Thomas Chapman (fl. 16871709)

Identifiers

Occupations

  • Author

Thomas Chapman, bookseller, 1687–1709, at the Chirurgeons Arms over against the upper Meuse Gate near Charing Cross; at The Golden Key over against the Meuse near Charing Cross; in Pall Mall over against St. James's Square; at the Angel in the Pall Mall.

A Dictionary of the Printers and Booksellers who were at Work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1668 to 1725, by Henry Plomer (1922)

CHAPMAN (THOMAS), bookseller in London, (i) the Chirurgeons Arms over against the upper Meuse Gate near Charing Cross; (2) The Golden Key over against the Meuse near Charing Cross; (3) in Pall Mall over against St. James's Square; (4) Angel in the Pall Mall. 1687–1709. In 1687 he published Spencer Redivivus, a modernization of Book I of the Faerie Queene [B.M. 1346. g. i], the imprint being No. 1 above. In the advertisement in Hil. 1688, not only is the title of this wrongly entered but the publisher's name is given as H. Chapman. [T.C. n. 217.] Thomas Chapman dealt largely in plays, and this fact is advertised in another of his publications The Rule of Behaviour, in which the Spenser is also mentioned. In 1692, he either moved to another shop in Charing Cross or altered his sign to the "Golden Key" but two years later he moved to Pall Mall, where he was joined by W. Chapman. The last two pages of Le Maire's Voyage to the Canary Islands, published jointly by them in 1696, contain a list of plays sold by T. Chapman. [B.M. 1425. a. 4.] His last entry in the Term Catalogues was in 1709. [T.C. in. 613.]