Hone, William, 1780-1842

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English publisher and antiquary.

From the description of Autograph letter signed : [London], to William Howitt, 1826 Feb. 5-1826 Feb. 6. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 269527023

From the description of Autograph letter signed : Ludgate Hill, 1824 Jan. 9. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 269530121

From the description of Autograph letter signed : Islington, to Walter Wilson, 1829 Sept. 21. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 269526852

From the description of Autograph letter signed : London, to Joseph Hone, 1832 June 22. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 269528946

Hone, a writer and bookseller, was charged and sent to trial on 3 counts stemming from his political and religiousp parodies. He was acquitted of all charges.

From the description of Papers : relating to the trials of William Hone, 1817-1818. (Bryn Mawr College). WorldCat record id: 28838119

English writer, publisher and bookseller associated with the Radical Press movement.

From the description of The William Hone manuscript collection, 1792-1953, bulk 1815-1842. (Adelphi University). WorldCat record id: 40865024

William Hone, a radical publisher, was made famous by the blasphemy trials of 1817 at which he was acquited. He often worked with the caricaturist, George Cruikshank, with whom he collaborated in a campaign to improve the condition of lunatic asylums. Hone began publishing the Reformists Register in 1817 and published parodies, which prompted his trial. Later in his life, he became an antiquarian publisher. Hone died in 1842.

From the guide to the A Slap at Sop: satirical pamphlet, 1821, (Senate House Library, University of London)

Hone, a mildly radical London reformer, writer, and publisher, exonerated in a famous blasphemy trial in 1817, turned in later years to scholarly and antiquarian interests. In 1825 he wrote and published the popular Everyday Book.

From the description of Letter to J. Drake, Jr., concerning a transcript of part of Holinshed's Chronicles, March 7, 1825. (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 772544075

Writer and bookseller; best known for his three trials stemming from his political and religious parodies.

From the description of Letter : Ludgate Hill, to Vincent Novello, Bedford Square, 1820 Dec. 8. (Bryn Mawr College). WorldCat record id: 28838097

Author and editor, London, England.

From the description of Letters, 1823-1833. (Washington State University). WorldCat record id: 29852440

From the description of Papers, 1816-1842. (Washington State University). WorldCat record id: 29853416

William Hone

William Hone was born June 3, 1780, in Bath, England, the son of William and Frances Maria Stawell Hone. At the age of twenty he married Miss Sarah Johnson, started a family which was to include ten children, and opened a small circulating library, stationery and book store in Lambeth Walk. Rather than paying attention to his growing family and failing business, Hone became involved in the radical politics of the era. His humanitarian upbringing clashed with the repressiveness of the government and in about 1810 his radicalism found vent in publication. Pamphlets and broadsides streamed out under his imprint, many anonymously; Hone wrote many of them but he published even more. In 1817 he was tried three times for blasphemy because he had published satires on the government which were parodies of the catechism, the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, the church litany and the Athanasian Creed. Hone’s successful defense at each of the three trials was based on his research and explication of the history of parody as a literary form. The blasphemy charge was, of course, a cover for the damage he had inflicted on the government though the excellence of his satires.

Resolving to develop his researches into a major work on parody, Hone slowly turned from political activism to antiquarianism. Although his projected parodic history was never completed- he had to sell his reference library during his third or fourth bankruptcy- his research culminated in the publication of the Every-Day Book .

The Every-Day Book was part almanac, part anthology, and part literary weekly. It was published in weekly numbers, cumulated monthly and then annually with an extensive index. Hone published the Every-Day Book in 1825 and 1826, continued it with the Table Book in 1827, and then, after a break of five years began again with the Year Book . The Every-Day Book, under all its titles, was a magnificent production full of curious facts, anecdotes, bits of historical interest and excellent engravings. This work brought Hone into contact with a new world of authors, poets, engravers, illustrators, and antiquarians of all sorts. For, after initiating the publication, Hone became more editor than author as persons all over Great Britain began submitting contributions.

Unfortunately, even the great popular success of the Every-Day Book failed to deter Hone’s ineptness in fiscal matters and, in fact, large portions were completely edited by Hone while technically confined to debtor’s prison. Following his release, his friends had installed him as keeper of a coffee house in the hopes that it would rescue his always declining fortunes. Unfortunately this did not remedy his financial problems.

On New Year’s Day of 1832, Hone suffered a religious conversion which caused him to retract many of his earlier radical stands, and by 1835 he was sub-editor of a religious newspaper. By June of 1840 his deteriorating health caused him to retire from all of his activities and in November of 1842 he died at the age of sixty-two.

The Every-Day Book lived on, however, as the publisher continued to reprint the four volume work, once in monthly parts again, several times before the turn of the century. His papers and personal library were passed down from mother to daughter to grand-daughter until they came into the possession of George T. Lawley.

George T. Lawley

George Lawley was an antiquarian bookdealer in Wolverhampton who was the author of a history of Bilston, County of Stafford (1868, revised 1893) and a bibliography of Wolverhampton (1890). He apparently received the books and papers from Mrs. Joseph S. Soul, Hone’s grand-daughter after 1900.

Lawley’s ownership had several important consequences for the Hone papers. First, he made them available to "his old friend" Frederick William Hackwood, author of Hone’s biography ( William Hone, his life and times, by Frederick Wm. Hackwood. London: 1912. This was reprinted by Burt Franklin, New York, in the 1970s as #143 in the Burt Franklin Research and Source Works Series and as #4 in the Selected Essays in History and Social Science Series . See Hackwood’s acknowledgement of Lawley"s assistance, page 6.) Second, he subsequently attempted to enlarge upon Hackwood’s treatment of Hone’s literary efforts using the correspondence in his possession as the major source. This resulted in a manuscript entitled: The purely literary productions and correspondence of William Hone and his friends. With an account of the origin and production of his Every-Day Book, Year Book and Table Book from manuscripts and letters in the possession of the author.

Thirdly, he attempted to extra-illustrate Hone’s works with the relevant letters in his possession. The four volumes of the Every-Day Book were rebound with blank pages inserted and stubs to which the letters could be attached. Many of the letters, however, appear to have been previously attached and it may have been that Hone’s family had started this practice. At any event, by 1927 when the volumes were acquired by Washington State University Library someone had begun to remove the letters from the books. The present processing continued that process to minimize the damage to the severely folded letters.

Lawley had also begun a draft account of the origin of the Every-Day Book into the bound-in blank pages. He noted: "These additions make the set as valuable as it is unique." It is impossible to determine if he realized that value or not, but by 1927 the four volumes were sold to Washington State University for $65.

Along with the four volumes of the Every-Day Book, several other works once part of Hone’s library were acquired by the Washington State University Library, each with Lawley’s note identifying the volume as once belonging to Hone. These seven Hone publications are: Hone’s Apocryphal New Testament (1820), A Slap at Slop (1819), The Appearance of an Apparition to James Sympson (1816), The Political Showman - At Home! (1821), and Robert Southey 's Wat Tyler (published by Hone in 1817) which are in Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections; and V. Knox' s The Spirit of Despotism (3rd ed., published by Hone in 1821) which was found to be missing from the Humanities Library. Retained with the papers is his Dropt Clauses out of the Bill, against the Queen (ca. 1819).

From the guide to the William Hone Papers, 1816-1842, (Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Charles Lamb collection of papers, 1797-1934, 1797-1836 The New York Public Library. Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.
creatorOf Godwin, William, 1756-1836. William Godwin manuscript material : 338 items, 1778-1836 New York Public Library System, NYPL
referencedIn William Godwin manuscript material : 383 items, 1778-1836 The New York Public Library. Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle.
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. Papers : relating to the trials of William Hone, 1817-1818. Bryn Mawr College, Mariam Coffin Canaday Library
referencedIn Percy Bysshe Shelley manuscript material : 299 items, 1809-1822 The New York Public Library. Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle.
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. Catalogue of William Hone's collection of books and prints for his history of parody ... : manuscript, 1823. Houghton Library
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. Old London theatricals [manuscript], ca. 1830. Folger Shakespeare Library
referencedIn Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878. Original drawing of William Hone, 1815. Princeton University Library
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. [Queen Caroline pamphlets]. California State University, Fresno, Henry Madden Library
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. Year book of daily recreation and information. Greater Victoria Public Library
creatorOf Lamb, Charles, 1775-1834. ALS : London, to William Hone, [1825 Oct. 18]. Rosenbach Museum & Library
creatorOf Lamb, Charles, 1775-1834. Collection , 1813-1878. Rosenbach Museum & Library
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. Papers, 1816-1842. Washington State University, Holland and Terrell Libraries
referencedIn Lamb, Charles, 1775-1834,. Autograph letters signed, 1 initialled from Charles Lamb to various people [manuscript], [1796]-1823. Folger Shakespeare Library
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. Autograph letter signed : [London], to William Howitt, 1826 Feb. 5-1826 Feb. 6. Pierpont Morgan Library.
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. Letter to J. Drake, Jr., concerning a transcript of part of Holinshed's Chronicles, March 7, 1825. Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens
referencedIn Collier, John Payne, 1789-1883,. Autograph letters signed and initialled from John Payne Collier to various people [manuscript], 1818-1882. Folger Shakespeare Library
creatorOf Ireland, W. H. (William Henry), 1777-1835,. Autograph letter signed from W.H. Ireland, Paris, to Mr. W. Hone, London, England [manuscript], 1820 November 23? Folger Shakespeare Library
referencedIn Louis Arthur Holman collection of Keats iconography and related papers, 1752-1963. Houghton Library
referencedIn Hunt, Henry, 1773-1835. Henry Hunt papers concerning his business in France, 1801-1833. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
creatorOf Cowper, William, 1731-1800. The political house that Jack built : [England?], [ca. 1866]. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. A collection of notes and clippings on Joseph Strutt : manuscript. University of Chicago Library
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. Autograph letter signed : Ludgate Hill, 1824 Jan. 9. Pierpont Morgan Library.
creatorOf Ireland, W. H. (William Henry), 1777-1835,. Autograph letter signed from W.H. Ireland to Mr. Hone, Bookseller, High Holborn [manuscript], 18th or 19th century. Folger Shakespeare Library
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. Letter : Ludgate Hill, to Vincent Novello, Bedford Square, 1820 Dec. 8. Bryn Mawr College, Mariam Coffin Canaday Library
referencedIn Dyer, George, 1755-1841. Observations on the injustice & impolicy of the late prosecutions against Mr. Hone, 1817. Brown University Archives, John Hay Library
creatorOf Cowper, William, 1731-1800. The political house that Jack built : [England?], [ca. 1866]. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. Autograph letter signed : Islington, to Walter Wilson, 1829 Sept. 21. Pierpont Morgan Library.
creatorOf Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792-1822. Percy Bysshe Shelley manuscript material : 293 items, 1809-1822 New York Public Library System, NYPL
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. William Hone manuscript material : 2 items, 1830 New York Public Library System, NYPL
creatorOf Ireland, W. H. (William Henry), 1777-1835. Autograph contract signed by W.H. Ireland [manuscript], 1803 May 9. Folger Shakespeare Library
referencedIn Lamb, Charles, 1775-1834. Letters : to William Hone, 1827-1828. Princeton University Library
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. Letter to [?]. [Eng.]. 1819 Nov. 9. University of Iowa Libraries
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. Autograph letter signed : London, to Joseph Hone, 1832 June 22. Pierpont Morgan Library.
creatorOf Crito-Galen, fl. ca. 1830,. Autograph letter signed from Crito-Galen, London, to William Hone [manuscript], ca.1830 November 1. Folger Shakespeare Library
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. The political house that Jack built. McGill University Library
creatorOf Howitt, William, 1792-1879. Letters, [1830?-1868]. University of Iowa Libraries
creatorOf Lamb, Charles, 1775-1834. Contributions to Hone's everyday book : manuscript, [18--?]. Princeton University Library
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. The William Hone manuscript collection, 1792-1953, bulk 1815-1842. Adelphi University, Swirbul Library
creatorOf Lamb, Charles, 1775-1834. Autograph letter signed : to William Hone, undated. Pierpont Morgan Library.
creatorOf Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878. [Ann Bowden collection of William Hone]. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
referencedIn Books from the library of Amos Bronson Alcott, 1579-1893. Houghton Library
creatorOf Hartshorne, J., fl. 1826,. Autograph letter signed from J. Hartshorne, Chelsea Hospital, to William Hone [manuscript], 1826 September 12. Folger Shakespeare Library
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. A collection of notes and clippings on Joseph Strutt : manuscript. Texas Christian University
creatorOf Lamb, Charles, 1775-1834. Charles Lamb collection of papers, 1797-1934 bulk (1797-1836). New York Public Library System, NYPL
creatorOf William Hone Papers, 1816-1842 Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC)
referencedIn William Upcott papers, 1650-1881. Houghton Library
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. The lives of those eminent antiquaries Elias Ashmole Esq. and Mr. William Lilly : A new edition corrected with a new preface, a new & copious index and illustrated by new portraits & [illegible], 1815. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
creatorOf A Slap at Sop: satirical pamphlet, 1821 Senate House Library (University of London)
creatorOf Lamb, Charles, 1775-1834,. Autograph letter signed from Charles Lamb to [William] Hone [manuscript], 1823 May 19. Folger Shakespeare Library
creatorOf Ireland, W. H. (William Henry), 1777-1835,. Autograph note from W.H. Ireland to Mr. Hone [manuscript], 18th or 19th century. Folger Shakespeare Library
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. Letters, 1823-1833. Washington State University, Holland and Terrell Libraries
creatorOf Hone, William, 1780-1842. Tracts on Queen Caroline, 1820-1821. University of California, Los Angeles
referencedIn The William Asheton Tonge Collection, 15th century-early 20th century Chetham's Library
referencedIn Autograph File, H Houghton Library
referencedIn Houghton Library printed book provenance file, E-K. Houghton Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Alcott, Amos Bronson, 1799-1888 person
associatedWith Ashmole, Elias, 1617-1692. person
associatedWith Binney, Thomas, 1798-1874, person
associatedWith Bowring, John, 1792-1872, person
associatedWith Britton, John, 1771-1857, person
associatedWith Cartwright, John, 1740-1824, person
associatedWith Charles I, King of England, 1600-1649. person
associatedWith Clarke, Charles Cowden, 1787-1877, person
associatedWith Collier, Charles Payne, 1789-1883, person
correspondedWith Collier, John Payne, 1789-1883, person
associatedWith Crito-Galen, fl. ca. 1830, person
associatedWith Croker, John Wilson, 1780-1857, person
associatedWith Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878. person
associatedWith Dowling, Joseph Augustus, person
associatedWith Dyer, George, 1755-1841. person
associatedWith Evans, John, 1767-1827. person
associatedWith Fores, Samuel William, active 1785-1825, person
associatedWith Forman, Maurice Buxton, person
associatedWith Godwin, William, 1756-1836, person
associatedWith Harrower, George, person
correspondedWith Hartshorne, J., fl. 1826, person
associatedWith Hazlitt Henry, 1778-1830. person
associatedWith Holinshed, Raphael, d.1580?, person
associatedWith Holman, Louis A. (Louis Arthur), 1866-1939 person
associatedWith Hone, John. person
associatedWith Hone, Joseph, person
associatedWith Houghton Library. corporateBody
associatedWith Howitt, William, 1792-1879, person
associatedWith Hunt, Henry, 1773-1835. person
associatedWith Hunt, John, 1775-1848, person
associatedWith Ireland, W. H. (William Henry), 1777-1835, person
associatedWith Keats, John, 1795-1821. person
associatedWith Knowles, James, 1759-1840. person
associatedWith Lamb, Charles, 1775-1834, person
associatedWith Lawley, George T., person
associatedWith Lilly, William, 1602-1681. person
associatedWith Montagu, Basil, 1770-1851. person
associatedWith Moxon, Edward, 1801-1858, person
associatedWith Novello, Vincent, 1781-1861. person
associatedWith Phillips, Charles, 1787?-1859, person
associatedWith Place, Francis, 1771-1854. person
associatedWith Reid, William Hamilton, d. 1826, person
associatedWith Renier, Anne Cliff, d. 1988, person
associatedWith Renier, Fernand Gabriel, 1905-1988, person
associatedWith Rodd, Thomas, 1796-1849, person
associatedWith Sharpe, Charles Kirkpatrick, 1781-1851, person
associatedWith Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792-1822. person
associatedWith Strutt, Joseph, 1749-1802. person
correspondedWith Sturgeon, Charles person
associatedWith Timbs, John, 1801-1875, person
associatedWith Tonge, William Asheton., 1860-1936 person
associatedWith University of Chicago. Library. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Chicago. Library. Special Collections Research Center. corporateBody
associatedWith Upcott, William, 1779-1845 person
associatedWith Wilson, Walter, 1781-1847, person
associatedWith Wooler, T. J. (Thomas Jonathan), 1786?-1853, person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain
England
England
England--London
Subject
Booksellers and bookselling
Publishers and publishing
Theater
Antiquarian booksellers
Astrology
Authors, English
Autobiographies
Caricatures and cartoons
Communications media
Humour (literary)
Information science
International relations
Private libraries
Literary forms and genres
Literature
Manuscripts
Newspapers
Periodicals
Political satire, English
Prefaces
Press and politics
Publication
Radicals
Occupation
Authors, English
Bookseller
Publisher
Activity

Person

Birth 1780-06-03

Death 1842-11-08

Britons

Undetermined

Information

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