George Woodfall (1767–1844) was an English printer.

Life

The son of

Henry Sampson Woodfall Henry Sampson Woodfall (21 June 173912 December 1805) was an English printer and journalist. He was born and lived in London. Biography Woodfall's grandfather Henry Woodfall (c. 1686–1747), was the author of the ballad ''Darby and Joan'' ...

, he was his father's partner in the printing business until December 1793, when his father retired. George Woodfall later moved to Angel Court, Snow Hill, where he carried on with his business until 1840, when his eldest son, Henry Dick Woodfall, fifth in a line of printers, became his partner. When Friedrich König, inventor of the steam printing-press, was in London in 1806,

Thomas Bensley Thomas Bensley (1759–1835) was an English printer known for fine work, and as a collaborator of Friedrich Koenig. He was an innovator in the fields of steam-powered printing presses, and lithography for book illustration. Life Bensley, the son ...

brought his fellow printers, Woodfall and Richard Taylor, into a consortium to develop a press. Woodfall, however, failed to see the potential. Woodfall was often chosen chairman at the meetings of the London master printers. In 1812, he was elected as stock keeper of the

Stationers' Company The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (until 1937 the Worshipful Company of Stationers), usually known as the Stationers' Company, is one of the livery companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was formed in 1 ...

, in 1825, member of the court of assistants, and master of the company in 1833–4. He was re-elected stock keeper in 1836, and in 1841, he was elected master for the second time. In 1823, he became a fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

, and in 1824, of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

. He served on the general committee of the

Royal Literary Fund The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is a benevolent fund that gives assistance to published British writers in financial difficulties. Founded in 1790, and granted a royal charter in 1818, the Fund has helped an extensive roll of authors through its lon ...

from 1820 to 1828, and, on his resignation, was elected to the council, an office which he filled until his death, with the exception of the period between March 1835 and March 1838, when he was treasurer to the corporation. He was a commissioner for the lieutenancy of the city of London. He died on 22 December 1844 at his house in Dean's Yard, Westminster.

Identity of Junius and legacy

An edition of the ''Letters'' of

Junius Junius often refers to: * Junius (writer), the pseudonym of an 18th-century British political writer of strongly Whig principles * The nomen of the ancient Roman * or , the month of June on the ancient Roman calendar * Rosa Luxemburg's '' Junius P ...

, published in 1812, was by Woodfall;

John Mason Good John Mason Good (25 May 1764 – 2 January 1827), English writer on medical, religious and classical subjects, was born at Epping, Essex. John Good's parents were the Nonconformist minister Revd Peter Good and Sarah Good, the daughter of anoth ...

wrote the preliminary essay and notes.

John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar is the name of: Academics *John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487 * John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar *John Taylor (English publisher) ...

went through the files of the ''

Public Advertiser The ''Public Advertiser'' was a London newspaper in the 18th century. The ''Public Advertiser'' was originally known as the ''London Daily Post and General Advertiser'', then simply the ''General Advertiser'' consisting more or less exclusively o ...

'' at Woodfall's request, looking for earlier works of Junius; from the search 140 letters were marked up, and of these 113 were printed as being "by the same writer under other signatures". Some were authentic, but most were identified as the personal opinion of Woodfall and Taylor. Woodfall left it on record, on his father's authority, that Junius wrote the ''Letters'' signed "Lucius", "Brutus", and "Atticus". His father also said on the

identity of Junius Junius was the pseudonym of a writer who contributed a series of political letters critical of the government of King George III to the ''Public Advertiser'', from 21 January 1769 to 21 January 1772 as well as several other London newspapers such ...

, to his personal knowledge, that Sir Philip Francis "did not write a line of Junius". Woodfall left in the manuscript a detailed review of John Jaques's ''Junius and his Works'' (1843), also doubting that Francis wrote the letters. Many of Junius's letters are in manuscript, which his father had preserved, passed to Woodfall, who printed the unpublished ones and added facsimiles of the handwriting. Woodfall left these papers to his son, Henry Dick Woodfall, from whom they passed, through Joseph Parkes, to the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. Another edition by John Wade of "Junius" letters was published in 1850 by

Henry Bohn Henry George Bohn (4 January 179622 August 1884) was a British publisher. He is principally remembered for the ''Bohn's Libraries'' series which he inaugurated. These were begun in 1846, targeted the mass market, and comprised editions of standard ...

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodfall, George 1767 births 1844 deaths English printers English book editors Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London