Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/MacCreery, John
MACCREERY, JOHN (1768–1832), printer and poet, son of John MacCreery, who died in Fleet Street, London, on 9 Aug. 1811, aged 66 (Gent. Mag. 1811, ii. 197), was born in Ireland in 1768. He set up a press in Houghton Street, Liverpool, where he wrote, and printed in 4to, in 1803, 'The Press; a Poem, published as a Specimen of Typography.' It is dedicated to William Roscoe, his earliest patron, for whom he had in 1796 printed the 'Life of Lorenio de Medici,' in 2 vols. 4to. Though described by Timperley as characterised by 'a general chasteness of language, and a glowing love of freedom,' the poem, which commences with an address to the shade of 'Guttemberg,' and concludes by deploring the 'prostitution of the public journals' and the tyranny of Pitt and Napoleon, appears to the modern reader bombastic and absurd. This impression is not lessened by the 'Lines to an Infant Daughter, who requested some Verses on her Birthday,' and other short poems (including an ode to the memory of Robert Emmet) which fill up the volume. The work is, however, beautifully printed from Baskerville press type, contains some moderate woodcuts by Henry Hole, and a few well-written notes upon the origin and development of the art of printing.
MacCreery removed to London early in the century, made influential literary friends, and 'was considered one of the first practical printers of the metropolis.' There in 1809 he printed the 'Bibliomania' for Dibdin (eight hundred pages, printed almost entirely in non-pareil notes, at a cost, including L.P. copies, of 297l.), and, says the ingenuous author, 'partook of the general joy diffused around (MacCreeriana. in Lit. Reminisc. pp. 323-4). Dibdin highly commends the typographical beauty of his productions (including Ottley's 'Ancient Engraving' and Lord Berners's 'Translation of Froissart'); 'the page,' he says, 'is well set up, the ink black and glossy, the paper mellow-tinted, the press work unexceptionable, the embellishments interesting and appropriate.' From Took's Court, Chancery Lane, MacCreery published in 1827 a second part of 'The Press.' The two parts were reprinted in one volume, London, 8to, 1828, without the woodcuts.
He died at Paris on 18 April 1832, falling a victim to the cholera.
[Timperley's Encyclopædia, 1842, pp. 921-3; Gent. Mag. 1832. i. 649; Dibdin's Bibliogr. Decameron, ii. 410; Hone's Every-Day Book, pp. 1135, 1425; Brunet's Manual. iii. 1267; Traill's Memoir of William Roscoe. p. 23; Sutton's Lancashire Authors, p. 75; Allibone's Dict.; Brit. Mus. Cat.]