John Almon

John Almon ( December 17, 1737 in Liverpool - December 12, 1805 ) was an English journalist , publisher and bookseller who mainly devoted himself to political issues and contemporary social criticism. He was u. a. important to make parliamentary debates available to the public in print and to clarify alleged abuses in the government. From 1761 Almon worked in London as a reporter for the Gazetteer and published A Review of Mr. Pitt's Administration . His texts were well received by the opposition. In 1770, John Almon finally reprinted one of Junius' notorious letters , which led to an indictment and conviction for disseminating writings dangerous to the state ( seditious libel ).

During the American Revolution , John Almon continued to work as a political writer and publisher and edited the Remembrancer . His attempt to establish the General Advertiser newspaper from 1784 onwards failed. In addition to political writings, he published biographies and popular literature. His correspondence with opposition politician John Wilkes , with whom he was on friendly terms, appeared after his death.

literature

• The correspondence of the late John Wilkes, with his friends, in which are introduced memoirs of his life, by J. Almon, London, 1805.

• The trial of John Almon, bookseller, upon an information, filed ex officio, by William De Gray, Esq; his Majesty's Attorney-General, for selling Junius's letter to the K ----. Before the Right Hon. William Lord Mansfield, and a special jury of the county of Middlesex, in the Court of King's-Bench, Westminster-Hall, on Saturday the second day of June, 1770. To which is prefixed a copy of the information . Taken in short hand, London, printed for J. Miller, in Queen's-Head-Passage, Pater-Noster-Row, 1770.

• Another letter to Mr. Almon, in matter of libel, Dublin: J. Miliken, 1771.

• The Revolution (in the Government of Great Britain) in MDCCLXXXII impartially considered. The second edition. [Signed: To Independent Whig, i. e. John Almon], London: J. Debrett, 1782.

• Free Parliaments, or a vindication of the Parliamentary Constitution of England, in answer to certain visionary plans of modern reformers. [By John Almon], London: J. Debrett, 1783.

• Memoirs of a late eminent Bookseller (John Almon), London, 1790.

• Bookseller as rogue: John Almon and the politics of eighteenth-century publishing, by Deborah D. Rogers, New York: Peter Lang, 1986.

• John Almon (1737–1805), journalist and publisher, by Lynda Lee Leitner, unpublished dissertation, Aberystwyth, 2003.

Web links

• Biography of John Almon in the Dictionary of National Biography (1885-1900), Volume 1, by Edward Smith
• The Letters of Junius after the second true and increased edition, translated from English, Mietau and Leipzig, 1776
• Between economy and ideology - the book market of the 18th century in England