Thomas Astley (d. 1759; fl. 1727 – 1750?)
Thomas Astley, bookseller and publisher; at the Dolphin & Crown in St. Paul's Churchyard (1727); at the Rose in St. Paul's Churchyard (1728–43); in Cornhill (ca. 1748–9).
A Dictionary of the Printers and Booksellers who were at Work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1668 to 1725, by Henry Plomer (1922)
ASTLEY (THOMAS), bookseller in London, Saint Paul's Churchyard, 1729. Publisher of the London Magazine. [Timperley, p. 657.]
Notes & Queries "London Booksellers Series" (1931–2)
ASTLEY, THOMAS. In 1729 he set up business at the Rose, in St. Paul's Churchyard. Here later he published the London Magazine, which he had bought from Ackers. Nichols (op. cit. v. 12) narrates an interesting episode in his career, which throws considerable light upon the conduct of periodicals at this date. On April 3, 1747, Astley and Cave were prosecuted before the House of Lords on a charge of publishing accounts of the trial of Lord Lovat in their respective magazines, the Gentleman's and the London. After a protracted hearing, which it is unnecessary to relate, both were discharged on payment of costs, Astley confessing that the information was supplied to him by a lawyer named Clarke, though whether it was genuine or not he did not know.
Being asked (Nichols states) whether he believed the speeches which he mentions in his examination to be furnished him by Mr. Clarke, were made by the said Clarke, he said, "he believes some of them may, but Clarke has told him he has had help from his friends." Being asked whether he thinks that any of the speeches which Clarke furnished him were speeches of the members, he said, "he did sometimes believe that some of them were the members' speeches; that Clarke represented them as such." Being asked whether he knows that the said Clarke used to attend the house upon Debates, he said, "he believes Clarke sometimes got into the house, behind the throne."
When a periodical of repute, such as the London Magazine, could condescend to such irresponsibility, one wonders about the conduct of the minor journals. Astley was still publishing in 1750, though whether he continued in business until his death, which occurred in 1759, I have not been able to ascertain.
Frederick T. Wood, 18 July 1931
ASTLEY, THOMAS. Before he occupied the Rose in St. Paul's Churchyard in 1729, he was in business at the Dolphin and Crown, also in St. Paul's Churchyard, whence he published a poem, 'The Dispensary,' in 1726. He issued a booklist from here in 1727. (See an article by F. G. Hilton Price on the Signs of St. Paul's Churchyard, in 'London Topographical Records,' vol. iii). For other particulars of Astley's career see Timperley's Dictionary of Printers.'
Ambrose Heal, 8 August 1931