of Lackington, A. Kirkman,
Mavor--a son of Dr. Mavor, of Woodstock--and Jones. In 1822 the firm
consisted of Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, and Lepard, and
subsequently of Harding and Lepard (who had absorbed the important
business of Triphook, the Cunning Bookseller of Beloe, and it was this
trio who published the second edition of Dibdin's 'Library Companion'),
by whom the business was transferred to Pall Mall East. George
Lackington died in March, 1844, aged seventy-six. In the _Bookseller_ of
December 16, 1886, there is an interesting memoir of Kames James Ford,
'the last of the Lackingtonians,' who died at Crouch Hill five days
previously, aged ninety-four.

CENTRAL AND EAST LONDON.

[Illustration: _The Poultry in 1550._]

Cheapside had never much attraction to the book-collector, but the
Poultry (which is in reality a continuation of the Cheapside
thoroughfare) was for two and a half centuries a bookselling locality.
In 1569, for example, John Alde was living at 'the long shop adjoining
to St. Mildred's Church in the Poultry.' From the middle to the end of
the seventeenth century the locality had become quite famous for its
bookshops. Nat Ponder, who 'did time' for publishing a seditious
pamphlet, was Bunyan's publisher. John Dunton's shop was at the sign of
the Black Raven. No. 22 was the residence of the brothers Charles and
Edward Dilly, and it was here, at a dinner, that Dr. Johnson's
prejudices against Wilkes were entirely broken down by the latter's
brilliant conversation. The Dillys were great entertainers, and all the
more notable literary people of the period were to be met at their
house. They amassed a very large fortune. Edward died in 1807, having
relinquished the business some years previously to Joseph Mawman, who
died in 1827. Mawman, it may be mentioned, wrote an 'Excursion to the
Highlands of Scotland,' 1805, which the _Edinburgh_ furiously assailed:
'This is past all enduring. Here is a tour, _travelled_, _written_,
_published_, _sold_, and, for anything we know, _reviewed_ by one and
the same individual! We cannot submit patiently to this monstrous
monopoly.' No. 31 was the shop of Vernor and Hood, booksellers. The
latter was father of the facetious Tom Hood, who was born here in 1798.
Spon, of 15, Queen Street, Cheapside, was issuing, half a century ago,
his 'City of London Old Book Circulars,' which often contained excellent
books at very moderate prices.

[Illustration: _The Old