Fire destroyed the original Temple of the Muses in 1841 -- the Grolier Club
has a pencil sketch and watercolor of the ruins. The Temple of the Muses
was famous for its enormous size (it had a frontage of 140 ft) and
remarkable volume of trade (reputedly 100,000 volumes per year), as well as
for the exuberant self-promotion of its founder, James Lackington. The
Temple of the Muses was the Barnes & Noble of its day. But I'm not sure if
Lackington, or his successors Lackington, Allen & Co., ever carried on a
printing business in Finsbury Square. I think of the Temple of the Muses as
purely a retail book establishment, but I'm open to correction.
Eric Holzenberg
Director
The Grolier Club
47 East 60th Street
New York, NY 10022
phone: 212/838-6690
fax: 212/838-2445
e-mail: ejh@grolierclub.org
website: <http://www.grolierclub.org/>www.grolierclub.org
At 02:31 AM 7/23/2004 -0700, you wrote:
Does any Londoner on the list know whether Lackington, Allen & Co's building
still exists in Finsbury Square? I would love to think it still possible to
find a printing-house called "Temple of the Muses" ...
Jane Wickenden
On a more serious note, my most profound sympathies to Everett.
**************************************
Mrs J.V.S. Wickenden, MA (Oxon) Dip.Lib.
Historic Collections Library
Institute of Naval Medicine
Alverstoke
Gosport
Hants. PO12 2DL
tel: 023 9276 8238
e-m: cat1@inm.mod.uk
***************************************
*********************************************************************
Due to deletion of content types excluded from this list by policy,
this multipart message was reduced to a single part, and from there
to a plain text message.
*********************************************************************
*********************************************************************
Due to deletion of content types excluded from this list by policy,
this multipart message was reduced to a single part, and from there
to a plain text message.
*********************************************************************