Allen, George (1832–1907), engraver and publisher, was born on 26 March 1832 at Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, the son of John Allen (1799–1848), a publican, and his wife, Rebecca, née Wilson (bap. 1795, d. 1878). He was educated at a private grammar school in ...
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Maker: Fred Yates
George Allen (1832–1907) by Fred Yates, 1890 © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Timothy Clayton and Anita McConnell
Angier [Angiers], Paul (1723–1757), engraver and printseller, was born on 27 November 1723 and baptized in Southwark, London, on 3 December, the son of William Angier (d. 1729), a draper of Cheapside, and his wife, Elizabeth. In 1739 he was apprenticed to the engraver and printseller ...
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Andrew Bell (1725/66–1809) by George Watson Scottish National Portrait Gallery
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Frank A. Kafker
Bell, Andrew (1725/6–1809), engraver and publisher, was probably born in Edinburgh, the son of John Bell, a baker. He was apprenticed to Richard Cooper the elder and began his career modestly as an engraver of letters, names, and crests on plates and dog collars. One of his customers was the ...
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Timothy Clayton
Bickham, George (c. 1704–1771), engraver and printseller, the son of the engraver George Bickham (1683/4–1758) and his wife, Elizabeth, was probably born about 1704 in London. He trained as an engraver and became one of the most vibrant, energetic, and enigmatic figures in the ...
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William Blake (1757–1827) by Thomas Phillips, 1807 © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Robert N. Essick
Blake, William (1757–1827), engraver, artist, and poet, was born on 28 November 1757 at 28 Broad Street, Soho, London, the third son of James Blake (1723?–1784), a hosier, and his wife, Catherine, née Wright (1723–1792), the widow of Thomas Armitage. Blake had four brothers, ...
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John Boydell (1720–1804) by Sir William Beechey, 1801 Guildhall Art Gallery, Corporation of London
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Timothy Clayton
Boydell, John (1720–1804), engraver and printseller, the eldest of the seven children of Josiah Boydell (1691–1757?), surveyor and land steward, and his wife, Mary (1693/4–1777), was born at Dorrington in Shropshire on 19 January 1720. Like other men of his day he was disinclined to lose a year of his life to the change in calendar, and so always gave the year of his birth in old style, as 1719....
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Timothy Clayton
Bretherton, James (c. 1730–1806), engraver and printseller, may have been born about 1730 and must have married his wife, Sarah (fl. 1762–1773), by about 1755, since his son Charles (d. 1783) was signing prints in 1770. Nothing is known of his early life. He was settled in ...
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Brooks, John (b. c. 1710, d. after 1756), engraver and print publisher, was born in Dublin about 1710, and was admitted to the Dublin Goldsmiths' Corporation as a line engraver in 1736. His earliest known work is an engraved frontispiece to Odes and Satyrs of Horace...
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Bryer, Henry (d. in or before 1782), engraver and printseller, was apprenticed to the engraver and stationer Edward Ryland, for the premium of £50, in 1758. Apart from the Society of Arts' premium, for etching and engraving, which Bryer won in 1762, 1763, and 1764, little is known of the early stages of his career. We can assume that he completed his training about 1765 as it was in that year that he went into business with his master's son, ...
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Samuel Buck (1696–1779) by Richard Houston, pubd 1774 (after Joseph Highmore) [Buck brothers [left to right]: and Nathaniel Buck (1724-1759)] © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Buck, Samuel (1696–1779), topographical draughtsman, engraver, and print publisher, is usually said to have been born in Richmond, Yorkshire, though firm evidence of his birth place is lacking. Hauxwell, 4½ miles south of Richmond, has also been suggested. His father was living near ...
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W. C. Monkhouse
revised by Ruth Cohen
Cardon, Anthony (1772–1813), engraver and print publisher, was born in Brussels on 15 May 1772, the son of Antoine Alexandre Joseph Cardon (1739–1822), a Flemish painter and engraver. He moved to London during the troubles in the Low Countries in 1792 and entered the ...
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Butler Clowes (d. c. 1788) self-portrait, 1772 © Copyright The British Museum
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Clowes, Butler (b. 1726/7, d. 1782), engraver and print seller, was apprenticed to two printmakers and engravers: Charles Gardner in 1744, and then Henry Copeland in 1749. He lived, and kept a print shop, in London at 18 Gutter Lane, Cheapside, from about 1760 until his death (his address has been recorded on prints by ...
