Thomas Tegg (1776–1845) was a British bookseller and publisher.
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
* ...
, 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 (; sco, Gallae, gd, An Geal Àth) 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 ...
in
Selkirkshire
Selkirkshire or the County of Selkirk ( gd, Siorrachd Shalcraig) is a 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. ...
. In 1785 he was bound apprentice to Alexander Meggett, a bookseller at
Dalkeith
Dalkeith ( ; gd, Dail Cheith, IPA: ˆt̪alˈçe 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 1540. The settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-cent ...
. He ran away, sold
chapbook
A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch.
In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...
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
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
where he met the wood engraver
Thomas Bewick
Thomas Bewick (c. 11 August 17538 November 1828) was an English 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, and illustrating ch ...
. In Sheffield he obtained employment from
Joseph Gales
Joseph Gales Jr. (June 15, 1786 – July 21, 1860) was an American journalist and the ninth mayor of Washington, D.C., from 1827 to 1830. He was the only Mayor born outside the United States or the American colonies.
Early life
Joseph Gales Jr ...
, the proprietor of the ''
Sheffield Register
The ''Sheffield Iris'' was an early weekly newspaper published on Tuesdays James Montgomery, John Holland and James Everett, ''Memoirs of the Life and Writings of James Montgomery'' in Sheffield, England.
The first newspaper to be published in S ...
'', and encountered
Tom Paine
Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...
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 located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...
in
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, he moved to London in 1796.
London
In London he obtained an engagement with
William Lane
William Lane (6 September 1861 – 26 August 1917) was an English-born journalist, author, advocate of Australian labour politics and a utopian socialist ideologue.
Lane was born in Bristol, England into an impoverished family. After showin ...
, 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
Gracechurch Street is a main road in the City of London, the historic and financial centre of London, which is designated the A1213.
It is home to a number of shops, restaurants, and offices and has an entrance to Leadenhall Market, a covered ...
, where he stayed until he began business on his own account.
Tegg took a shop in partnership with Joseph Dalton Dewick
in
Aldersgate Street
Aldersgate is a Ward of the City of London, named after one of the northern gates in the London Wall which once enclosed the City.
The Ward of Aldersgate is traditionally divided into Aldersgate Within and Aldersgate Without, the suffix denot ...
. 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 ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington.
The well after which it was named was redisco ...
, 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
Monthly usually refers to the scheduling of something every month. It may also refer to:
* ''The Monthly''
* ''Monthly Magazine''
* '' Monthly Review''
* ''PQ Monthly''
* ''Home Monthly''
* ''Trader Monthly ''Trader Monthly'' was a lifestyle magaz ...
''. 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, which forms part of the A40 London to Fishguard road. It links St. Martin's Le Grand with Poultry. Near its eastern end at Bank junction, where ...
. 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 (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...
in 1805, sold fifty thousand copies at 6''d''. and the ''Life'' of
Mary Anne Clarke
Mary Anne Clarke (born Mary Anne Thompson; 3 April 1776 – 21 June 1852) was the mistress of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany., retrieved 24 November 2018 Their relationship began in 1803, while he was Commander-in-Chief of the arm ...
(1810), thirteen thousand copies at 7''s''. 5''d''. each. In 1824 he purchased the copyright of
William Hone
William Hone (3 June 1780 – 8 November 1842) was an English writer, satirist and bookseller. His victorious court battle against government censorship in 1817 marked a turning point in the fight for British press freedom.
Biography
Hon ...
'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. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy.
Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...
'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 Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
, but was not elected. In 1836 he was chosen
Sheriff of London
Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery company, livery companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have ...
; he paid the conventional fine to escape serving, of £400, and added another £100, founding a Tegg scholarship at the
City of London School
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public school Boys' independent day school
, president =
, head_label = Headmaster
, head = Alan Bird
, chair_label = Chair of Governors
, chair = Ian Seaton
, founder = John Carpenter
, speciali ...
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" and "The Song of the Shirt". Hood wrote regularly for ''The London Magazine'', ''Athenaeum'', and ''Punch''. ...
'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 male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
(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
*
Further reading
*
*
v.2America to Arsenal
v.3Arsenic to Belswagger
v.4Benedict to Cadiz
v.5Caffraria to Clepsydra
v.6Clergy to Customs
v.7Cutlery to Elasticity
v.8Elasticity to Ezra
v.9F to Garter
v.10Gas to Halley
v.11Halo to Indulgence
v.12Ink to Lindsey
v.13Line to Medici
v.14Medicine to Mithridates
v.15Mithridates to Nox
v.16Nubia to Perambulator
v.17Perception to Post
v.18Potash to Rom
v.19Rome to Seduction
v.20Seduction to Sphere
* ''A London Encyclopaedia...'' @Google Books
** (1829
Vol.2America to Arsenal
Vol.3Arsenic to Bell
Vol.4Benedict to Cadiz
Vol.5Caffraria to Clepsydra
Vol.7Cutlery to Elasticity
Vol.8Elasticity to Ezra
Vol.9F to Garter
Vol.11Halo to Indulgence
Vol.12Infanticide to Lindus
Vol.14Medicine to Mithradates
Vol.15Mithradates to Nox
Vol.16Nubia to Perambulator
Vol.17Perception to Post
Vol.18Potash to Rome
Vol.19Rome to Seduction
Vol.20Seduction to Sphere
Vol.21Spheroid to Tewkesbury
Vol.22Thales to Zypaeus
** (1839
Vol.2America to Arsenal
Vol.3Arsenic to Bell
Vol.4Benedict to Cadiz
Vol.5Caffraria to Clepsydra
Vol.6Clergy to Customs
Vol.7Cutlery to Elasticity
Vol.8Elasticity to Ezra
Vol.9F to Garter
Vol.10Gas to Halley
Vol.12Ink to Lindsey
Vol.14Medicine to Mithradates
Vol.15Mithradates to Nox
Vol.17Perception to Post
Vol.18Potash to Rome
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tegg, Thomas
1776 births
1845 deaths
People from Wimbledon, London
Publishers (people) from London