Joseph Johnson (publisher) - Legacy

Legacy

Johnson published more books in more fields than any other publisher of his time: "virtually every giant of the second half of the eighteenth century in medicine, science, religion, philosophy, political thought, education, and poetry published at least one work with Johnson". Johnson's publications helped to "demystify medicine" for the public and were integral to the scientific revolution. His periodical, the Analytical Review, can be seen as a precursor to the New Statesman. By the end of his career, Johnson had acquired a majority or monopoly share in the ownership of the works of: Shakespeare, Milton, Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, Samuel Johnson, and all of the major novelists of the period (except Samuel Richardson).

Johnson was known for fostering the development of new writers without worrying about maximizing profits, and for printing works on principle, even if he knew they would make little money. His risky publication of Joel Barlow's Advice to the Privileged Orders (1792), for example, sold 600 copies and barely broke even. He was also instrumental in the creation of the female professional writer, a role that began opening to women only at the end of the 18th century in Britain. By nurturing the writings of Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Charlotte Smith, Mary Hays, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Maria Edgeworth, he gave women the opportunity to demonstrate that they could be both successful and significant authors. Additionally, he published works promoting women's equality, such as Hays's An Appeal to the Men of Great Britain (1798), which called for an end to the tyrannical rule of men over women; Johnson's Analytical Review reviewed the work extensively and approvingly.

Johnson was remarkably adept at recognizing new writing talent and making innovative works appealing to the public. More importantly, he functioned as a catalyst for experimentation by bringing disparate authors together. While Johnson promoted his authors, he retreated into the background himself. His friend John Aikin explained that he had "a decided aversion to all sorts of puffing and parade"; Johnson's unassuming character has left historians and literary critics sparse material from which to reconstruct his life. For 200 years, it was assumed that all of Johnson's business records and correspondence had been destroyed, but in the early 1990s, one of his "letter books" was discovered in an old desk. It contained copies of letters written to business associates as well as friends from 1795 to 1809. His letters to other publishers discuss "paper, printing, engraving costs, delivery dates, breaches of copyright, binding charges and accounts" whereas his letters to friends include missives to Priestley, Maria Edgeworth, Erasmus Darwin, Charlotte Smith, and others. This material has allowed scholars to theorize more concretely about Johnson's life and work.

Johnson's publications were rarely luxury goods: he priced his merchandise competitively, but always within the reach of the middle class, the audience he most wanted to serve. One way that he reduced costs was by printing texts in the provinces and then importing them to London; many of Priestley's works, for example, were printed locally in Birmingham. Johnson did not take great care with the printing of many of his books; they are full of errors and poorly bound. But as they were often printed extremely quickly to respond to a particular event, this was expected by his contemporaries.

Before Johnson's generation of booksellers, publishers were not highly respected; Johnson's sterling reputation helped publishing to become a more reputable business. His advocacy of cheap books, his desire to foster extensive provincial and foreign connections are all a part of why Johnson has been called "the most important publisher in England from 1770 until 1810".