Benjamin Alsop (ca. 1658 – ca. 1703)
Benjamin Alsop, bookseller at the George at the lower end of Cornhill over against the Stocks Market, 1680; at the Angel & Bible over against the Stocks Market in the Poultry, 1680–1684. Apprenticed to Nathaniel Ponder, bookseller and printer, in 1672. Bound apprentices: Joseph Sprey, 1680; Richard Tirrell, 1681.
The Life and Errors of John Dunton, by John Dunton (1705)
Mr. Benjamin Alsop—He was a First-Rate Bookseller for some Years. But see the Rambling Fate of some Men; for, Ben. being a Wild sort of a Spark, he left his Shop to get a Commission in Monmouth's Army, and, as Ben. told me in Holland, had the Duke succeeded, he had been made an Earl, or a Baron at least: i.e. "If the Sky had fell, he had catched a Lark"—I succeeded Captain Alsop in his Shop in the Poultry, and had liv'd there to this very Hour, had I found any Pleasure in Noise and Hurry.
A Dictionary of the Printers and Booksellers who were at Work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1668 to 1725, by Henry Plomer (1922)
ALSOP (BENJAMIN), bookseller in London, Angel and Bible over against the Stocks Market [in the Poultry], 1679–85. Probably a descendant of Bernard Alsop (1616–1653). In 1679 he published John Gerhard's Divine Consolations, which was advertised in the Domestic Intelligence of October 21st. In 1681 he was defendant in an action for assault brought by Bartholomew Sprint against a number of printers and booksellers in London and Oxford, the details of which are wanting. [C.P.R. Trinity 33, Charles II, Roll 2992, m. 256.] Dunton has this account of him: "He was a first-rate bookseller for some years. But see the rambling fate of some men; for, Ben being a wild sort of a Spark, he left his shop to get a commission in Monmouth's army, and, as Ben told me in Holland, had the Duke succeeded, he had been made an Earl, or a Baron at least: i.e. 'If the sky had fell, he had catched a lark.' I succeeded Captain Alsop in his shop in the Poultry." [Dunton, pp. 147, 214, 262.]