History of Reading Society

THE subject of the September talk was George Lovejoy, the Victorian bookseller of Reading.

The speaker was Martin Andrews, who worked for many years at Reading Museum and later became a lecturer in the department of typography and graphic communication at Reading University.

Lovejoy was born in a house at Earley Yard, off Minster Street, Reading, on February 8, 1808.

His father, Charles, worked at the Abbey Mill.

After completing his education at the National School in Reading, located in the great hall within the abbey ruins, George was apprenticed to Messrs Smart & Cowslades, owners and publishers of the Reading Mercury, in Market Place.

During his time with the company he became a skilled compositor and printer and by the age of 24 he was the manager of the stationery and bookselling department.

In 1832, the eminent local artist Edmund Havell, the proprieter of a stationery and circulating library at 31 London Street, Reading, had become bankrupt.

With a loan from his friend William Silver Darter, Lovejoy took over the shop and established himself there as a bookseller, stationer and librarian.

In his diary he recorded that on his first day of trading he “rose at 6.30am and closed his shop at 9.30pm”.

In 1834, Lovejoy married Martha Wilkinson, of Russell Street, Reading, but, sadly, she died of consumption in 1837. He later married Elizabeth Beckwith Craik and they had two daughters, Alice and Katherine.

In 1840, his shop was demolished to make way for the imposing Mechanics’ Institute Building.

Lovejoy moved his business further along London Street where he would remain until his death.

By the 1880s, his circulating library, the Southern Counties Library, had a stock of 800,000 books.

Many eminent authors of the time were among his friends. The famous local author Mary Russell Mitford was an important customer.

Another friend, Charles Dickens, who would often give lectures at the Institute, was encouraged, unsucessfully, by Lovejoy to become the Liberal Party’s candidate for MP for Reading.

Such was his renown in the local business community that Lovejoy was appointed secretary of the Reading branch of the 1851 Great Exhibition at Hyde Park in London.

He was responsible for selecting exhibits for display from local manufacturers and also submitted exhibits of his own invention.

Lovejoy died on July 18, 1883 and was buried at the cemetery in Wokingham Road, Reading. Among the many mourners was the Reading MP George Palmer.

Lovejoy’s assistant, Eliza Langley, who had been working for him for 21 years, managed the business until her death in 1897. For most of the 20th century the London Street shop continued as a bookseller trading under the name of William Smith & Son.

Today, it is home to the Reading International Solidarity Centre and still sells books.

The subject of the next talk will be “Quakers in Reading” and the speaker will be Naomi Iliff.

This will take place at the Abbey Baptist Church in Abbey Square, Reading, on Wednesday, October 16 at 7.30pm. All are welcome (£2 entry fee for non-members).

Sean Duggan