Samuel Keble (fl. 1674–1726)

Identifiers

Occupations

  • Printer
  • Bookseller

Names

  • Samuel Keble
  • Samuel Keeble

Samuel Keble or Keeble, printer and bookseller, 1674–1726; at the Unicorn in Fleet Street near Ram Alley; at the Unicorn in Fleet Street near Serjeant's Inn, 1674–1680; at the Turk's Head or Great Turk's Head in Fleet Street over against Fetter Lane, 1680–1720.

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

KEBLE (SAMUEL), bookseller in London, (1) Unicom, Fleet Street, (a) near Ram Alley, (b) near Serjeant's Inn; (2) (a) Turk's Head, (b) Great Turk's Head, Fleet Street, over against Fetter Lane. 1674–1715 (?). A well-known publisher of divinity. Keble's name appears in the Term Catalogues for the first time in Mich. 1674 as the publisher of a translation from H. Grotius, entitled The Conciliation of Grace and Free-Will [T.C. I. 189], and from that time until 1709 he constantly entered books. In 1706 he published John Bowack's Second part of the Antiquities of Middlesex. [Harl. 5961 (128).] An engraved broadside catalogue of his publications survives, [B.M. 1865. c. 3 (132).] Dunton [p. 297] has the following account of him: "Mr. Keble is a very ingenious, modest, humble man. ... He printed that useful book called A Week's Preparation for the Sacrament, and other excellent books of devotion." In 1704 he took his son William into partnership. In 1715 he was one of those receiving subscriptions for the third volume of Laurence Howel's Synopsis Canonum Ecclesice, which had been rewritten by the author, after the destruction of the original manuscript in Bowyer's fire in 1713. [Nichols, Lit. Anecd. I. 106.]

Notes & Queries "London Booksellers Series" (1931–2)

KEBLE, SAMUEL. Of the Turk's Head in Fleet Street. He was a printer as well as a bookseller. He was well established in 1700, and was apparently still in business in 1712, for he is included in Nichols's list for that year, though his name is mis-spelt "Kemble." Dunton says that he dealt mainly in devotional books; and details of` some of his publications are given in Nichols i. 19, 106.

—Frederick T. Wood, 12 September 1931

 

KEBLE, SAMUEL. To complete his record it may be added that from 1674 to 1680 he was at the Unicorn in Fleet Street. In 1680 he moved to the Turk's Head (or, Great Turk's Head) in Fleet Street over against Fetter Lane and according to his entries in Arber's 'Term Catalogues' he was still there in 1709. Plomer says that he remained in business up till 1715. There is a trade-card of his, in the Bagford Bills, issued from the Turk's Head with an engraved date 1695.

—Ambrose Heal, 7 November 1931