Daniel Midwinter I (d. 1733)

MIDWINTER (DANIEL), I., bookseller in London, (i) Rose and Crown St. Paul's Churchyard; (2) Three Crowns, St. Paul's Churchyard. 1698–1725. In partnership with Thomas Leigh. They shared the premises formerly occupied by Richard Chiswell, and made their first entry in the Term Catalogues in Mich. 1698. Leigh dropped out of the partnership in 1704, and Midwinter moved to the Three Crowns between 1706 and 1708. Dunton speaks of them as doing a "topping business", and there is no doubt that they were two of the largest booksellers of the day, holding shares in most of the chief undertakings. The date of Midwinter's death is unknown. He was still
publishing in 1725, and was succeeded by his son Daniel II.

MIDWINTER, DANIEL. He opened his shop at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Churchyard some years before the beginning of the century. For a while he was in partnership with T. Leigh (see ante). He was still publishing from St. Paul's Churchyard in 1727, though later he moved to Paternoster Row, where his son succeeded him after his death on June 19, 1757. In his will he left the sum of £1,000 to the Stationers' Company, "on condition of their paying £14 a year to the parish of Hornsey and the like sum to the parish of St. Faith in London, for the purpose of apprenticing from each, two poor children (boys or girls) annually and to buy them some cloaths when they go out. The remainder to be applied to the expenses of a dinner on the first of December." Details of Midwinter's publications are to be found in Nichols i. 109, 425. In 1710 another Daniel Midwinter advertises from the Three Crowns in St. Paul's Churchyard. Since the elder Midwinter was still at his old premises, this was probably the son who later succeeded him; on the other hand the sign may be a variant of that of Daniel the elder.

—Frederick T. Wood, 19 September 1931

MIDWINTER, DANIEL, I and II. The records of these booksellers are confusing and difficult to distinguish. Plomer gives D. Midwinter the elder in partnership with Thomas Leigh at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Churchyard 1698–1704. Leigh and Midwinter's entries in Arber's 'Term Catalogues' do not go beyond 1704 but after tfhat year Midwinter's address is still given at the Rose and Crown until 1708, and the year following he is at the Three Crowns in St. Paul's Churchyard. DR. WOOD thinks that the man at the Three Crowns was "another Daniel Midwinter" but Arber's entries run on quite consecutively and are in accordance with a mere change of address. Plomer appears to concur with that explanation. I have not traced Ihim at this address later than 1725. The stock of a Daniel Midwinter was sold by auction 4 Aug., 1743, but the catalogue does not refer to him as "deceased" so one can infer that he was still living at that date. This may have been D. Midwinter II. Timperley states that Daniel Midwinter died 19 June, 1759; DR. WOOD gives the date of his death as 19 June, 1757. Plomer, however, who was well acquainted with Timperley's 'Dictionary,' says that "the date of Midwinter's death is unknown" and adds that he was succeeded by his son Daniel II, though one cannot help noticing that in the extract of his will, given by Timperley and quoted by DR. WOOD, no mention is made of a son. It will be seen below that Edward Midwinter moved to the Three Crowns and Looking Glass in St. Paul's Churchyard about 1730.

—Ambrose Heal, 14 November 1931