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HISTORV OF PRINTING.
Doents,) Heniy Fisher formed an intimacjr with the learned Dr. Adam Clarke*— an intimacy which became closer in proportion as it was ex- tended. Dr. Clarke miuie advances to bis friend out of his rich store of learning, and was in return liberally and generously compensated by his friend and publisher. Dr. Clarke's first literary production was printed in Liverpool, by Nuttalljf Fisher, and Dixon. For many years reciprocal benefits and kindnesses were inter- changed between Dr. Clarke, and the house of Nuttall and Co., who employed his services in numerous editions of standard and divinity works, which now issued rapidly from the Caxton press, the partners in which had, in 1815, been appointed printers in ordinary to the king. In 1818, Messrs. Nuttall and Dixon retired, having realized handsome fortunes. The printing office
- Adtm Clarke, L L.D., F.R.A. wu born in the vUlane
of Moybeg;, In the county of Londonderry, Ireland, either tn the year )7M or I7tl, and received a classical education from liis father. On August 39, 1783, he left his home and country for Kingwood school, near Bristol ; and, Sept. 10, of the same year, by the direction of Mr. Wesley, he entend on the duties of a minister of the Methodist con- nexion, at Bradford (Wilts). At the conference of 1783 he was taken into full connexion, and from this time till his death, the length and breadth of England and Ireland, from the Norman Isles in the south, to the Shetland's in the extreme north, has acknowledged the sway of his master mind as a teacher of the people. But, it is not ■lone as a Christian teacher that Adam <3arke will be revered by posterity, bat by Us vast knowledge, and his elaborate researches in the vast field of philosophy and philology, that will stamp him as one of the most learned ■len that ever lived. The chief— the mighty work of bis laborious hand, is Us Cemmenfory on lie fiiile— wtiich may be said to be an encyclopaedia of biblical science and literature, that will remain longer than the Egyptian pyramids— an appropriate monument of the wisdom, piety, benevolence, zeal, Herculean labour and indefatigable pains-taking, of Its gifted and distinguished author. This work is found alike on the boards of the mechanic, and in the cabinets of the learned, on the shelves of the poor man's cottage, and In the libraries of the princes of the earth. By his constant attention in the printing-office duringthe publication ofbia Coinmenfarir, he had acquired a tolerable knowledge of the art, and went so far as to procure a composing stick, of wood, with other useful appendages, in which he arranged, Ued up, and transmitted to the printer for insertion in the places marked— the words and sentences in the Samaritan, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, and the various foreign languages, which ap-
rred in the original edition, so great was his anxiety to correct. This eminent scholar and divine, died of cholera, at Bayswater, August 30, IS33, aged 73 yean.— His widow died at Stoke Newington, Dec. SO, 1836, aged ■eventy.five years.
Or. Clarke published A Bibtiofrraphical Dictionary ; containing a chronologicnl€iceouni,alphabeticatt!farrangedy tifiAe matt curioust tcarce, Mf</W, and important booki, in xUl departments oftiterabire, fyc. Vols. 1, 3. and 3, 12mo. printed by Jonas Nuttall, Liverpool, for W. Baynes, Lon- don, 1803 : vols. 4, 3, and 6, printed by RandaU & William Dean, and Co. Manchester, for W. Baynes, London. A Bibliographical Miacettany, being a Supplement to the aioee, two vols. I2mn. printed by R. Edwards,Crane court, Flee^Btreet, London, for W. Baynes, Paternoster-row.
In 1819, Dr. Clarke was persuaded by some of his friends, who had observed with solicitude the decline of his health, to relinquish, for a time, all public pursuits, and retire into the country. By their munillccoce, an estate was purcha- sed for him at Millbrooke, in Lancashire, towards which Mr. Jonas Nuttall presentcd^l,O0O,and Mr. Henry Fisher, if 300 towards building a library, having also his two sons under the doctor's tuition, at the liberal remuneration of jf 300 per annum.
t Thomas Nuttall, F. h. 8. Professor of natural history in the university of Cambridge, V. S.. Honorary member of the American philosophical society, and of the academy of natural sciences, &c. &c. was born at Long Preston, in the north riding of Yorkshire, Jan. ith, 178A. He received the rudiments of his education at the endowed school of
at lirerpool was considered the largest estab- lishment of the kind in Great Britain, and at one time they had at least one thousand persons in their employment In 1818, Mr. Fisher estab- lished the imperial Magazine, under the editor- ship of Samuel Drew, M.A. On the 30lb of January, 1831, the Caxton printing-office was entirely destroyed by fire, the loss sustained being estimated at £40,000, considerably more than the stock was insured for. At this period, Mr. Fisher removed to London, accompanied hy all hiii foremen,and a great number of those employed by him. The printing establishment was fixed in Owen's-row, Clerkenwell, where it has ever since continued; the publishing business being carried on in Newgate-street, whence have been issued those splendidly illustrated works — The English Laket ; Syria ; Detonthire ; ConuBoll ; Ireland; Lancaihire, jre. which have stamped him as the most extensive publisher of such works in the kingdom. In 1825, he took into partnenhip his eldest son Robert, who at the time of the fire was studying at Cambridge, with the intention of entering the church, and Mr. Peter Jackson, his old and faithful London agent. Mr. Fisher had some years before leaving Liverpool, built himself a very handsome house, about eleven miles from that town, which he called " The Caxton Lodge." In private life Henry Fisher was respected, and much admired for soundness of judgment and kindness of heart. He was elected one of the common council for the ward of Farringdon- within; and the very year of his death had been urgently solicited to fill the high and honourable office of sheriff of London and Middlesex. Mr. Fisiief was in politics a whig. He died at his residence at Highbury park, aged fifty-six years, leaving a widow, two sons, Robert, (appointed his sole executor) who succeeded him in the businesr, Seth Nuttall, a captain in the 61st regiment of foot, and one daughter, married to captain But-
that place ; and whilst yet a child, a strong bias towards the pursuits, in the prosecution of which be has since so much disdngnlsbed himself, became evident) and be wis f requenUy absent whole days,gatherlng dowers and plants, which he used carefully to preserve and assort as well as he was able, though totally lanorant of any botaakal system. In the year 1799, Mr. Jonas Nuttall requested Us nephew to reside with him, with a view to his acquiring a knowledge of the printing business. He acconllagly was bound apprentice in the commencement of ISM. to this new sphere of action, however, his former propensi- ties continued to InAnence him, and he was never so biqipy as when he could steal ftom what he consideTed un- interesting employment in which he was engaged, to ramble in the country. His apprenticeship exj^red early in 1 807, when he at once formed a resolution so completely contrary to his pecuniary interests, as to astonish those of his friends who could not enter into his views. Indeed, to those with whom the ** auri sacra fames " is the govern- ing principle, it must have appeared little short of insanity, to leave the brightest pro&i>cctn, connected with a most lucrative and extensive business, with every chance of succeeding to his uncle's fortune, for the apparently wild scheme of exploring the forests of America, in search at those treasures, which were, to him, " better than guU." Such, however, was the course which he chose to pnnue : natare,was to him,"in every charm supreme;" and having collected his llttie patrimony, he sailed from Liverpool, for America, in the March of that year, where be has con- tinued principally to reside. Nuttallite was dlsoovered la 1834, by Mr. H. J. Brooke, of London, among tome minerals brought to this conntry by Mr. ^nttall.
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