Thomas Tegg (1776–1845) was a British

bookseller Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The foundi ...

and

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

. One of his best-known publications is the '' London Encyclopaedia'' of 1829 and 1839.

Early life

Tegg was the son of a grocer, born at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

, Surrey, on 4 March 1776, and was left an orphan at the age of five. He was sent to a boarding school at

Galashiels Galashiels (; , ) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive history in the textile in ...

Selkirkshire Selkirkshire or the County of Selkirk is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county of Scotland. It borders Peeblesshire to the west, Midlothian to the north, Roxburghshire to the east, and Dumfriesshire to the south. It de ...

. In 1785 he was bound apprentice to Alexander Meggett, a bookseller at

Dalkeith Dalkeith ( ; , ) is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1541. The settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-century castle (now Dalkeith Pala ...

. He ran away, sold

chapbook A chapbook is a type of small printed booklet that was a popular medium for street literature throughout early modern Europe. Chapbooks were usually produced cheaply, illustrated with crude woodcuts and printed on a single sheet folded into 8, 1 ...

s at Berwick, and spent time at

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

where he met the wood engraver

Thomas Bewick Thomas Bewick (c. 11 August 1753 – 8 November 1828) was an English wood engraving, wood-engraver and natural history author. Early in his career he took on all kinds of work such as engraving cutlery, making the wood blocks for advertisements, ...

. In Sheffield he obtained employment from Joseph Gales, the proprietor of the '' Sheffield Register'', and encountered Tom Paine and

Charles Dibdin Charles Dibdin (before 4 March 1745 – 25 July 1814) was an English composer, musician, dramatist, novelist, singer and actor. With over 600 songs to his name, for many of which he wrote both the lyrics and the music and performed them himself ...

. Further wanderings took him to Ireland and Wales, and then, after some years at

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, he moved to London in 1796.

London

In London he obtained an engagement with William Lane, the proprietor of the Minerva Library, at 53

Leadenhall Street __NOTOC__ Leadenhall Street () is a street in the City of London. It is about and links Cornhill, London, Cornhill in the west to Aldgate in the east. It was formerly the start of the A11 road (England), A11 road from London to Norwich, but th ...

. He subsequently worked for John and Arthur Arch, the Quaker booksellers of Gracechurch Street, where he stayed until he began business on his own account. Tegg took a shop in partnership with Joseph Dalton Dewick in Aldersgate Street. On 20 April 1800 he married, and opened a shop in St. John Street,

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...

, but lost money through the bad faith of a friend. He took out a country auction licence to try his fortune in the provinces. He started with a stock of shilling political pamphlets and some thousands of the '' Monthly Visitor''. With his wife acting as clerk, he travelled and bought up duplicates in private libraries, clearing his debts. Returning to London in 1805, he opened a shop at 111

Cheapside Cheapside is a street in the City of London, the historic and modern financial centre of London, England, which forms part of the A40 road, A40 London to Fishguard road. It links St Martin's Le Grand with Poultry, London, Poultry. Near its eas ...

. He printed a series of pamphlets, consisting of abridgements of popular works. They proved successful, and he had up to two hundred titles, many of which sold four thousand copies. By 1840 he had published four thousand works on his own account. ''The Whole Life of Nelson'', which he brought out just after the

battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition. As part of Na ...

in 1805, sold fifty thousand copies at 6''d''. and the ''Life'' of Mary Anne Clarke (1810), thirteen thousand copies at 7''s''. 5''d''. each. In 1824 he purchased the copyright of William Hone's ''Everyday Book and Table Book'', and, republishing it in weekly parts, made a large profit. He then gave Hone £500 to write ''The Year Book'', which proved less successful. When his own publications began paying well he gave up auctions, which he had continued nightly at 111 Cheapside. In 1824 he made his final move, to 73 Cheapside. In 1825 he started the '' London Encyclopaedia'' which ran to twenty-two volumes. He bought remainders on a large scale. He was mentioned as a populariser of literature in

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...

's petition on the copyright bill in April 1839. In 1835, being then a common councilman of the ward of Cheap, he was nominated an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

, but was not elected. In 1836 he was chosen

Sheriff of London Two Sheriffs of the City of London are elected annually by the members of the City livery companies. Today's Sheriffs have only ceremonial duties, but the historical officeholders held important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ...

; he paid the conventional fine to escape serving, of £400, and added another £100, founding a Tegg scholarship at the

City of London School The City of London School, also known as CLS and City, is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school for Single-sex education, boys in the City of London, England, on the banks of the River Thames next to the Millennium Bridge, ...

and donating a collection of books. He died on 21 April 1845, and was buried at Wimbledon. He was generally believed to have been the original of Timothy Twigg in

Thomas Hood Thomas Hood (23 May 1799 – 3 May 1845) was an English poet, author and humorist, best known for poems such as "The Bridge of Sighs (poem), The Bridge of Sighs" and "The Song of the Shirt". Hood wrote regularly for ''The London Magazine'', '' ...

's 1834 novel ''Tylney Hall''.

Family

Tegg left three sons, including Thomas Tegg, a bookseller, who died on 15 September 1871 and

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

(1816–1895), who continued the business.

Works

His first short book, ''The Complete Confectioner'', reached a second edition. Tegg was also author of: * ''Memoirs of Sir F. Burdett'', 1804. * ''Tegg's Prime Song Book, bang up to the mark'', 1810; third collection, 1810; fourth collection, 1810. * ''The Rise, Progress, and Termination of the O. P. War at Covent Garden, in Poetic Epistles'', 1810. * ''Chronology, or the Historical Companion: a register of events from the earliest period to the present time'', 1811; 5th edition 1854. * ''Book of Utility or Repository of useful Information, connected with the Moral, Intellectual, and Physical Condition of Man'', 1822. * ''Remarks on the Speech of Serjeant Talfourd on the Laws relating to Copyright'', 1837. * ''Handbook for Emigrants, containing Information on Domestic, Mechanical, Medical, and other subjects'', 1839. * ''Extension of Copyright proposed by Serjeant Talfourd'', 1840. * ''Treasury of Wit and Anecdote'', 1842. * ''A Present to an Apprentice'', 2nd edition 1848. He also edited the twelve numbers of ''The Magazine of Knowledge and Amusement'', 1843–4.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tegg, Thomas 1776 births 1845 deaths People from Wimbledon, London Publishers (people) from London