Dr Johnson's Printer

William Strahan was one of the leading figures in the book trade of the eighteenth century. As King’s Printer, a member of Parliament and the owner of the greatest printing house in London, he stood at the head of his craft: in addition to his long friendship and business connection with Johnson, he was the publisher of Gibbon, Adam Smith, Hume and Robertson. His intimacy with Benjamin Franklin led him to extend to America his lively interest in politics as well as trade.

Originally published in 1964, Strahan’s career had for the most part been relegated to footnotes in the biographies of other men. This was the first full length survey of his life as a whole. The author, who had himself been both publisher and printer, had been able to draw upon much hitherto unpublished material in collections in this country and the United States, Strahan was an admirable letter writer, and his correspondence with authors, booksellers and printers touches on many problems still relevant at the time – the earnings of writers, bestsellers and flops, price-cutting and piracy, long credit and bad debts. The book is thus a portrait of the book trade at a particularly interesting stage of its development as well as the story of a remarkable career.