Benjamin Guild (1749-1792) was a bookseller in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, in the late 18th century. He ran the "Boston Book Store" and a circulating

subscription library A subscription library (also membership library or independent library) is a library that is financed by private funds either from membership fees or endowments. Unlike a public library, access is often restricted to members, but access rights ca ...

in the 1780s and 1790s at no.59 Cornhill, "first door south of the Old-Brick Meeting-House."

Biography

Born in 1749 to Benjamin Guild and Abigail Graves, Benjamin attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

(class of 1769); classmates included

Theophilus Parsons Theophilus Parsons (February 24, 1750October 30, 1813) was an American jurist based in Massachusetts. Biography Born in Newbury, Massachusetts, to a clergyman father, Parsons was one of the early students at the Dummer Academy (now The Governo ...

Alexander Scammel Alexander Scammell (March 22, 1747 – October 6, 1781) was an American military officer and attorney who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was wounded on September 30, 1781, near Yorktown and subsequently di ...

Peter Thacher Peter Oxenbridge Thacher (1752–1802) was a Congregationalist minister in Massachusetts. Biography Peter Thacher was born in Milton, Massachusetts on March 21, 1752. His brother was Thomas Thatcher. He served as pastor in Malden, Massachusett ...

William Tudor William Tudor (March 28, 1750 – July 8, 1819) was an American politician, military officer and lawyer from Boston. His eldest son William Tudor (1779–1830), William became a leading literary figure in Boston. Another son, Frederic Tudor, ...

, and

Peleg Wadsworth Peleg Wadsworth (May 6, 1748 – November 12, 1829) was an American Patriot officer during the American Revolutionary War and a Congressman from Massachusetts representing the District of Maine. He was also grandfather of noted American ...

. He later tutored at Harvard, 1776-1780, and travelled abroad. In 1784 he married Betsey Quincy (1757-1825). He served as a charter member and an officer of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

, and on the editorial committee of the ''

Boston Magazine ''Boston'' (also called "''Boston'' magazine" or referred to by the nickname "BoMag") is a regional monthly magazine concerning life in the Greater Boston area, which has been in publication since 1962. History Metrocorp Publishing, a Philade ...

''. Guild sold books from his shop at no.8 State Street from around 1785 until 1786, when he moved to Cornhill (1786-1792). In addition to the bookshop, he ran a circulating library, one of the first in post-

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

Boston. The library contained "several thousands" of volumes, which, according to its 1787 newspaper advertisement "will furnish such a fund of amusement and information as cannot fail to entertain every class of readers ... whether solitary or social -- political or professional -- serious or gay." Subscribers paid eight dollars per year, or "two dollars per quarter -- to have the liberty of taking out two books at a time and no more -- to change them as often as the subscriber pleases -- and no book to be retained longer than one month." Guild stipulated that "any book lost, abused, leaves folded down, writ upon or torn, must be paid for." After his death in 1792, Guild's bookshop and library were taken over by William P. Blake. Among the titles in Guild's circulating library in 1789: *

Addison Addison may refer to: Places Canada * Addison, Ontario, a community United States * Addison, Alabama, a town * Addison, Illinois, a village * Addison, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Addison, Maine, a town * Addison, Michigan, a villag ...

's ''Works'' * ''Algerine Spy in Pennsylvania'' *

Robert Bage Robert Bage (11 March 1730 – 1 September 1801) was an English businessman and novelist. Biography Born in Darley Abbey, near Derby, Bage was the son of a paper-maker who had four wives, the first of whom was Bage's mother. She died soon after ...

's ''Barham Downs, a novel'' * Countess de Genlis' ''Adelaide and Theodore'' *

Madame de Lafayette Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette (baptized 18 March 1634 – 25 May 1693), better known as Madame de La Fayette, was a French writer; she authored ''La Princesse de Clèves'', France's first historical novel and one ...

's ''Zayde, a Spanish History'' * Raynal's ''Revolution in America'' * John Rice's ''Art of Reading'' * Robin's ''New Travels in America'' *

Baron de Tott Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knight, ...

's memoirs of the Turkish Empire * Nathaniel Wanley's ''Wonders'' * Wraxall's ''Tour'' * Wyld's ''Practical Surveyor'' * Wynne's ''History of America'' * Yorrick's '' Sentimental Journey'' * Zimmerman's ''Political Survey of Europe''

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Guild, Benjamin 1749 births 1792 deaths Businesspeople from Boston 18th century in Boston Bookstores in Boston Libraries in Financial District, Boston American booksellers Financial District, Boston Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Harvard College alumni

Biography

See also

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External links