Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...
, the son of a farmer, and was apprenticed to a
Coventry
Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
printer and bookseller. In 1789 he set up a small printing press in a garret off
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...
, London, with a loan obtained from the
Caslon Type Foundry
The Caslon type foundry was a type foundry in London which cast and sold metal type. It was founded by the punchcutting, punchcutter and typefounder William Caslon, William Caslon I, probably in 1720. For most of its history it was based at Chiswe ...
, and, by 1797, his business had so increased that he was enabled to move into larger premises.
An edition of
Gray
Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...
's ''Poems'', printed by him in 1799, secured him the patronage of all the leading publishers. Whittingham inaugurated the idea of printing cheap, handy editions of standard authors, and, on the
bookselling
Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process.
People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen.
History
The foundi ...
trade threatening not to sell his productions, took a room at a
coffee house
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, Caffè americano, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually ...
and sold them by auction himself.
In 1809, he started a paper-pulp factory at
Chiswick
Chiswick ( ) is a district in West London, split between the London Borough of Hounslow, London Boroughs of Hounslow and London Borough of Ealing, Ealing. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist Wi ...
, near London, and in 1811 founded the
Chiswick Press
The Chiswick Press was founded by Charles Whittingham I (1767–1840) in 1811. The management of the Press was taken over in 1840 by the founder's nephew Charles Whittingham II (1795–1876). The name was first used in 1811, and the Press contin ...
. From 1810 to 1815 he devoted his chief attention to illustrated books and is credited with having been the first to use proper overlays in printing
woodcut
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...
s, as he was the first to print a fine, or "Indian Paper" edition. He was one of the first to use a
steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...
in a
pulp mill
A pulp mill is a manufacturing facility that converts wood chips or other plant fiber sources into a thick fiber board which can be shipped to a paper mill for further processing. Pulp can be manufactured using mechanical, semi-chemical, or ...
, but his presses he preferred to have worked by hand. He died at Chiswick.
His nephew Charles Whittingham (1795–1876), who from 1824 to 1828 had been in partnership with his uncle, in 1838 assumed control of the business. He already had printing works at Took's Court,