 A
Brief History
There are no Wesleys or Wheldons in the early book trade so we can
start afresh with William Wesley, born 1814, and apprenticed to a printer
near Ashby de la Zouche. In 1840 he opened a bookshop in the High Street,
Burton on Trent; according to Slater’s Directory of 1850 he was
a stockbroker, as well as printer and bookseller. By 1855 he had moved
to 32 -34 Paternoster Row, the centre of the London book trade. One
John Wesley, (perhaps his brother) had just moved to 53-4 Paternoster
Row, from whence John published a few books, the last in 1864. At any
rate, William moved rapidly to 2 Queen Head Passage, 1857-66, and his
first recorded catalogue - quite a miscellany - is from this address.
He was at 81 Fleet St., 1866-70, and in 1871 he moved to 28 Essex St.,
where the firm was to remain until the amalgamation of 1920.
In his first year at the new address there were two commission catalogues,
selling books on consignment, which might suggest a lack of capital.
However, he also started what became the very solid series of The natural
history and scientific book circular, which ran until no. 147 in 1914.
He did a little publishing in the early days - Thomson Wandering among
wild flowers, 1856; Critical and explanatory pocket Bible, 3 vol., 1862-63
- but soon settled down to bookselling, both wholesale and retail, new
and second-hand.
His son Edward Francis became a partner in 1885, and his father died
in 1891. In that year JR Loewe, later the boss of the great natural
history firm of Friedlaender of Berlin, joined and instituted the celebrated
card index (see item 507), bought better natural history books, and
oversaw a push into serious natural history and scientific publishing:
Lundbeck, Diptera danica, 1907; Pieper, Rhoplocera jarvica, 1909; Huggins,
Scientific papers, 1909; Marloth, Flora of South Africa, 1913. However,
Loewe was forced to leave in 1914 and from then on the firm drifted.
E.F. Wesley never married (his widowed sister kept house for him) and
was happy to accept a merger with the firm of John Wheldon.
The founder of this firm was born in 1807 in Newcastle on Tyne, and
for about 20 years he worked as a bookseller’s assistant in London.
By 1855 he had his own firm at 4 Paternoster Row, and the first surviving
catalogue Valuable books catalogue 11, 1856, has some 1100 items; the
next, in 1857, had over 4000 items, mostly, but not entirely, natural
history. We note the solitary appearance of William Wheldon in the imprint
of Mrs. Bury’s interesting book Polycistins, 1865; he was John
Wheldon’s nephew but we have not pursued his career further.
From about 1865 John Wheldon specialized in natural history and accumulated
a large and varied stock. He removed to 38 Great Queen St. in 1882 and
by the time of his death in 1892 he had issued over 130 catalogues.
There were other specialists – Dulau (under Frederick Justen),
Quaritch, R.H. Porter - but he was clearly up with the leaders. In 1888
, for instance, he bought a copy of Anna Atkins cyanotype impressions
of British algae at the auction sale of Robert Hunt’s library,
and sold it soon afterwards – it was just a rare seaweed book
then.
John Wheldon died unmarried in 1892 (his estate was valued at just
over £3,500) and his long time assistant John Alfred Edwards (1839-1916)
succeeded to the business. The firm did a bit of natural history publishing,
including Harry Kirke Swann’s A concise handbook of British birds,
1896, and in 1904 the author was taken into partnership by Edwards.
The latter died childless in 1916 leaving the estate to his widow Emma
with provision that the partnership with Swann should continue to be
run by trustees. The premises, as well as Great Queen St., included
333 Goswell Rd., probably a warehouse; the estate was valued at just
over £2900.
In the circumstances it is not surprising that the two firms merged
(perhaps a take over by Swann is a more accurate description) and 1921
a new company of Wheldon & Wesley Ltd. was incorporated, with new
premises at 2-4 Arthur St, and a new manager bought in from Quaritch.
This was William John Henry Craddock, a plausible salesman whom Quaritch
were rather anxious to get rid of; they provided him with a glowing
testimonial, and Wheldons took the bait. In 1922 E.F. Wesley made his
will and Craddock was due a third of any profits; but the gilt gradually
came off the gingerbread. “Many orders for books that were actually
in stock had not even been acknowledged after many months, and a large
library bought on a bank overdraft had long lain untouched. As the results
of Craddock’s laziness crowded in upon him he sought refuge in
whisky while of the large staff it was said that the men played cards
and the women brought their knitting” – H.K. Swann II.
H.K. Swann I died in 1926 and E.F. Wesley in 1929, and as the firm
was drifting to disaster, the two widows, Emma Swann (she was a niece
of Edwards, and very familiar with the trade) and Edwina Wesley forced
Craddock out. Edwina probably sold up, since the firm came mostly into
the hands of the Swans, being run by Emma, and her son Charles Kirke;
Howard Kirke Swann, the second son joined the firm in 1945. They were
a couple of exemplary and inspiring booksellers, and the firm prospered.
In 1940 it was moved to a warehouse at 721 North Circular Road, in 1948
to 83-4 Bewick St., and in 1957 out in the country to Lytton Lodge,
Codicote, nr. Hitchen, Herts. There seemed no reason why the succession
of sober and competent catalogues should not march on for ever; but
they finally came to an end with no. 224 (Fifth Series) of 2000. Maggs
were in a position to purchase the reference library and hospital of
imperfect books, and these are offered in the present catalogue. Habent
sua fata bibliopolae.
This account is largely based on that [by H.K. Swann] in Wheldon’s
150th Anniversary Catalogue, 1990 which is much fuller, especially for
the later years.
John Collins
November
2004 |
