Charles Knight : An appreciation and bibliography of the work of a great Victorian publisher

Birmingham Polytechnic, Department of Librarianship, Birmingham, first edition. 1979. Tape-backed printed wrappers, folio,. [48] pp. 412 entries. From the introduction: "Charles Knight was born in 1791 in Windsor, which at that time was an exclusive court town with a virtually closed society. His father and namesake was a printer, publisher and bookseller who was a most respected tradesman and mayor of Windsor in 1806 and 1817. Knight was at school until the age of fourteen when, against his own wishes and the advice of his headmaster, he was removed and indentured to his father to learn the printing trade. The interest fostered in type, methods of printing, and in the history of all aspects of the book trade remained with him all his life and explains the care that he took to ensure maximum quality in his publications consistent with the selling price.. In addition to selling new books in the shop, Knight attended auctions and gained a knowledge of rare books and their description which he used to compile catalogues of those purchased by him and his father for sale. He also catalogued libraries for local gentry. Booksellers in all ages have sold things other than books in their shops and Knight and Son were no exception. They advertised themselves as agents for patent medicines and lottery tickets, and on November 7th 1812, a notice appeared in their paper to the effect that the head distributor of stamps for the County of Berks had appointed them his sub distributors, and that they stocked paper forms for legacy duties, apprentice indentures, licenses and all other stamps. Wrappers slightly fingersoiled, otherwise Good.