John Howe
(d. 1719)
Identifiers
Occupations
- Printer
- Bookseller
- Publisher
Dates
Names
A Dictionary of the Printers and Booksellers who were at Work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1668 to 1725, by Henry Plomer (1922)
HOW or HOWE (JOHN), bookseller and printer in London, (1) Sweeting's Alley in Cornhill; (2) Seven Stars, at the South-West Corner of the Royal Exchange in Cornhill; (3) Coach and Horses without Bishopsgate; (4) Ram's Head Inn Yard in Fenchurch Street; (5) Seven Stars, Talbot Court, Gracechurch Street. 1680–1709. He first appeared as publisher of a satirical news-sheet in the Protestant interest, entitled Catholic Intelligence (nos. 1–5, March 1st–29th, 1679–80) [B.M. Burney 81], and in the same year sold E. Clark's Protestant Schoolmaster. [Haz. III. 43.] In 1683 he published, at the corner of the Royal Exchange in Cornhill, Catastrophe Mundi, or Merlin revived [T.C. II. 7; Haz. III. 160], and Rome rhymed to death, a collection of poems by Rochester and others. [Haz. I. 364.] In 1684 his address appears as "the Coach and Horses without Bishops-gate" on a sheet, A strange ... Relation of ... the ... Frost. [Haz. II. 238.] After this he is not heard of again till 1699, when he began a paper, The Weekly Comedy (no. 1, May 10th). In the next three years he was actively printing numerous pieces for Edward Ward, including The London Spy, and Tutchin's Observator; he was settled in Fenchurch Street, but moved in 1702 to Talbot Court, where he is found in 1707 publishing with M. Hotham Pleasant Intrigues of an English Nobleman ... at Venice. [Haz. III. 254.] In 1709 he issued privately a pamphlet entitled Some Thoughts on the present state of Printing and Bookselling [B.M. 11901. a. 2 (3)], in which he attacks various fellow-printers for piracy while vindicating himself. Dunton says of him [p. 220], " He was a bookseller for many years, and now follows the trade of printing. ... He is a true lover of his Queen and Country [i.e. a Whig]. ... He was a great sufferer in King James's reign, and has had the fate of being a traveller. ... He is now settled in Gracechurch Street; and, being a great Projector (as we see by the London Spy and the Observator, &c.), is likely to increase apace." His sufferings and travels here spoken of, possibly due to his political party, account for the gap in our record of him. See How (Job).