Thomas Astley Explained

Thomas Astley (died 1759) was a bookseller and publisher in London in the 18th century. He often wrote about relevant topics at the time, and contributed to many of those controversial topics. [1] He ran his business from Saint Paul's Churchyard (circa 1726-1742) and Paternoster Row (circa 1745). He belonged to the Company of Stationers. He published the celebrated[2] Voyages and Travels which described localities in Africa and Asia, compiling information from travel books by John Atkins, Jean Barbot, Willem Bosman, Theodor de Bry, Francis Moore, Jean-Baptiste Labat, Godefroi Loyer, Thomas Phillips, William Smith, and Nicolas Villaut de Bellefond.[3] It included engravings by G. Child and Nathaniel Parr.[4] [5] Astley intended his Voyages to improve upon the previous travel collections of Samuel Purchas, John Harris, and Awnsham & John Churchill.[6] It was read by patrons of Hookham's Circulating Library, Boosey's circulating library,[7] London Institution, Royal Institution, Salem Athenaeum, and Cape Town public library.[8] Astley's Voyages was translated into German and French .[9]

Titles issued by Astley

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Charles Henry Timperley . A Dictionary of Printers and Printing. 1839. H. Johnson. Charles Henry Timperley.
  2. Web site: Voyages + Travels . Johns Hopkins University . USA . Library Guides: Special Collections: Africa, Asia + Oceania . 30 July 2014 . Sheridan Libraries . https://web.archive.org/web/20140726034617/http://guides.library.jhu.edu/content.php?pid=27403&sid=199000 . 2014-07-26 .
  3. Semper Aliquid Veteris: Printed Sources for the History of the Ivory and Gold Coasts, 1500-1750 . Adam Jones . Journal of African History . 27 . 2 . 1986 . 181134 . 10.1017/s0021853700036653 . 215–235. 162344095 . Adam Jones (Canadian scholar) .
  4. Book: New General Collection of Voyages and Travels . Plate 14 . Nathaniel Parr . 3 . T. Astley . London . 1745–1747 . .
  5. Book: New General Collection of Voyages and Travels . Plate 17: Bird's Eye View of Loango . 3 . T. Astley . London . 1745–1747 . G. Child . Atlas of Mutual Heritage, Netherlands .
  6. Book: Edward Godfrey Cox . Reference Guide to the Literature of Travel . 1935. University of Washington . Seattle . 1: Old World . https://archive.org/stream/referenceguideto030515mbp#page/n28/mode/1up . 15 . Collections . Open Library .
  7. Book: A New Catalogue of the Circulating Library at No. 39, King Street, Cheapside . 1787. John Boosey.
  8. Book: Catalogue of the South African Public Library. 1829 . Cape Town.
  9. Book: George Watson. George G. Watson. New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature . 1974. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-20004-2 . Travel: Collections and Histories . https://books.google.com/books?id=GwFJe0eFWMQC&pg=PA2111.
  10. Book: John Russell Bartlett . Bibliotheca Americana: A Catalogue of Books Relating to North- and South-America in the Library of J. Carter Brown. 1870 . Thomas Astley . https://books.google.com/books?id=_XVWAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA212 . John Russell Bartlett.