Chiswick Press records

1831-1933, 1870s-1918 [bulk 1870-1918]

The founder of the Chiswick Press, Charles Whittingham, was born in 1767 in Calledon, England, and died in Chiswick, England, in 1840. Upon completion of his printing apprenticeship in Coventry he set up his own press in London where he engaged in the bread- winning jobs familiar to all printers of the time. In 1795 he published a short-lived Tory journal, The Tomahawk. After several moves in the city he left a partner in charge of the business there and settled in the Thameside suburb of Chiswick, giving the name of the town to the book publishing division of Charles Whittingham and Co. In 1795 his nephew and successor, Charles Whittingham the younger, was born in nearby Surrey. After serving his apprenticeship with his uncle he joined the firm as a partner, by which time the firm had begun publishing books, among them a series called Whittingham's Cabinet Library. After four years the younger Whittingham left to set up shop independently in London. From 1828 until 1840 the work of the two presses was distinct. When the elder Whittingham died in 1840 the younger Whittingham inherited the Chiswick Press. In 1829 the younger Whittingham had met the publisher, book dealer, and typophile, William Pickering. The friendship led to an artistic partnership which flourished over three decades and was productive of some of the finest examples of 19th century English printing. The younger Whittingham died in 1876. Soon afterwards the press was acquired by George Bell who retained the name "Charles Whittingham and Co.". Charles Thomas Jacobi, who was born in London in 1853, was a managing partner of the Chiswick Press and a writer and lecturer on printing.