, he published antiquarian tracts, contributed to others, and edited an edition of

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...

published by John Urry. Bagford, together with Humfrey Wanley and

John Talman John Talman (July 1677, King's Street, Westminster – 3 November 1726, London) was a British antiquary and art collector. He was the eldest son of William Talman and his wife Hannah. From 1709 to 1717 he toured in Italy, collecting antiquiti ...

, was one of three ‘founder members of the reconstituted ‘Society of Antiquaries’, which first met at the Bear Tavern on the

Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street ...

on 5 December 1707. Bagford's collection contained many fragments of books such as title-pages and this gave him a reputation as a biblioclast for which he was excoriated in

William Blades William Blades (5 December 182427 April 1890), English printer and bibliographer, was born at Clapham, London. Career In 1840 he was apprenticed to his father's printing business in London, being subsequently taken into partnership. The ...

' '' The Enemies of Books''. Likewise, a twentieth-century commentator has said how Bagford is mostly remembered today for "his ability to mangle any book he laid his hands on."

The Gray's Inn elephant tooth and stone tool

In 1715 Bagford wrote about the

Gray's Inn Lane hand axe The Gray's Inn Lane Hand Axe is a pointed flint hand axe, found buried in gravel under Gray's Inn Lane, London, England, by pioneering archaeologist John Conyers in 1679, and now in the British Museum. The hand axe is a fine example from about ...

and the elephant tooth which had been found together by

John Conyers John James Conyers Jr. (May 16, 1929October 27, 2019) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1965 to 2017. The districts he represented always included part of western Detroit. ...

opposite "Black Mary's". He asserted that the elephant was probably introduced by

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...

but that the tool had been made by human workmanship.Archaeology – The Lower Palaeolithic Age , A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 1 (pp. 11–21)
British-history.ac.uk (2003-06-22). Retrieved on 2012-06-03. He described this as a "British weapon" and as such he was one of the first to suggest that stone age tools were human-made, rather than produced by other causes (such as lightning).

References

External links

John Bagford
in the

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

(requires subscription)
Portraits of Bagford
at the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

Article on Bagford
(giving an erroneous birth year) *Milton McC. Gatch, ‘John Bagford, Bookseller and Antiquary’, ''British Library'' ''Journal'' 12 (1986), pp. 150–171 https://www.bl.uk/eblj/1986articles/pdf/article12.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Bagford, John 1650 births 1716 deaths Antiquarians from London British bibliographers English booksellers English book and manuscript collectors English song collectors Collectors from London

Life

The Gray's Inn elephant tooth and stone tool

See also

References

External links