Britain 1784-1811: Introduction

Exeter working papers in British book trade history; 20
The British book trades 1784-1811: a tabulation of national directories

Introduction
The following table compares the provincial traders listed in the following early trade directories which have nationwide coverage:

• Column 1: John Pendred's The London and country printers, booksellers and stationers vade mecum, 1785. The fellmongers included by Pendred are omitted. Additional information (chiefly forenames) taken from Bailey's British directory, of 1784, which is the main source for Pendred, is added in brackets.
• Column 2: The Universal British directory, volumes 2-5, compiled 1792-98. The precise date for each place is difficult to establish, but the chronological order generally follows alphabetical order, volume 2 being compiled mainly in 1792, volume 3 in 1793 and 1794, volume 4 between 1794 and 1797 and volume 5 (a supplementary volume) in 1798. The table below gives details of current or recent dates noted while searching the directory.
• Column 3: Holden's triennial directory, volumes 2 & 3, 1811. Volume 2 covers the larger towns, which had previously been included in the 1809 directory (sometimes with little change in 1811), and volume 3 the smaller towns.

Where "none" is recorded against a particular date, this indicates that there is an entry in the directory for that town, but no book trade personnel have been found to be listed. The use of "not" indicates that there is no entry at all for that town in the directory. It is hoped to improve the coverage of population figures, which should be used with caution as they do not always fully reflect the nature and extent of the urban area.
Localities: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I-K, L, M, N-O, P, R, S, T-U, W-Y.

Universal British directory: dates noted for individual parts.

Vol.	Part	Page	Location	Date	Details
1	1-14	-	London	1790	2nd ed. 1793 Jun 10
2	15-32	-	A-D	1792-3	No part 33
3	34-48	-	E-M	1793-4	-
4	49-65,66/7	-	N-Y	1794-8	-
5	66/7-71	-	Supp.	1798	-
2	22	378	Biggleswade	1792 Feb 25	in press
2	24	450	Bury St Edmund	1792 Apr 12	-
2	30	-	-	1792	-
2	32	860,864	Durham	1792 Oct 17	before May 1793
2	32	903	Deptford	1792	-
3	36/7	240	Harwich	1793 Jul 20	-
3	40	418	Ilminster	1793	Present year
3	-	391	Honiton	1792	1791 last year
3	41	-	-	1792 Sep	-
3	41	501	Kidderminster	1793	At this time
3	42	543	Leominster	1793	Now
3	43	590	Leicester	1793	Mayor
3	44	627	Liverpool	1794 Mar 24	-
3	44?	730	Liverpool?	1794 Jun	just finished
3	45	-	-	1794 Jun	-
3	46	762	Lynn Regis	1794 Aug 25	-
3	46	777	Manchester	1794 Jan	-
4	49	6	Norwich	1794 Jul 16	-
4	50	78	Newbury	1793	-
4	52	180	Oswestry	1794	-
4	52	190/6?	Portsmouth	1795 May 1	-
4	55	196	-	1795 May 1	-
4	56	397	Sheffield	1795 Nov 5	-
4	57	456	Southampton	1796	Now
4	57	507	Sudbury	1796	Present year
4	58	521	Swansea	1796	Present year
4	61	699	Watford	1796 Mar	-
4	61	703	Watford	1797	Soon
4	62	724	Weymouth	1797	present
4	62	755	Wigan	1797 Jun 27	-
4	63	795	Winster	1797 Jul 1	-
4	63	802	Wisbeach	1795	Now
4	63	871	Worcester	22 Nov 1797	last week
4	65	915	Winchester	1798 Jan 13	Election of freemen
5	69	165	Richmond, Yorks	1797 Jun	-
5	71	-	-	1798 Jan 24	-

Page last updated 2 June 2009