[Gessner, Salomon / Collyer, Mary].

The Death of Abel in Five Books. From the German of Gessner.

Halifax, Printed fro William Milner, 1837. Duodecimo / Miniature book. Frontispiece, XX, 169 pages. Original Hardcover (dark green cloth with floral embossement and gilt lettering on spine. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Rare Halifax print !

History of the Halifax Printer William Milner:
Born to a single mother in Halifax in October 1803, William Milner was apprenticed as a youth to a printer in Hebden Bridge. After a stint as a grocer, he began publishing books himself, initially using local printers Hartley & Walker, or Whitley & Booth. Then he set up his own printing press at Swine Market (now upper Crown Street). It was here that he published John Fielden’s revolutionary book The Curse of the Factory System in 1836. Moving his business to Upper George Yard, Cheapside, he began to publish his series called Cottage Library which were said to be the cheapest books in Britain. At one time he was printing 15,000 books per day, sold at sixpence (2 new pence) and 1 shilling (5 new pence) each. Cheap books were a rarity before Milner commenced printing. He would sell copies by travelling round the country, from a horse-drawn van. And many of his books were exported to distant parts of the British Empire. Milner was a fervent supporter of the Chartists. Wishing to obtain quantities of Feargus O’Connor’s Chartist paper, confiscated when found by the Authorities, Milner worked out an ingenious plan to obtain supplies. Every week copies of the papers were hidden in a coffin in London, which was then conveyed north in a hearse, smuggling in banned reading material! Milner lived for many years in Rhodes Street, where he died in 1850. He married widowed Mrs Mary Sowerby from Bristol, taking her two sons into partnership. The business was left to these stepsons in his death; the firm then traded as Milner & Sowerby. It was in 1858 that the company moved to its new premises in Raglan Street, designed by local architect Richard Horsfall (later Mayor of Halifax). The street off Hanson Lane below the factory is called Milner Street, though the sign has disappeared. The new building’s opening was marked by an outing for employees to Hardcastle Crags, followed a meal at the White Lion Hotel, Hebden Bridge.

The number of cheap books turned out by this firm was phenomenal. By 1907, 245,000 copies of the works of Burns had been sold, for example. Hundreds of thousands of working people must have benefited from the company’s affordable copies of literary classics. But by 1910, there were many more rivals in the printing trade, and business was declining badly for Milner & Sowerby. On 1st June 1910, the company went into liquidation. Of the two Sowerby brothers, Francis lived latterly at Bowers Hall, Barkisland, dying in 1885; and John lived latterly at Green Hayes, Savile Park Road (now occupied by Lawrence Funeral Service), dying in 1898. The firm was headed latterly by Major Reginald John Sowerby, son of Francis, who lived at Oak Mount, Sutherland Road, Lightcliffe. He died in 1923, after his company closed. The Raglan Street premises were taken over as an extra worsted factory by Standevens of Ladyship Mills. I am sure there are people around today who can remember them in business there, and those firms which later occupied the same building. (Author of this article is: David C Glover / Halifax Courier).

• Keywords: Catalogue Two – Children’s Books · Children’s Books Rare
• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 100163AB

EUR 130,--