William Owen (d. 1793; fl. 1748–1793)

OWEN (WILLIAM), bookseller and publisher in London, Homer's Head, near Temple Bar, 1748–93. In 1748 his name is met with in the imprint to a little pamphlet entitled The Remembrances. By George Cadwallader, Gent, Consisting of the Twelve First Numbers from the Weekly Paper, Published under the above-mentioned Title. [B.M. P.P. 3557. o.] In the Poll-Book for the City and Liberty of Westminster, printed in 1749, ocurs the name of a "W. Owen, bookseller," in St. James's Street, but there is nothing to show whether the two were identical. On July 6th, 1752, William Owen was tried and acquitted at the Guildhall of the City of London for selling a pamphlet setting out the hardships suffered by Alexander Murray at the hands of Parliament for interfering at an election. The House of Commons voted The Case of Alexander Murray Esq., "an impudent, malicious, scandalous and seditious libel", but the jury found that William Owen did not publish it. The proceedings are printed in the State Trials. In 1753 W. Owen and W. Goadby, the bookseller in Sherborne, Dorset (q. v.), published An Account of the Fairs held in England and Wales; but owing to the alteration in the calendar, made in the preceding year, when the New Style was adopted, they were not satisfied with it, and destroyed the unsold copies. They were encouraged to make another attempt, and, obtaining the help of a Government official, and also a Royal licence for fourteen years, they published in 1756 An Authentic Account, published by the King's Authority, of all the Fairs in England and Wales, which bore the imprint "London: Printed for W. Owen at Homer's Head, Temple Bar, and also published a Book of Roads, and both these works went through several editions up till 1859. William Owen was Master of the Stationers' Company in 1781, and died on December 1st, 1793. [Timperley, 1842, p. 781.] William Owen was also the publisher of many pamphlets of a political character, such as A History of Patriotism, which are now very scarce.