David Nutt Publisher from Childrens Singing Games published in 1894

David Nutt (3 April 1810 – 28 November 1863) was a British book

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

and bookseller.''A monthly circular of new books on sale or imported by David Nutt, foreign and classical bookseller, 270 Strand, London, W.C'', Leipzig : F.A. Brockhaus, c. 1877.Crys Armbrust, "David Nutt (1829-1916)", in: Patricia J. Anderson and Jonathan Rose, ''British Literary Publishing Houses, 1820-1880'', Detroit and London: Gale Research, Inc., 1991 (Dictionary of Literary Biography, vol. 106), pp. 228-229.

Career

Nutt was born David Samuel Nutt in London in 1810. After attending Merchant Taylor's School, he worked for several years as a clerk with a mercantile firm in London. One of that firm's partners, Edward Moberley, encouraged Nutt to start out as a bookseller. That suggestion was supported by Adolphus Asher, a bibliographer and seller of rare books based in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

, who offered him a commission to represent him in London. Nutt accepted the commission and began bookselling some time between 1829 and 1833. His first place of business was 90 Bartholomew Close, London and he would later move his premises to 58

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was n ...

, London, and then in 1848 to 270–271

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 ...

, London. He characterised himself variously as a "foreign and classical bookseller" and a "theological and foreign bookseller" and concentrated on the sale of imported foreign books in many of the modern and ancient European and Asian languages. Apart from books then currently in print, he also sold rare books to clients which included the libraries of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

universities and private collectors such as

George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer, (1 September 1758 – 10 November 1834), styled Viscount Althorp from 1765 to 1783, was a British Whig politician. He served as Home Secretary from 1806 to 1807 in the Ministry of All the Talents. He was ...

and

Thomas Grenville Thomas Grenville (31 December 1755 – 17 December 1846) was a British politician and bibliophile. Background and education Grenville was the second son of Prime Minister George Grenville and Elizabeth Wyndham, daughter of Sir William W ...

. In the catalogues he wrote and published to sell his books, Nutt demonstrated antiquarian and bibliographical knowledge which led to their being referenced in bibliographies written by Jacques Charles Brunet and Johann G. T. Graesse. The firm began publishing books in the 1830s. His publishing specialities were books published for the foreign (especially German) market, as well as religious educational, antiquarian, literary and scholarly texts. In 1851, David Nutt entered a partnership with the German-English publisher, bookseller and linguist

Nicholas Trübner Nicholas Trübner (17 June 1817 – 20 March 1884), born Nikolaus Trübner, was a German-English publisher, bookseller and linguist. Early life The eldest of four sons of a goldsmith in Heidelberg, Trübner was born there on 17 June 1817, and ed ...

The David Nutt firm in later years

Alfred Nutt Alfred Trübner Nutt (22 November 1856 – 21 May 1910) was a British publisher who studied and wrote about folklore and Celtic studies. Biography Nutt was born in London, the eldest son of publisher David Nutt. His mother was the granddaughter ...

was David's eldest and only surviving son. In 1878 he took over the David Nutt firm, expanded it considerably, and added books on folklore and antiquities to its list of publications.H. R. Tedder, Sayoni Basu, ed.
Nutt, Alfred Trübner (1856–1910)
oxforddnb.com. Retrieved 22 February 2021. At the turn of the century '' The Modern Language Quarterly'' was also published by the firm for the Modern Language Association (Great Britain). In 1890 the firm moved to a new address at 57-59

Long Acre Long Acre is a street in the City of Westminster in central London. It runs from St Martin's Lane, at its western end, to Drury Lane in the east. The street was completed in the early 17th century and was once known for its coach-makers, and la ...

, "At the Sign of the Phoenix" and in 1912 moved again, to Grape Street, New Oxford Street, London. After Alfred's sudden death in 1910, his wife M. L. Nutt became the proprietor. She continued to publish new authors including the poet

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American collo ...

and the firm became the latter's first publisher when it published his poetry collections '' A Boy's Will'' (1913) and ''

North of Boston ''North of Boston'' is a collection of seventeen poems by Robert Frost, first published in 1914 by David Nutt in Great Britain. Most of the poems resemble short dramas or dialogues. It is also called a book of people because most of the poems de ...

'' (1914). Financial difficulties forced Mrs. Nutt to sell the firm to Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton Kent and Company in 1916.

Personal life

David Nutt married Ellen Clementina Carter, the daughter of Robert Carter and granddaughter of William Miller whose publishing house was a predecessor of John Murray. In 1864 Ellen was listed under her married name of Ella Clementina Nutt as the London representative of the German book trade. David Nutt died at his residence in 1863.

Book series

* The Ancient East Series * Argyllshire Series * Arthurian Romances Unrepresented in Malory's Morte d'Arthur * Art Lover's Series * Bibliothèque de Carabas * Country Folk-lore * Cymmrodorion Record Series Edward Clodd
"In Memoriam: Alfred Nutt (1856-1910)
''Folk-Lore'', Vol. 21, No. 2. Retrieved 22 February 2021. * English History by Contemporary Writers * Grimm Library * Method Gaspey-Otto-Sauer * The Modern Linguist * New York University Ottendorfer Memorial Series of Germanice Monographs * Northern Library * Nutt’s Conversation Dictionaries"New Books", in: ''Booksellers' Review'', 15 July 1897, p. 9. * Nutt's Juvenile Library * Phonetic Series * Pilgrim Players Series * Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance & Folklore * Publications of the

Folk-lore Society The Folklore Society (FLS) is a national association in the United Kingdom for the study of folklore. It was founded in London in 1878 to study traditional vernacular culture, including traditional music, song, dance and drama, narrative, arts an ...

* Scottish History from Contemporary Writers * The Tudor Library * The Tudor Translations * Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition * Woman Citizen's Series

References

External links