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- John King
- Also known as
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John King
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primary name: King, John
- Details
- individual; publisher/printer; British; Male
- Life dates
- 1698 fl-1738 died
- Address
- At the Globe in the Poultry, London
At the Globe against the Church in the Poultry, London
- Biography
- A large-scale printseller whose name and address at the Globe against the Church in the Poultry are found on many later re-issues of seventeenth-century engravings. King's purchase of the plates of Robert White (d.1703) from his son is mentioned by Vertue (VI 183). King's name is also found on many re-issues of the plates of Vandrebanc which he must have acquired from Christopher Browne (qv.) after his retirement c.1712.
According to Dunton (p.359) King took over his old shop in the Poultry; this would have been c.1698 according to Plomer p.180. King's trade card in the Bagford collection (Harley 5963 no.473) reads: 'John King liveing att the sign of the Globe in the Poultry, Sells all sorts of prints and maps, with colours, and other materials, for painting prints on glass, and likewise all sorts of stationery ware. Set on cloth, coloured and are to be sold by John King at the Globe in the Poultry' (photograph of card in Heal Collection, 82.15). He was one of a group of big London publishers with Henry Overton and the Bowles who pirated Hogarth's Rake's Progress in 1735. He also published jointly with Philip Overton John Faber's mezzotint of Baron King (CS 205) in 1730.
The first evidence of King's activity is in a view of Hampton Court and its garden (Clayton p.5). His death is recorded in the Gentleman's Magazine for 7 August 1738 (VIII p.490). He died on 7 April 1738, worth £10,000. His will has now been located (PROB 11/691, published on Tate/York website), and shows that he also had a large business in the salt trade, and 1/32nd share in a ship.
His business was continued by his son, also John, to whom he passed his stock in 1724. He is probably the 'Mr. King in ye Poultry' listed as one of several publishers taking subscriptions for a print by Wm. Austin after Zuccarelli to be issued in February 1756. He was dead by January 1760, when his 'Genuine and Entire Stock' was sold by Langford, including his copper plates (see BM Sc.A.1.9/5).
Heal's annotations on mount of photo of the Bagford card read: "H.P.'s 'Signs of Cheapside' gives at this address: - 1694 John King, bookseller. 1732 John King, picture shop. Advertised in 'Daily Courrant' 3rd Aug. 1709 - sold George Shelley's 'Natural Writing.' Bagford Bills."
