Sarah Griffin, Rare Books Librarian, writes: John Cole (1792-1848) was a 19th-century bookseller, writer, publisher and antiquarian and an under-researched character in the regional book trade. As a young man he was apprenticed to a bookseller and bookbinder in Northampton. After a stint in Lincoln he moved to Yorkshire where he set up business, firstly in Hull and then, in 1821, in the seaside town of Scarborough. He was always interested in the environments in which he lived and published many works relating to his local area. These included histories of towns and villages as well as accounts of notable local people. His books on Scarborough include A Tour round Scarborough, historically and bibliographically unfolded, and Scarborough Worthies. His print runs were often short, only 50-100 books at a time, making existing titles rare. Around 100 copies are known from the press of John Cole and, between them, the University and York Minster Library hold 45 titles.
The archive of John Cole, which was purchased with the generous help of FNL, contains 17 manuscripts and four printed books. Among the manuscripts are several volumes from his unpublished memoirs. Through them we can learn more about the mechanics of his printing and publishing business including the networks he set up relating to the print trade. He describes cataloguing private libraries, and how he acquired stock. They also tell of his meetings with important people of the day, such as abolitionist William Wilberforce, writer Charles Lamb and engraver Thomas Bewick, who gave him a proof of one of his bird pictures which is still in the collection.
The memoirs are full of tipped-in extra material such as newspaper clippings, engravings, and enchanting watercolour sketches. They relate to the text, so a newspaper portrait of Wilberforce appears next to the page where Cole describes his meeting with the great man. Although not every volume of his memoirs is in the collection, York Minster Archives holds John Cole’s diaries where Cole had drawn his material from for the memoirs, as well as another four manuscripts.
Apart from the memoirs there are manuscripts of unpublished material, often with decorative title pages, and some with watercolours executed by Cole’s son. Of the printed books, three of the four are printed on coloured paper and so are presumably proof copies.
The acquisition of this archive of unique material gives researchers an opportunity to reassess the life and career of John Cole, presently a little-known figure in the early 19th century British book trade.
