CERL Thesaurus

thesaurus/cni00054662 Howell, John

Howell, John

Record IDcni00054662
URIhttp://data.cerl.org/thesaurus/cni00054662
Last Edit2014-03-14

General Note

Born in 1788. D.N.B. says that he was shop assistant to Robert Kinnear in South Frederick Street, Edinburgh. This is likely to have been around 1810-15, and that he spent five years with Duncan Stevenson, the University Printers, where he 'effected improvements in the art of stereotyping'. Burgess as apprentice to James M'Cleish bookseller 3 September 1816. He had wide interests, he published “An Essay on the War-Galleys of the Ancients”. Edinburgh, 1826; “The life and adventures of Alexander Selkirk”. Edinburgh, 1829; “The life of Alexander Alexander”. Edinburgh, 1830; “A concise and accurate account of the accident that occurred at the sale of Lord Eldin's pictures by a sufferer”. Edinburgh, 1833. He is said to have edited “The journal of a soldier of the 71st Regiment, 1806-15”; “The life of John Nichol, the Mariner”; and to have written several of Wilson's “Tales of the Borders”. He was probably a relative of William Howell who shared a house with him at one time. Leslie Fleming described him as 'a person who seemed to know a little of everything, yet failed in most of his inventions... He at one time tried the experiment of flying, and took his start from somewhere about the foot of Ramsay Lane, finishing in the Nor' Loch. He next tried by mechanical means to walk on the water, but this was seen to be equally dangerous. He was occasionally employed in taking the features of deceased persons. He made an ingenious model of Edinburgh, now kept in Stevenson's foundry, for which he got a few shillings after he left Stevenson's employment, being in very straitened circumstances. He was employed in the foundry for a lengthened period, and while there originated a process of moulding by means of dry stucco which was a great success.' He died in 1863.

More Information

Dates of Activity1819-1858
Activitybookbinder
polyartist (1829 - 1832)
polyartist and dealer in antiquities (1834)
polyartist (1835 - 1836)
Online Resourcehttp://www.nls.uk/
Scottish Book Trade Index online (list)

Place of Activity

Place of Residence110 Rose Street (1847)
house
Place of ActivityEdinburgh
Edinburgh; 30 Thistle-street (1819 - 1825)
Edinburgh; 1 Howe Street (1827 - 1828)
Edinburgh; 67 Thistle Street (1829 - 1832)
Edinburgh; 43 Hanover Street (1833)
Edinburgh; 22 Rose Street (1834)
Edinburgh; 18 Frederick Street (1835 - 1836)
Edinburgh; 110 Rose Street (1837 - 1843)
Edinburgh; 22 South Frederick Street (1844 - 1846)
Edinburgh; 22 South Frederick Street (1847)
Edinburgh; 110 Rose Street (1848 - 1858)

Related Entries

See alsoWilliam Howell (1826 - 1830)
*30 Thistle-street, **Edinburgh

Names

HeadingHowell, John
used in: National Library of Scotland, Scottish Book Trade Index
Variant NameJohn Howell, dealer in antiquities (1827 - 1828)

Sources

Found inEdin Dir. — Pigot 1820; 1825. — EdinBurg. — DNB. — Leslie Fleming. “An Octogenarian Printer's Recollections”. Edinburgh, 1893;

Map (activities)

Other Formats

You may also download this records in one of the following formats