John Russell Smith (1810 – 19 October 1894) was an English bookseller and bibliographer. He is best known for his "Library of Old Authors" reprint series.
He was born atSevenoaks, Kent in 1810, and was apprenticed to John Bryant ofWardour Street, London. He took a shop at 4Old Compton Street, Soho, and concentrated on Englishtopography andphilology. Among his supporters wasJohn Sheepshanks, the collector.[1]
In 1842, there was a rift in theArchæological Association. One section of its members, includingThomas Wright,Mark Anthony Lower,James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, andArthur Henfrey, transferred their publications to Russell Smith. The increase of business caused Russell Smith to move to 36Soho Square.[1]
Smith retired from business about 1884, when his stock and copyrights were sold; the "Library of Old Authors" was disposed of to the bookseller William Reeves, and his collection of engravings to Jonathan Nield. He died on 19 October 1894, inKentish Town, aged 84.[2]
Smith issued in 1837Bibliotheca Cantiana.[3] The titles are classified with collations and notes; Smith left two copies, with manuscript annotations, to theBritish Museum. HisBibliographical List of the Works that have been published towards illustrating the Provincial Dialects of England, arranged by county, appeared in 1839, as well asWestmoreland and Cumberland Dialects.[1][4]
Among the books Smith published wereRobert Nares'sGlossary (edited by Thomas Wright and Halliwell-Phillipps),William Barnes'sDialect Poems and Grammar,Edward Johnston Vernon'sGuide to the Anglo-Saxon Tongue, andJoseph Bosworth'sAnglo-Saxon Dictionary, abridged. He is best remembered for his "Library of Old Authors" series of reprints, mainly of sixteenth and seventeenth century literature, printed by theChiswick Press and issued between 1856 and 1875.[1]
Catalogues of secondhand books issued by Russell Smith included: one of topographical prints, drawings, and books printed before 1700 (1849);Shakesperiana (1864);Americana (1865); tracts, 26,000 in number (1874); and engraved portraits (1883). He contributed the list of English writers on fishes and fishing toRobert Blakey'sHistorical Sketches of Angling Literature (1855), with some copies separately issued asBibliographical Catalogue of English Writers on Angling and Ichthyology (1856).[1]
Smith married in 1844 Frances Caigou, daughter of the printer James Daniel Caigou. They had a son and a daughter.[2]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Smith, John Russell".Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 53. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
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