Joseph Whitaker English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 publisher, was born in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, and apprenticed to a bookseller at the age of fourteen.

After years of experience at various bookselling firms, he undertook his own business as a publisher of theological works. In January 1858 he launched The Bookseller

The Bookseller

The Bookseller is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Neill Denny is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine, while Philip Jones is deputy editor, having recently been promoted from the position of managing editor of the Bookseller.com...

and in 1869 published the first issue of Whitaker's Almanack

Whitaker's Almanack

Whitaker's Almanack is a reference book, published annually in the United Kingdom. The book was originally published by J Whitaker & Sons from 1868 to 1997, then by The Stationery Office, from 2003 to 2010 by A & C Black and from 2011 by .-Content:...

, a reference annual, which met with immediate (and lasting) success.

In 1874 he published the first edition of the Reference Catalogue of Current Literature, of which several editions have since appeared.

He was the father of fifteen children; the eldest, Joseph Vernon Whitaker was editor of the American Literary Gazette, and later returned to England to become editor of the Bookseller and the Reference Catalogue. Cuthbert Whitaker

Cuthbert Whitaker

Sir Cuthbert Wilfred Whitaker was editor of Whitaker's Almanack. He held the position for fifty-five years, succeeding his father Joseph Whitaker when he died in 1895, and was in turn succeeded by a nephew on his death....

, the twelfth child, succeeded his father as editor of the Almanack.

Whitaker died at Enfield

Enfield Town

Enfield Town is the historic town centre of Enfield, formerly in the county of Middlesex and now in the London Borough of Enfield. It is north north-east of Charing Cross...

 on the 15th of May 1895 and was buried at West Norwood Cemetery

West Norwood Cemetery

West Norwood Cemetery is a cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery.One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries of London, and is a site of major historical, architectural and...

. In 1998 a blue plaque

Blue plaque

A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....

 was installed at White Lodge, Silver Street, Enfield, to mark his dwelling place.

External links

• H. R. Tedder, Whitaker, Joseph (1820–1895) rev. Joseph Coohill, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004 (Subscription required)