William Wallis (fl.1816-1855) after Thomas Hosmer Shepherd (1793-1864), Temple of the Muses, Finsbury Square. London: Jones & Co., 1828. Etching and aquatint with added hand-coloring.
James Lackington was the most successful bookseller of the 18th century.
His legendary shop at Finsbury Square in London was named “The Temple of the Muses” and when the flag was raised on the huge dome outside it meant Lackington was inside and ready to do business.
Lackington revolutionized the book trade by becoming the first bookseller to refuse to sell books on credit. His cash only approach allowed him to offer books less expensively. Lackington also refused to destroy or discard remaindered books and instead sold them at bargain prices for Lackington firmly believed “that books were the key to knowledge, reason and happiness and that everyone, no matter their economic background, social class or gender, had the right to access books at cheap prices.”
Though Lackington was more of businessman than a lover of books he was a generous man and was known to share the wealth with those less fortunate. He had the phrase “Small Profits Do Great Things” emblazoned on the doors of all his carriages.
Lackington wrote two books Memoirs of the Forty-Five First Years of the Life of James Lackington (1794) and The Confessions of James Lackington.
Bio of Lackington in James Parton’s Captains Of Industry Or Men Of Business Who Did Something Besides Making Money
Memoirs of the Forty-Five First Years of the Life of James Lackington at Google Book Search
Thanks to Julie Melby of Princeton University’s Graphic Arts blog for the lead and the image