10 s. viii. DEC. 7, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
441
LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1907.
CONTENTS; No. 206.
- VOTES : 59, Fleet Street, 441 Dodsley's Famous Collec-
tion of Poetry, 442 Casanova in England, 443 The Carnwath Pedigree Women and Parliament Music and Muscle in China, 445 Mrs. Hemans and 'The Hebrew Mother' Richard Sands, Equestrian Circulation of London Newspapers in 1818 Henry Garnet, Jesuit Arms of Mauritius Embarkation of Cromwell and Hampden Prevented, 446 Whitehall Banqueting Hall John Sergeant Spring Hill Park : Diversion of Path, 447.
QUERIES :Abbacyrus: Aboukir: Passera, 447 "Passe- menterie" 'A Trip to Voolvich' Erles of Compton Men of Family as Parish Clerks Handkerchiefs as Relics Hake : Cromwell, 448 Lines used by Burne- Jones Gilbert Burnet's ' Letters from Switzerland, Italy,' &c. Lisle: Arbuthnot "Spellicans" 'Robin Hood and the Bishop of Hereford' Glenara Charles I.'s Books "Trigs" "Liggers," c. 1474 Motherhood late in Life, 449 Ferdinanrto Fairfax Millington Eaton- Hamilton Family Authors of Quotations Wanted Clergyman with Battledore in the Pulpit ' Memoirs of a Young Lady of Quality' "Gordon Case" and Pope Clement XL, 450.
REPLIES: Courvoisier, 450 Reindeer : its Spelling Landor and Menage, 451 Eburne's ' Plaine Pathway,' 1624 Mediaeval Churchyards : Gravestones, 452 Poll- Books, 453 "Mite," a Coin Palgrave's 'Golden Treasury ' : Rossetti's ' Blessed Damozel ' Scott's ' Count Robert of Paris' "Fire": "Fire out," 454 'Diary illustrative of the Times of George IV.' Marquess of Waterford as Springheel Jack Capt. Cook St. George's, Hanover Square : Shot-Marks, 455 Bruce and Fleming Mediaeval Games of Children Goat's Blood and Dia- monds "Morsjanua vitae," 456 Duchesse d'Angouleme Wieland's ' Agathon ' Dryden's ' Alexander's Feast ' Germau Encyclopaedia Chrisom, 457.
NOTES ON BOOKS : ' Neolithic Dew-Ponds'Benjamin of Tudela Reviews and Magazines.
Booksellers' Catalogues.
FLEET STREET, No. 59.
THE rebuilding of Fleet Street has recently caused the removal of this house and shop, which, although only a plain brick edifice hardly a hundred years old, had at least one interesting association worth recalling. When, in 1839, G. Bradshaw offered the first of his little books bound in green cloth and lettered ' Bradshaw's Railway Time- Tables,' the distributing agent in London was Wyld, of Charing Cross ; but soon after he appointed William J. Adams, then a, bookseller and stationer at 59, Fleet Street,
" an energetic man, who saw another capability in the enterprise, the development of the advertise- ment, for the traveller could be appealed to through the agency of his guide, and could be approached in no other way" (' The Story of Bradshaw's Guide,' p. 29).
There is no indication when Adams commenced business ; tradition says he was the son of a mathematical-instrument maker, formerly in business at No. 60 ; but for our purpose it is sufficient to recall that
these premises were occupied in 1838 by
Pigot & Co., publishers of directories, who
had succeeded Daveson & Co., perfumers,
presumably the first tenants after the re-
building, circa 1806. Adams's business
was not restricted to representing Bradshaw
and his guides. As a general publisher
he was responsible for a number of un-
important but interesting works, including
the ' Pocket Descriptive Guide to the
Environs of the Metropolis ' and ' A Pocket
London Guide-Book.' The frontispiece to
the second named is a very quaint view
of Fleet Street, in which No. 59, of course,
receives special prominence ; the most
fashionable portion of the crowd is before
its windows, and to emphasize still further
its importance, the Lord Mayor's carriage
is passing on the wrong side of the traffic
to pull up at the door. E. L. Blanchard,
evidently a general literary assistant to
Adams, was the compiler of these guides
and others; but I do not know if he was
responsible for ' The Authentic History of
the Gunpowder Treason,' also published
from here. To the other enterprises of this
Fleet Street publisher there is no occasion
to refer in detail. The shop was a general
emporium of travellers' requisites, from
time-tables to toothbrush cases, and alpen-
stocks to insect powder. As a passport
agency its reputation survived to the last.
Adams's washing-books and phrase-books
existed in current travel literature until
recent years.
The business ultimately was taken over by Messrs. Blacklock, Bradshaw's partner, and always the printers of the Time-Tables. They discontinued publishing the guide- books that never successfully competed with Murray's or Baedeker's ; and in the early eighties, entirely relinquishing the retail department, they sublet the front shop after clearing its very miscellaneous stock. Brad- shaw's Time-Tables continued to be issued from here until December, 1905, when the office was removed to Surrey Street, and with it the staff, which included an old employee of Adams, a familiar figure in the book trade.
The old premises remained unoccupied until the end, except for their temporary use during the General Election of 1906. So the whole story of No. 59 during the last century is a narrative of small matters ; but to those who remember the old shop and the gloomy rooms leading back to Pleydell Court, even this meagre history will, perhaps, be of some interest. ALECK ABRAHAMS.
C9, Hillmarton Road, N.
