Street, began business for
himself on Fish Street Hill, which, being in the track of the medical
students at the hospitals in the Borough, was a promising locality.
After some years here, he removed to Paternoster Row, where he had as
partners first a Mr. Davenport, and then John Payne; the house and stock
were destroyed by fire in 1770, after which he removed to St. Paul's
Churchyard, where he continued until his death in 1809, the father of
the trade. He was a considerable publisher, and 'two poets of great
modern celebrity were by him first introduced to the publick--Cowper and
Darwin.' Whilst at Fish Street Hill he took over the stock of John Ward,
of which he issued a catalogue.

Ludgate Hill to a certain degree not unnaturally secured a little of the
'bookish' brilliancy which diffused itself round and about the
Churchyard. The highway to the cathedral was naturally a good business
quarter, and there can be very little doubt that some of the stalls or
booths, which formed a sort of middle row in Ludgate, were occupied by
stationers and booksellers, who are not usually indifferent to the
advantages of a good thoroughfare. It never, however, came up to St.
Paul's Churchyard, either as a publishing or as a bookselling locality;
but many retailers were here during the latter part of the last century.
Queen Charlotte, wife of George III., is reported by Robert Huish to
have said to Mrs. Delany: 'You cannot think what nice books I pick up at
bookstalls, or how cheap I buy them.' The Rev. Dr. Croby, in his 'Life
of George IV.,' tells us that Queen Charlotte was in the habit of paying
visits, in company with some lady-in-waiting, to Holywell Street and
Ludgate Hill, 'where second-hand books were exposed for sale during the
last half of the eighteenth century.' During the earlier part of this
period, among the booksellers of note in Ludgate Street were Robert
Horsfield, William Johnston, and Richard Ware (who was a considerable
adventurer in new publications). The business established at about the
same period and in the same locality by Richard Manley, was considerably
extended by John Pridden (1728-1807). The libraries of many eminent and
distinguished characters passed through his hands, Nichols tells us. His
offers in purchasing them were liberal, and, being content with small
profits, 'he soon found himself supported by a numerous and respectable
set of friends, not one of whom ever quitted him.'

Jonah Bowyer was at