Thomas Harris

HARRIS (THOMAS), bookseller and publisher in London, Looking-Glass on London Bridge, 1741–5. Like all the London Bridge booksellers, Harris dealt in chap-books, ballads, and penny histories, one of his publications being a reprint of The True History of the Life and Sudden Death of old John Overs, the rich Ferry-man of London, 1744, price sixpence. He may be the Thomas Harris who in 1746 printed at Carlisle The Genuine dying speech of the Reverend Parson Coppock. [Copy in Bodl.] In 1745 he became bankrupt. In 1763 he was living in Ironmonger Row, Old Street, and the Kentish Gazette, reports that on November 27th, when returning from the Minories, he was attacked by footpads and severely injured, but the date of his death is not known. There is an advertisement of sale by auction of a valuable library by Thomas Harris at Janeways Coffee House, Cornhill, in 1753. [Public Advertiser, January 9th, 1753.]

HARRIS, THOMAS. Was trading in Aldersgate in the year 1750. Beyond this fact I have been unable to ascertain anything about him. A "T. Harris," bookseller, of London Bridge, however, appears in the list of bankrupts for December 1745.

—Frederick T. Wood, 29 August 1931

HARRIS, THOMAS. Of London Bridge. I have notes of the imprints of this bookseller from 1741 to 1744. In 1744 he was granted a seven years' lease, at a rental of £20 per annum, of his premises, on the Bridge, "being the twentieth house counting from the North end." This house would have been as nearly as possible in the centre of the bridge. His address is variously given as "The Looking Glass" or, "The Looking Glass & Bible" on London Bridge. This shop should not be confused with another bookshop of the same sign, near St. Magnus Church, occupied by Josiah Blare, F. Hodges and James Hodges (q.v.). The name of Thomas Harris, of London Bridge, appears in the list of bankrupts for December, 1745. Possibly he is the same Thomas Harris whom DR. WOOD mentions as trading in Aldersgate in 1750.

—Ambrose Heal, 31 October 1931