Thomas Tegg (1776–1845) was a British bookseller and publisher.

Early life

Tegg was the son of a grocer, born at Wimbledon, 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. In 1785 he was bound apprentice to Alexander Meggett, a bookseller at

Dalkeith Dalkeith ( ; gd, Dail Cheith, IPA: �t̪alˈçe 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 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, 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 located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, nor ...

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 Nor ...

, 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 in the west to Aldgate in the east. It was formerly the start of the A11 road from London to Norwich, but that route now starts further east at ...

. 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 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 redis ...

, 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'' * '' Overland Monthly'' * Menstrua ...

''. 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, whe ...

. 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 (1 ...

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 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, ...

'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 assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members ...

, 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 companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ju ...

; 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 , special ...

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'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

External links

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