WHITTINGHAM, CHARLES (1767-1840)

This article appears in Volume V28, Page 614 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: WAT-WIL

WHITTINGHAM, CHARLES (1767-1840) , English printer, was born on the 16th of June 1767,. at Caludon or Calledon, Warwickshire, the son of a farmer, and was apprenticed to e Coventry printer and bookseller. In 1789 he set up a small printing press in a garret off

Fleet

FLEET

Street, London, with a

loan

LOAN (adapted from the Scandinavian form of a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Swed. Mn, Icel. lan, Dut. leen; the O.E. laen appears in " lend," the ultimate source is seen in the root of Gr. Xeiaecv and Lat. linquere, to leave)

obtained from the typefounding firm of William Caslon, and by 1797 his business had so increased that he was enabled to move into larger premises. An edition of Gray's Poems, printed by him in 1799, secured him the patronage of all the leading publishers. Whittingham inaugurated the idea of printing cheap, handy editions of standard authors, and, on the bookselling trade threatening not to sell his productions, took a room at a coffee

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

and sold them by

auction

AUCTION

himself. In 1809 he started a

paper

PAPER
PAPER (Fr. papier, from Lat. papyrus)

-pulp factory at

Chiswick

CHISWICK

, near London, and in 1811 founded the

Chiswick

CHISWICK

Press. From 1810 to 1815 he devoted his

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

attention to illustrated books, and is credited with having been the first to use proper overlays in printing woodcuts, as he was the first to print a fine, or " Indian

Paper

PAPER
PAPER (Fr. papier, from Lat. papyrus)

" edition. He was one of the first to use a steam-

engine

ENGINE
ENGINE (Lat. ingenium)

in a pulp mill, but his presses he preferred to have worked by hand. He died at Chiswick on the 5th of January 184o.
His nephew, CHARLES WHITTINGHAM (1795-1876), who from 1824 to 1828 had been in partnership with his uncle, in 1838 assumed

control

CONTROL (Fr. contrdle, older form contre rolle, from Med. Lat. contra-rotulus, a counter roll or copy of a document used to check the original; there is no instance in English of the use of " control " in this, its literal, meaning)

of the business. He already had printing works at Took's Court, Chancery Lane, London, and had printed various notable books, specially devoting himself to the introduction of ornamental initial letters, and the artistic arrangement of the printed page. The imprint of the Chiswick press was now placed on the productions of the Took's Court as well as of the Chiswick works, and in 1852 the whole business was removed to London. Under the management of the younger Whittingham the Chiswick Press achieved a considerable reputation. He died on the 21st of April 1876.

End of Article: WHITTINGHAM, CHARLES (1767-1840)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/WAT_WIL/WHITTINGHAM_CHARLES_1767_1840_.html">
WHITTINGHAM, CHARLES (1767-1840)
</a>

(Previous)
WHITTIER, JOHN GREENLEAF (1807-1892)

(Next)
WHITTINGHAM, WILLIAM (c. 1524-1579)

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email