Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society (Volume vol 14 no 1) online

house. There are two cuts in the text, one a lady, Jane Shore, in a
coach, and the other a ghastly shrouded female figure in a coffin.

Imprint. "WHITEHAVEN

Printed and sold by J. BRISCOE, in the Market Place."

A favourite subject for a chap-book, it having a moral ending in
Jane Shore's unhappy death, see Ashton p. 393. This is a twenty-
four.



(13) w.

"THE

WANDERING JEW

OR THE

SHOEMAKER OF JERUSALEM

Who lived when our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was
crucified : and appointed by Him to live till He comes
again. Together with his Travels, manner of living and
what he has seen. To which is added, his true descrip-
tion of Christ.''

Woodcut. A man with bundle on a stick, standing outside of a
cottage.

Imprint. "WHITEHAVEN.

PRINTED AND SOLD BY T. WILSON, KING STREET."

The Wandering Jew is another favourite chap-book subject, but
only amounts to eight pa^es.



(14) w.

"FOUR

NEW SONGS

CONSISTING OF

Bundle and Go.
Tars are Fortune's care.
Tom Truelove's Knell.
William and Nancy."

Woodcut. A full rigged ship under easy sail to the right.
Imprint. "WILSON, PRINTER, WHITEHAVEN."
Eight pages.

(15) w.



ON SOME LOCAL CHAP-BOOKS, 20,

do) w.

" FOUR EXCELLENT

NEW SONGS

CONSISTING OF

The Smuggler.
Blue-eyed Mary.
Old and New Fashions.
The Watery Grave."

Woodcut. A full rigged ship in the foreground : a schooner in the
distance.

Imprint. " Printed by T. Wilson, Whitehaven."
An eight page chap-book.



(16) W.

" FIVE EXCELLENT
NEW SONGS
CONSISTING OF

The Death of Nelson.

Friendship and Courage.

Black-eyed Susan.

The Galley Slave.

Jessie, the Flower of Dumblane."

Woodcut. Two full rigged ships in action.
Imprint. " Printed by T. Wilson, Whitehaven."

(17) w.

" THE

DANGER

OF

EVIL COMPANY

" Train up a child in the way he should go, and when
he is old he will not depart from it."

No Woodcut.

Imprint. "WHITEHAVEN.

PRINTED BY T NICHOLSON, ROPER St., 1856."

WHITEHAVEN



30 ON SOME LOCAL CHAP-BOOKS.

WHITEHAVEN PRINTERS.*



THOMAS COTTON.
This is the earliest printer in Whitehaven of whom 1 have any
record. He had his office in an old building, with an outside stone
staircase, still standing in James Street, two doors on the east side
of the Presbyterian Church. Here he published "The Whitehaven
Weekly Courant. containing the most material advices both Foreign
and Domestick." There is a number of this old sheet extant, in
possession of a Whitehaven lady, being No. 6, dated January 20.

I73 6 -

The "Courant" was a small sheet, measuring sixteen inches by

twelve inches, three columns to a page, and it had four pages. It
had not a scrap of local news, save half-a-dozen lines of shipping,
and it had but one advertisement on the back page, which set out
'• Doctor Daffey's Elixir, the most famous cordial in the world, truly
prepared in London, and appointed to be sold by Thomas Cotton, at
his printing house in James Street." Patent medicines were sold bv
nearly all the old printers in Whitehaven, and were extensively
advertised in their papers. The old " Pacquet " office was a perfect
druggist's shop, having an extensive stock of medicines for both man
and beast. The " Courant's " imprint ran, " Whitehaven : Printed
and sold by Thomas Cotton. Also sold at Edward Holm's shop in
Kendal. At both places advertisements are taken in." How long
the " Courant " lasted I am unable to say. I know of nothing else
that came from Cotton's press. I have two works " The Acts of the
Rebels," written by an Egyptian, of which a fac-simile was printed
some years ago, and " A Compleat History of the Rebellion, from its
first Rise in 1745, to its total Suppression at the glorious battle of
Culloden, in April. 1746." Both were written by James Ray of
Whitehaven, and printed in the middle of the last century, possibly
here; but they bear no printer's name. They might have been
printed by Cotton, though one edition of Ray's Rebellion was printed
at Bristol. I have no record of Cotton's death.

ALLASON EORSTER.
This printer printed at Whitehaven in 1772 for the author, J.
Thompson, " Poems on several occasions. Moral and entertaining."



* For the following interesting- notes on Whitehaven printers I am indebted to
the courtesy of Mr. W. S. Harper of the " Cumberland Parquet.''

JOHN



ON SOME LOCAL CHAP-BOOKS. 3 1

JOHN DUNN.
This old printer, who was quite a character in his way, flourished
in Whitehaven during the latter half of last century. He was a son
of William Dunn, a basket maker, at Harris Moor, near the town,
whose death is recorded in the " Pacquet " in May, 1791, in his 65th
year. His place of business in the Market Place was latterly a flour
mill. In " Old John and I," (which was a series of seven letters in
a defunct Whitehaven paper in 1S50, contributed by three old local
worthies whom I knew, Messrs. Randleson, druggist, Gibson, post-
master, and Pearson, painter, and of which the late Mr. William
Jackson, F.S.A., had a copy), Dunn's shop is described as an old
white house, with gable ends to the street, behind the old Market
Cross; and (i old Dunn, the bookseller," who was within their
recollection, is described as " famed for his powdered pigtail, his
wooden leg, and his manufacture of red ink." The box plan for the
Theatre was kept at his shop. One of the innumerable droll wood-
cuts which used to abound at the " Pacquet" office, represented the
proclamation of Lammas Fair at the Market Cross, by the Steward
of the Manor, with John Dunn, powdered pigtail and wooden leg
complete, surveying the scene from the doorway of his shop, while
the youth of the town are bus}' pelting the spectators with burrs.
John appears to have been engaged in various lines of business. In
September, 1776, Messrs. Skelton and Co. advertise that they keep
the '"Cumberland Register" Office at Dunn's shop. It contemplated
a business as varied as it was tremendous, including not merely the
provision of servants, but insurances on lives, ships, freight, goods,
&c. ; the putting out of boys and girls as apprentices ; the buying of
annuities ; and it was further notified — " advowsons and chaplain-
cies bought and sold, livings exchanged, and curates provided."
They were also agents for the State Lottery ; and they further
undertook to provide lodgings and diet in a reputable family for those
who wanted such convenience. The partnership lasted two years,
when the parties had a lively shirmish in the " Pacquet," Skelton
and Co., warning those indebted to them not to pay any money to J.
Dunn, one reason being that Dunn was an officer in the Customs.
In January 1778, an announcement appears in the "Pacquet" to the
effect that John Dunn " formerly a bookseller in this town," had
taken the sacrament at Church, previous to taking the oath at
Cockermouth Sessions, as deputy Searcher at the port of Whitehaven.
Dunn had another amusing squabble in 1777 with a rival printer, in
the Market Place, Joseph Briscoe, as to which of them was the bona
fide agent for a quack medicine, called the Panacea. The public are
told, not to care whether John Dunn did or did not pay £13 for his

receipe



32 ON SOME LOCAL CHAP-BOOKS.

receipe, but to be careful to ask for " Brisco's Panacea.'" The
earliest work I have of Dunn's is printed in 1766, and is entitled
•• The Propositions which occasioned the late Difference and Separa-
tion in the Baptist Church at Whitehaven, with a Comment on the
propositions, by John Johnson. Also with Comment considered, by
John Huddleston." It is a very dry theological disquisition, a small
quarto running to 216 pages. It is nicely printed. I fancy Dunn
died in the early years of the century, though I have not come across
the date. I will eventually. After his death, amongst his effects
were found three fine copper-plates, giving views of Whitehaven.
One was the large well-known plate, from the painting made by
Matthias Reed in 173S. The others were a smaller reproduction of
the plate, and the view of the town in 1642. What became of the
larger one is not known. But the other two passed into the hands
of John Robinson, a printer in Lowther Street (of whom I will have
a short note), and at his death, in or about 1S65. they were acquired
bv Mr. James Robertson (Messrs. Callender and Dixon), who has
them yet, and only lately, printed from them. They still give
excellent impressions. The large view now brings 20/- or 22/-, and
the plate would be very valuable if it could be recovered.

BROWXRIGG X. DUNN, AND A. DUNN.

I am disposed to think these were relations of John Dunn, and
carried on his business after he got his place in the Customs. I
have a work.

"The literary life of William Brownrigg, M.D., F.R.S. ; to which are added an
account of the coal mines near Whitehaven; and observations on the means of
preventing epidemic fevers, by Joshua Dixon, M.D.,"

who was the founder of the Whitehaven Dispensary, which subse-
quently developed into the present Infirmary. It is dated 1801.
'• Dunn, Whitehaven."' is given as one of the agents for its sale ;
and it purports to be printed by Brownrigg X. Dunn. It is
remarkably well printed, in large type. I have also a chap-book

" Printed by B. N. Dunn, in the Market Place." "The Pleasant History of
jack Horner, being a truly instructive, pleasant, and delightful entertainment
for youth."

It is illustrated with an old block of a lady and gentleman in the
height of fashion : temp. James II. or thereabouts. It bears no
date.

JOSEPH



ON SOME LOCAL CHAP-BOOKS. 33

JOSEPH BRISCOE
Was the printer of the "Cumberland Magazine, or Whitehaven
Monthly Miscellany," which appeared during the years 1778, 1779,
and 1780, perhaps later. I have several copies. The price was 4d.
The " Miscellany " gives a little English History, a political sum-
mary, short stories, biographical sketches (one deals with Governor
Johnstone, who was a visitor to Sir James Lowther, at the Castle,
and one of his nominees in Parliament), and a number of essays in
imitation of those in the " Spectator." There is nothing local in
them. In April 1783, Briscoe announced by advertisement in the
" Pacquet" that he was leaving Whitehaven to retire to a printing
office and stationery warehouse at the Isle of Man, in favour of his
brother, Francis Briscoe. He thanks the public for the patronage
given to the "Cumberland Magazine" during its publication, and
the peculiar honour that was paid to his more recent proposals for
printing the " Whitehaven Communicator " and " Briscoe's Weekly
Advertiser," which the termination of the late war rendered abortive.
I have not come across the date of his death.

FRANCIS BRISCOE.

I have only one work from Francis Briscoe's Press, but it is some-
what of a curiosity. It is entitled

"The Surprising Adventures of John Roach, Mariner, of Whitehaven, con-
taining a genuine Account of his cruel Treatment during a long captivity amongst
savage Indians, and imprisonment by the Spaniards, in South America, with his
miraculous Preservation and Deliverance by divine Providence ; and happy
Return to the Place of his Nativity, after being thirteen years amongst his
inhuman Enemies. Whitehaven : Printed by F. Briscoe, in the Market Place.
Price Six-pence. : '

It is got up in the Robinson Crusoe style. From a paragraph in the
" Pacquet," in May 1783, it appears that Roach was really a White-
haven sailor, and that he had just arrived in his native town after
an absence of fifteen years, during twelve of which he had been a
prisoner amongst the Mexican Indians, and Spaniards. The latter
laid hold of Roach as a spy, and he passed ten years in different
dungeons, ultimately getting his liberty through the friendship of the
Governor of Cuba. This, rather a large sized chap-book, consists of
sixty-four pages, and is not very legibly printed in large type. I
have no record of Francis Briscoe's death.

ALEXANDER COUTTS.

Was another of last century's printers in Whitehaven, and like the
rest of the fraternity, had his house and office in the Market Place.

Encouraged



34 ON SOME LOCAL CHAP-BOOKS.

Encouraged by the success that attended the " Cumberland Pacquet,'
Coutts. in October. 177!), started the " Cumberland Chronicle and
Whitehaven Public Advertiser." Its price was 3d. It was a rather

larger sheet than the " l'acquet," but it contained less matter, and
was not so vveli got up. while the advertisements were fewer. It
lived until July 15, 1779, when it suddenly ceased, with the follow-
ing valedictory address : —

"The Editor presents his Dutiful Respects to the Public, and particularly to
those Gentlemen who have so liberally countenanced and supported The Cum-
berland Chronicle, and takes the liberty to inform them that he will not have it
any longer in his power to receive their favours in behalf of a Weekly News-
paper, as the Chronicle will not be again published :— and as it might be deemed
Presumption in the Publisher were he to trouble his readers with a circumstantial
detail of the various circumstances which have led him to discontinue it, let it
suffice to say, that the disadvanges he was labouring under in endeavouring to
establish it, have been many.

The Publisher being fully sensible of the many obligations he lies under, takes
this opportunity to return his most grateful thanks to his friends and the public in
general for all past favours."

I had a copy of the last " Chronicle,' but unfortunately lost it in
a fire at my house. Coutts seems to have done a good deal of
printing. I have just one of his books,

" The Academic Reader, containing Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, selected
from the most elegant writers in the English language. Intended to assist in
acquiring the-happy talent of graceful Reading; to kindle in the breast a noble
ambition to rival illustrious characters, to promote generous sentiments, and to
awaken a sensibility of whatever is most amiable in life. By IE Ward, School-
master in Whitehaven. Printed by Alexander Coutts for the author, 1789."

It is a small quarto of 21S pages, very well printed in large type.
Ward had his school in Howgill Street, and periodically took to the
boards with his scholars, when they played " Cato " and other
classical tragedies at the Theatre. Coutts died at his house in the
Market Place, March 1795.

W. MASHEDEK.
1 know nothing of this printer beyond the fact that I have a book
of his, very well printed, entitled

" The Navigator's Companion ; or Mariner's Compendious Pocket Book. Con-
taining everything necessary in the Art of Navigation. Whitehaven : Printed by
W. Masheder. Price bound Two Shillings."

Prom



ON SOME LOCAL CHAP-BOOKS. 35

From the prefatory notice dated " Whitehaven, March 30, 1754,"
it would appear that Masheder wrote as well as printed this work.
It has two or three old fashioned tail and head pieces.

ALLASON FOSTER.
This old printer turned out some high-class work. I have

"The Universal Navigator; or a Comprehensive Treatise of Navigation, by
William Chambers, Teacher of Mathematics Whitehaven : Printed by Allason
Foster, for the Author, 1774.''

It is a well printed quarto of 446 pages, with a deal of tabular work
in it. Another book of Foster's printing is

" An F.pitome of the Elements of Italian Book-keeping', selected and compiled
from the best modern systems. By Edmund Fitzgerald, Writing Master and
Accountant in Whitehaven. Whitehaven : Printed by A. Foster, for the Author,
1771."

It was printed by subscription, and the list of subscribers' names is
given. They were gathered from Whitehaven, Maryport, Cocker-
mouth, Broughton. Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ireland. There
are two or three quaint head and tail pieces, and an original
frontispiece by the author. There are more names of subscribers,
and " Mr. John Dunn " is among the Whitehaven lot.

W. STUART.
I know even less of this printer, who called his establishment
•■ The Shakespeare Press." All I have is the cover of a sixpenny
part of

"The History of lives and Actions of the most famous Highwaymen, Street
Robbers, &c, &c, to which is added a genuine Account of the Voyages and
Plunders of most noted Pirates. By Captain Thomas James Hamilton. Entered
at Stationers' Hall. Whitehaven: Printed at The Shakespeare Press, by W.
Stuart, for Hutton Watson, No. So, Scotch Street."'

No date.

rHE WARES.
John Ware and Son were for half a century or more the best
known printers in the town. They carried on business at Xo. 26,
King Street, now the premises of the Whitehaven Conservative
Association. Where the Wares came from I am unable to say.
The late Mr. Wm. Jackson, F.S.A., once told me. he thought they

belonged



36 ON SOME LQCAL CHAP-BOOKS.

belonged to York; but there is no proof of the fact. They were in
business here, however, for some years before they began the " Cum-
berland Pacquet" in October, 1774. The senior Ware died in 1791,
and his son, also a John Ware, died in April 1820. The latter was
a man of considerable attainments. He was an excellent classical
scholar. He produced part of a translation, in blank verse, of
Telemachus, intending to finish it if he had had leisure. He was
also a fairly good poet, and had Shakespeare, Milton, and other
eminent poets, we learn, at his fingers' ends. He was the founder
and first secretary of the Whitehaven Subscription Library, estab-
lished 1797, and still extant.

The younger Ware, who was from the first the promoter, editor,
and manager of the " Pacquet," printed the first translation into the
Manx language, of the Bible and Prayer Book. 1777, Mr. Ware also
printed for the Bishop of Sodor and Man, "A Short and Plain
Instruction for the better understanding of the Lord's Supper"; the
English and Manx being given in parallel columns. It is well
printed. The MS. of the Manx Bible translation, it may be stated,
was nearly lost at sea. It came across to this town from the Island
in charge of the Rev. M. Kelly, a Church clergyman at Douglas in
1770. The vessel was driven ashore near Harrington when Parson
Kelly broke open his trunk, secured the precious MS, and, holding it
up with one hand, swam ashore with the other. Kelly was after-
wards Domestic Chaplain to the Duke of Gordon, and tutor to his
son, the Marquis of Huntly.

The Wares printed a number of books of all kinds, including one
written by the elder, "The European Pilot; or Practical Navigator's
Pocket Companion." They were the agents for the State Lottery
in 1770. The younger Ware was never married. When he died,
he left the " Pacquet " to his housekeeper, Ann Jordan ; and the
following year it passed into the hands of Mr. Robert Gibson. An
old friend of mine well remembered Mr. Ware, who, he told me, was
an honest, kindly man ; and a useful citizen. The elder Ware and
his wife, with their son, were interred in one grave in St. Nicholas
Churchyard, where there is a stone to their memory.

ROBERT GIBSON.
Mr. Gibson, who was originally an apprentice to the younger
Ware, was a Westmorland man. He succeeded to the "Pacquet''
and business, a few months after the death of the younger Ware, and
from that date till 1857, when he retired and sold both to Mr. Robert
Foster, of York, he showed much energy, enterprise, and business
ability in extending the business. Mr. Gibson was a voluminous

printer



ON SOME LOCAL CHAP-BOOKS. 37

printer, and also did an all-round business in bookbinding, litho-
graphing, &c. Mr. Gibson was one of the pioneers of railway
development in West Cumberland, and one of the promoters of the
first gas company in Whitehaven, and the owner of pencil works at
Keswick. He printed the first edition of " Litt's Wresthana," in 1823,
using for the front page a block of two wrestlers taking hold that had
been in existance for a generation or two before. The work was
published at 2/6. Mr. Gibson after a hard-working and useful life,
died at his residence in Lowther Street, in December 1S78, in his
eighty-ninth year.

THOMAS WILSON.
Thomas Wilson began business early in the present century, in a
shop at the corner of Lowther Street and King Street, and died in
1851 or 1852. He printed chap-books, playbills, placards, songs,
plays, Chrismas Mummers, and "The Musical Folio,'' a royal 8vo
sheet which came out in numbers, irregularly, with the words of
popular songs, as sung at the Theatre and elsewhere. Wilson was
also a bookseller and stationer, and the Theatre box plan lay at his
shop, he being the accepted printer and stationer in the town for the
profession.

WILLIAM WILSON.
This was a son of Thomas Wilson. He began business after his
father, in King Street, and followed on much the same lines, though
at first on a very modest scale. He afterwards removed to a large
corner shop in the same street, opposite the shop his father had
occupied. Wilson adopted Owenite tenets in 1842, and in conse-
quence the mob attacked his shop and smashed a number of panes.
This induced him to issue a handbill, in which he promised for the
future to give up the propagation of socialist views, and his example
was followed by a number of other Whitehaven tradesmen, who
hastened to disclaim all connection with the "Owenites." Public
feeling was much excited against Wilson by a ridiculous rumour to
the effect that a female apprentice in his wife's employ, had burnt
her Bible, in order to please her mistress. Wilson retired to Dis-
tington, about thirty years ago, where he died, sixteen or seventeen
years ago perhaps. He was a pleasant old man, with a most
retentive memory, and fond of conversation and anecdote. I knew
him very well, and much enjoyed his company. His son followed
the same business (less the printing), and he in turn was suc-
ceeded by his son ; so that four generations of Wilsons in direct
succession have been in this trade in Whitehaven.

JOHN



38 ON SOME LOCAL CHAP-LOOKS.

JOHN ROBINSON.
This was perhaps the leading printer in Whitehaven in the earlier
part of the century. His shop was in Lowther Street, where he
turned out a great number of books of all kinds, including (in 1832),
" Mrs. Bowne's Reminiscenses.'" In this book Robinson advertises
the views of Whitehaven already referred to, " printed from the
original copper-plates," which had belonged to John Dunn. He
printed a large selection of religious works, with plans, portraits, and
drawings. Robinson failed in Lowther Street, and retired to Strand
Street, where his friends fitted up a small printing office for him.
He died in poverty in 1S65. All his books are well printed.

THOMAS NICHOLSON.
Thomas Nicholson set up in business in Roper Street, after leaving
James Crosthwaite's. where he served his apprenticeship. He had
a small but very select stock of type, and he was an excellent all-
round printer, most ingenious, and very tasteful. He could litho-
graph, engrave, stereotype, or do anything, with credit. He printed
playbills and songs. He is at present at Leeds, where he carries on
a stereotyping and electrotyping business. He invented an improved
stereotyping apparatus, which he works and travels with. I presume
he is alive still : it is years since I saw him or heard about him.

WILSON LEDGER.
Wilson Ledger was the editor of the " Whitehaven Gazette," a
Whig paper that lasted about seven years, and was bought up about
1821, by Mr. Peter Hodgson. Lord Lonsdale"s legal agent, and
amalgamated with the " Pacquet."' The paper was the propertv of
the younger Adamson, a solicitor in the town. James Steel after-
wards of the li Carlisle Journal '' went to Whitehaven in 1819 as
printer and publisher of the " Gazette," at the age of 22. and he
remained there until 1826. For several years he did most of the
editorial work and wrote most of the original matter for that paper.
He went to the "Kendal Chronicle" in 1S26, and remained there
till 1828, when he returned to the Jollies at Carlisle. The " Gazette "
was printed in the old Temperance Hall mow a bonded warehouse),
in Hicks Lane. Its price was jd. It was only a small sheet. I do
not think there was any job printing done. The paper never paid.

JAMES COOK.
James Cook was a printer at 14, Queen Street, about fifty years
ago. I do not think he did much. The only thing I have of his, is
an eight page pamphlet " A Speech on the Constitutional and Legal

Formation



ON SOME LOCAL CHAP-BOOKS. j(J

Formation of Society in the nature of Political Unions, delivered by
George Wheatley, Attorney-at-law, to certain of the labouring
classes met for the purpose of forming a Patriotic Association at
Whitehaven." Wheatley was an eccentric character. He addressed
a pamphlet to the Earl of Lonsdale in 1832, in which taking objection