James Dodsley (1724–1797) was an English bookseller.

Life

Dodsley was born near

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

in 1724. He was probably employed in the shop of his prosperous brother,

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 ...

, by whom he was taken into partnership—the firm trading as R. & J. Dodsley in Pall Mall—and whom he eventually succeeded in 1759. The plan of the tax on receipts was suggested by him to the Rockingham administration in 1782. On 7 June 1787 he lost £2,500 worth of quirestock, burnt in a warehouse. He paid the usual fine instead of serving the office of

Sheriff of London and Middlesex 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 ...

in 1788. He led a secluded life, and some years before his death gave up his shop, dealing wholesale in his own publications. The retail business was taken over by George Nicol. ''He kept a carriage many years, but studiously wished that his friends should not know it, nor did he ever use it on the eastern side of Temple Bar'', according to the ''

Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'' ...

''.

Publications

In 1775 he printed ''A Petition and Complaint touching a Piracy of "Letters by the late Earl of Chesterfield"''. A list of 41 works published by him is advertised at the end of

Thomas Hull Thomas Hull may refer to: *Thomas Hull (actor) (1728–1808), English actor and dramatist * Thomas Hull (MP) (1528–1575/1576), English politician * Thomas Gray Hull (1926–2008), American judge *Tom Hull (American football) (born 1952), American ...

's ''Select Letters'', 1778, 2 vols, 8vo. In 1780 he produced an improved edition of the ''Collection of Old Plays'', 12 vols, edited by

Isaac Reed Isaac Reed (1 January 1742 – 5 January 1807) was an English Shakespearean editor. Biography The son of a baker, he was born in London. He was articled to a solicitor, and eventually set up as a conveyancer at Staple Inn, where he had a large p ...

, who also edited for him again, two years later, the 'Collection of Poems,' 6 vols. He was a member of the "Congeries", a club of booksellers who produced

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

's ''

Lives of the Poets ''Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets'' (1779–81), alternatively known by the shorter title ''Lives of the Poets'', is a work by Samuel Johnson comprising short biographies and critical appraisals of 52 poets, most of whom lived during th ...

'' and other works. Dodsley was the puzzled referee in a well-known bet about

Oliver Goldsmith Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, dramatist and poet, who is best known for his novel ''The Vicar of Wakefield'' (1766), his pastoral poem ''The Deserted Village'' (1770), and his pl ...

's lines, For he who fights and runs away May live to fight another day, which George Selwyn correctly contended were not to be found in Butler's ''

Hudibras ''Hudibras'' is a vigorous satirical poem, written in a mock-heroic style by Samuel Butler (1613–1680), and published in three parts in 1663, 1664 and 1678. The action is set in the last years of the Interregnum, around 1658–60, immediately b ...

''. Dodsley carried on an extensive business, but had other interests; writing from Woodstock on 26 July 1789 Thomas King refers to his farming and haymaking. Eighteen thousand copies of

Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_ NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style"> ...

's ''Reflections on the Revolution in France'' were sold by him in 1790.

Death

He died on 19 February 1797 at his house in Pall Mall in his seventy-fourth year, and was buried in St James's Church, Westminster. His monument was sculpted by

John Flaxman John Flaxman (6 July 1755 – 7 December 1826) was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career, he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He spent several yea ...

RA.Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660–1851 by Rupert Gunnis p. 150 He left the bulk of his fortune, estimated at £70,000, to nephews and nieces.

References

External links

* * ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Dodsley, James 1724 births 1797 deaths English booksellers Publishers (people) from London People from Mansfield 18th-century English businesspeople