Does anybody know anything about this bookseller's label?

[oldgold00]

Hi all, this is my first post to this forum so forgive me if i haven't posted in the right section.

 

 

What i have here is an antique 1776 copy of The Spectator. It bears this bookseller's label and i'm interested to know more about this person, where it comes from and when this possibly dates to, and any other things anybody could tell me about it. 

 

 

 

 

Regards

[oldgold00]

sorry, tried to upload but it didn't appear somehow. It says John Pierce N.P, Chester.

[woolf woolf]

All I've found was that the volumes 6 and 8 were auctioned on Ebay in 2013. I couldn't find anything more. Chester is a town in England, so he could be from there, and N.P. could be a honorific. I take the guess these books were printed and binded for particular people. Perhaps you can find the information you seek in Chester's library, or on a digital platform for old documents.

[eyeseebooks]

You could also try the Chester Chamber of Commerce where they would keep a registration list of all businesses. I expect they would go back that far back.

[Hayley]

I love finding things like this in books

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It's a shame your picture wouldn't work! I usually do mine through flikr, they seem to work from there.

 

Is your volume the same as the one's woolf linked? It's just an idea but the seller of those said the label was an 'ex libris' label, which as far as I know was used for personal bookplates, suggesting John Pierce would be the books owner, not a book seller. Does yours also say ex libris?

[vodkafan]

Just a bit of lateral thinking: could John Pierce have been MP for Chester? that would not have precluded him being a book seller as well....the NP could be an 18th century typo...

[oldgold00]

Well, that'd be easily figured out if i knew where to seek the relevant information. Would they have placed a period between those letters though, that's what i don't know. Anyway, since i live far far away from England i don't suppose i'd be able to find anything substantial apart from this one website where i found the same name, but i can't remember when he lived and died. It was a list of people of various professions living in Chester throughout the 18th and 19th century i think.

 

All the same, i had been intending to sell these to make room for eventual future additions to my collection but i'm having 2nd thoughts already. I agree, it's interesting finding things like this in antique books, adds more substance to them, like writings do. To know that someone once owned and left his/her mark in the same book i now hold in my hands is amazing really.

 

No, my copies don't say anything about being an ex libris, and they aren't the same copies as those in the link either. 

 

 

This is all very interesting, i'm already learning more than i have managed to by researching on antique books. I know i've joined the perfect forum now!

[mirandashell]

It's not a typo as this is the list of MPs for Chester:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Chester_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#MPs_1545_to_1660

[mirandashell]

I asked on Absolute Write and 'ex-libris means 'from the library of' so John Pierce was the owner of the volume not the publisher

[mirandashell]

I just had a look on FreeReg, which a free search engine for genealogical records and the only John Pierce listed is a pauper.  So unlikely to be him.

[oldgold00]

Thanks for taking the trouble of doing all that. if anything it proves that no one is forgotten even if he/she were a pauper. My copy doesn't say ex libris anywhere but since it's coming from the same person i guess it means the same thing for my copies then.

[mirandashell]

You're welcome.