A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



' Snare & Man ' appears on many title pages. 

 The Stranger in Reading was printed by them 

 in 1810, a satirical work generally supposed 

 to have been written by Man, also Classical 

 Pastimes by Mirrianne Curties. They 

 printed and published Mr. Man's History 

 of Reading in 1816, a well printed and il- 

 lustrated 410 work, and a long poem on The 

 Death of Abel. The partnership seems to 

 have been dissolved about this time. Mr. 

 William Man carried on the printing and 

 publishing business in Butcher Row, and books 

 appear with his name only on the title page. 

 A book of poems by T. Wyatt was printed by 

 him in 1818. Robert Snare published several 

 works and was succeeded by John Snare, who 

 in 1845 printed Arborleigh and in 1843 a work 

 entitled Environs of Reading. He used excel- 

 lent paper and good type, and considerably 

 improved the style of Reading printing. 



In 1825 George Lamb was printing and 

 publishing the second oldest newspaper in the 

 county, The Berkshire Chronicle. This news- 

 paper has an interesting history. Founded 

 in 1770 its early years are merged in obscurity, 

 but a rare copy of one of the numbers of the 

 third volume is preserved in the office and is 

 full of interest. Issued at z^d. it consists of 

 four pages 12 J by i8 inches, and it was 

 published at Wokingham by Messrs. Trickey, 

 Cruttwell & Co. in the market place. Owing 

 to the increase of the stamp duty, which 

 reached 4^. in 1815, the Chronicle like many 

 other papers felt the burden insupportable, 

 and for a time its publication was suspended. 

 In 1825 it reappeared, consisting of four five- 

 column pages (15^ by 21 \ inches) bearing a 4^. 

 stamp, the price being jd. The printing 

 office was now removed to Reading in the 

 High Street, the publisher being G. Lamb. 



Various changes took place in the size and 

 price of the paper. Richard Welch was the 

 publisher in 1850 and continued to conduct 

 the paper until recent times, when a company 

 was formed to carry on the paper, which holds 

 a prominent place among the newspapers of 

 the county. In addition to the newspaper 

 proprietors, there were two other printers in 

 the town in 1830, E. Beasley and W. Drysdale. 

 The latter printed The Life of Anne Smith 

 in 1829. In 1831 the name of W. Conibear 

 appears on the title page of The New Con- 

 fectionary. Richard Parsons was printing at 

 this time and published in 1835 a volume of 

 sermons, and W. Thomas, of Broad Street, 

 produced A Voice from Italy in 1843. Two 

 years later Richard Welch was established in 

 the market place, and printed Barra, a 

 Trajedy in 1845. 



A private press was set up in Reading by 



Mr. T. E. Williams, who produced a reprint 

 of P. Heutzner's Journey in England in 

 1807. 



Newbury had several printers at the 

 beginning of the last century, of whom 

 Messrs. Hall & Marsh were the chief firm. 

 They printed a history of the town in 1839, 

 and had their press in Speenhamland. Other 

 printers in the town were William Mayo and 

 Matthew Vardy in Northbrook Street, and 

 Matthew Price in the marketplace. In 1841 

 Mr. James Blacket acquired one of the North- 

 brook Street businesses, and in 1864 was joined 

 in partnership by his son, Mr. W. J. Blacket. 

 In 1867 the Newbury Weekly News was started 

 by the latter in conjunction with Mr. 

 T. W. Turner ; this paper is still printed by 

 the same firm. The volumes of the Trans- 

 actions of the Newbury Field Club are printed 

 by Mr. Blacket. Another Newbury news- 

 paper was The Newbury Express, printed and 

 published by Mr. W. Hall, but now discon- 

 tinued. The Caxton Printing Works in the 

 market place are owned by Mr. G. J. Cosburn, 

 who produces an annual illustrated directory 

 of the town and neighbourhood. Messrs. 

 Hemmin, Nash & Oliver are also printers in 

 the town. 



A press was in existence at Faringdon in 

 1 798, owned by L. Piggot,who printed a small 

 History of Faringdon, a scarce volume which 

 now commands a large price. In 1830 

 Richard Knapp was the sole printer there. 

 Luker & Co. are now the only printers in the 

 place, and publish the Faringdon Advertiser 

 and Vale of White Horse Gazette. Abingdon 

 printers at the beginning of the century were 

 Caleb Evans and W. Willmor. The only 

 newspapers published in the town are the 

 Abingdon Herald, the proprietor of which is 

 Mr. H. G. Loosley, and the Abingdon Free 

 Press ; but there are several printers, Baylis 

 & Co., S. Waite, Messrs. H. H. Hughes, 

 T. Leach and W. H. Hooke. A volume 

 entitled Selections from the Records of the 

 Borough of Abingdon was printed and published 

 by Mr. W. H. Hooke, who has his works in the 

 marketplace. Neither Wantage nor Woking- 

 ham could boast of a press in 1830, but, 

 as we have already mentioned, in the latter 

 town Messrs. Trickey Cruttwell & Co. had a 

 press in the market place in 1773, which 

 produced the earlier numbers of the Berkshire 

 Chronicle. For many years W. J. Gotelee and 

 also Mrs. Millin have carried on small printing 

 works in Wokingham ; and the Wokingham 

 Gazette has recently been started by Mr. 

 F. Staniford. At Wantage Mr. H. N. 

 Nichols has for many years had a press, and 

 has printed several works, including Wantage, 



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