Henry Colburn (1784 – 16 August 1855) was a British publisher.

Virtually nothing is known about Henry Colburn's parentage or early life, and there is uncertainty over his year of birth.^[1] He was well-educated and fluent in French and had the financial capital at a young age to enter publishing, giving credence to the hypothesis ofMichael Sadleir that he may have been the illegitimate son of an Englishman by a French mother.^[2]

He is first documented as an apprentice printer indentured for six years to William Earle, a bookseller inAlbemarle Street, London, on 1 June 1800 for the sum of £1,000.^[3] Earle's was an established English and foreign language library.^[4] In 1806, Colburn acquired Morgan'scirculating library based inConduit Street,^[5] from where he published his first books, notably works by popular light novelists translated from French and German. Most of the French novels were published in the original language byChez Colburn and then reissued in translation. A few were non fiction, as can be seen in the table.

He had an early coup in publishingLady Caroline Lamb'sroman à clef (and succès de scandale) novelGlenarvon (1816), which went through four editions and sold very well.^[6]Lady Morgan'sFrance (1817) was another of his earliest successful ventures. A furious attack in theQuarterly Review (April 1817) did more good than harm to the book.^[7]Glenarvon was a harbinger of Colburn's later great innovation, the so-called "silver fork novel", a kind offashionable novel which gave readers the thrill of peering into the lifestyles of rich and aristocratic families. In 1827 he published one of the first science fiction novels,The Mummy! A Tale of the Twenty-Second Century written byJane Webb (later known as Jane C. Loudon).^[8]

At the beginning of 1824 his publishing interests were separated from the library and established inNew Burlington Street.^[9]

In 1830 Colburn took his printer,Richard Bentley into a partnership, which was dissolved in August 1832. Having first set up business again at Windsor for a short time, Colburn paid a forfeiture for breaking the covenant not to commence publishing within twenty miles of London, and opened a house inGreat Marlborough Street. He finally retired from business in favour of Messrs.Hurst & Blackett, but kept his name attached to a few books. These includedElliot Warburton'sCrescent and the Cross, theDiaries of Evelyn and Pepys,Agnes Strickland'sLives andBurke's Peerage. Their copyrights went to auction atSouthgate & Barrett on 26 May 1857, and produced about £14,000.^[7]

Colburn amassed a considerable fortune, his property being sworn as under £35,000.^[7]

With the support ofFrederic Shoberl, Colburn started in 1814New Monthly Magazine, and Universal Register, a rival to the oldMonthly Magazine ofSir Richard Phillips.John Watkins andAlaric Alexander Watts were among the early editors. A new series began in 1820 under the care ofThomas Campbell.Bulwer Lytton (1832),Theodore Hook, andHarrison Ainsworth (3rd ser., 1836) successively were editors. The magazine lasted to 1875.^[7]

On 25 January 1817, Colburn brought out the first number of theLiterary Gazette, priced at one shilling.^[7] It was the earliest weekly newspaper devoted to literature, science, and the arts which obtained reputation and authority. InitiallyHannibal Evans Lloyd, and Thomasina Ross who had worked with Lloyd before, appear to have been joint editors.^[10] The department of fine arts was under the care ofWilliam Paulet Carey. After the twenty-sixth number (19 July 1817)William Jerdan purchased a third share of the property and became sole editor.Messrs. Longman also purchased a third, and the periodical was rapidly successful. In 1842,William Jerdan became sole proprietor. TheGazette was incorporated with theParthenon in 1862.^[7]

On 31 December 1827, Colburn wrote to Jerdan that he had joined the new literary journal, theAthenaeum, "in consequence of the injustice done to my authors generally" by theGazette. In 1828, he founded theCourt Journal; in the following year he brought out theUnited Service Magazine and Naval and Military Journal; and he had some interest in theSunday Times.^[7]

A biography ofDavid Lester Richardson recounts the background to Colburn'sCourt Journal. Richardson established theLondon Weekly Review in 1827, but was compelled to give it up in 1828; he entered into an agreement under which Colburn would assume control of the journal in return for Richardson receiving a share in the profits of sales of theLondon Weekly Review. Colburn ingeniously renamed the publication as theCourt Journal, and Richardson's anticipated rewards evaporated.^[11]

After the successes of Lady Caroline Lamb'sGlenarvon (1816) and Lady Morgan'sFrance (1817), Colburn, at the suggestion ofWilliam Upcott, brought out the first edition ofJohn Evelyn's Diary in 1818. It was followed by his publication ofRichard Griffin, 3rd Baron Braybrooke‘s edition ofPepys's Diary in 1825, followed by his expanded further editions in 1848-49, and 1854.^[12] At the height of Theodore Hook's headlong London career, Colburn offered him £600. for a novel, andSayings and Doings (1824) was the result. Six thousand copies of the three volumes are said to have been sold.^[7] In 1827, he published Thomas Skinner Sturr's anonymousRichmond, or stories in the life of a Bow Street officer, the earliest collection of detective stories.

In 1826, Colburn publishedThe Posthumous Works ofAnne Radcliffe, featuringGaston de Blondeville, andA Memoir of The Authoress, the first known biographical work on Mrs. Radcliffe.^[13]

Colburn was a major purveyor of thefashionable novel mode of social fiction called "Silver Fork" after a phrase coined byWilliam Hazlitt.

The series ofColburn's Modern Standard Novelists (1835–41, 19 vols.), containing works byThomas Campbell,Bulwer Lytton,Theodore Hook andHarrison Ainsworth,Lady Morgan,Robert Plumer Ward,Horace Smith,Marryat,Thomas Henry Lister,G. P. R. James, andGeorge Robert Gleig. Colburn also numbered among "my authors"Disraeli,John Banim, and fashionable novelists of the day.^[7]

Colburn's book series,The Naval and Military Library of Entertainment: A Series of Works from the Pens of Distinguished Officers. Now First Collected (1834, 20 vols.), contained works byMarryat,Gleig and other lesser known authors on nonfiction subjects, including travel and memoirs, and military-related fiction, "particularly suited to the taste and pursuits of the members" of the Army and Navy.^[14]

In addition, he published several important works on British naval history, includingEdward Pelham Brenton'sThe Naval History of Great Britain (1837) andLife and Correspondence ofJohn, Earl of St. Vincent (1838) as well asSir Nicholas Harris Nicolas's seven-volumeThe Dispatches and Letters ofVice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson (1844–1846)".

Among the important British diplomatic documents that he published wereG. P. R. James, ed., Letters Illustrative of the Reign ofWilliam III from 1696 to 1708 Adressed tothe Duke of Shrewsbury byJames Vernon, Esq., Secretary of State].] (Three volumes, 1841).

He was twice married, the second time to Eliza Anne, only daughter of Captain Crosbie, who survived him. He died at his house in Bryanston Square on 16 August 1855.^[7] He was buried inKensal Green Cemetery.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Tedder, Henry Richard (1887). "Colburn, Henry". InStephen, Leslie (ed.).Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 11. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 254–255.

• Boase, George Clement (1897)."Shoberl, Frederic" . InLee, Sidney (ed.).Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 52. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• Sutherland, John & Melnyk, Veronica,Rogue Publisher 'The Prince of Puffers': The Life and Works of the Publisher Henry Colburn (Edward Everett Root Publishers Co., 2018)

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