Edward Chapman (publisher)
Edward Chapman | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date |
| Died | February 20, 1880 (aged 76) |
| Occupation | Publisher |
| Known for | Co-founder of Chapman & Hall; publisher of works by Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Anthony Trollope, Eadweard Muybridge, Evelyn Waugh |
Edward Chapman (13 January 1804 – 20 February 1880) was a prominent British publisher who co-founded Chapman & Hall alongside William Hall. The firm gained recognition for issuing works by distinguished authors including Charles Dickens (during the periods 1840–1844 and 1858–1870), William Thackeray, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Anthony Trollope, Eadweard Muybridge, and Evelyn Waugh.
Early life
Edward Chapman entered the world in 1804 as one of nine siblings born to Thomas Chapman, a solicitor based in Richmond, and his wife Sophia Barrett. Unlike his brothers, who pursued careers in law, medicine, surveying, and engineering, Edward dedicated himself to the book trade. In 1830, he joined forces with William Hall to launch a bookselling and publishing enterprise located at 186 Strand, London. They acquired the modest periodical Chat Of The Week as part of their initial ventures. Chapman applied his literary acumen to select commercially viable titles, while Hall oversaw sales and the business's day-to-day management. By 1835, their focus had shifted primarily to illustrated fiction and regularly issued periodicals, either weekly or monthly. Arthur Waugh, who would later become chairman of Chapman & Hall, characterized Chapman as "a quiet and retiring man... full of information," whose opinions were greatly respected.
Charles Dickens
In 1835, the firm published Squib Annual of Poetry, Politics, and Personalities, created by illustrator Robert Seymour. The following year, Seymour proposed a series of sporting-themed illustrations connected by brief narratives centered around a 'Nimrod Club.' Chapman approved the publication of this concept in monthly installments featuring text by Charles Dickens, then aged 22. Dickens had been recommended by senior editor Charles Whitehead following his success with Sketches by Boz. This collaboration developed into The Pickwick Papers, chronicling the escapades of Samuel Pickwick and his companions. By May 1837, monthly sales surpassed 20,000 copies; Dickens was awarded an extra £500 beyond his contractual payment. At its height, Pickwick achieved over 40,000 copies sold monthly, resulting in an additional £2,000 bonus for Dickens and generating approximately £14,000 in revenue for Chapman & Hall.
Marriage
During a visit to his uncle Michael Chapman’s residence in Cork Street, Hitchin, Edward Chapman encountered Mary Whiting (circa 1814–1875), the daughter of his uncle’s neighbour. Although Mary was raised under strict Quaker principles that forbade such interactions, Chapman communicated with her by passing notes through a hole he made in a dividing wall. Defying her family's restrictions, Mary left home to wed Chapman on 22 September 1841 at the home of her brother Thomas Whiting in Leeds. The couple relocated in 1842 to Old Brompton Road where they raised three children: Margaret “Meta” Sophia (1842–1933), Florence (born 1845), and Reginald Forster (born 1849). In that same year, Edward employed his cousin Frederic Chapman (1823–95) as a clerk.
Chapman’s professional circle broadened in 1848 when he forged relationships with poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Introduced to these literary figures by his friend John Forster, Chapman became associated with eminent writers such as Thomas Carlyle and Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
Later career
Following the death of Edward Hall in 1847, Frederic Chapman, Edward Chapman's cousin, rose through the ranks of the firm, becoming a partner in 1858 and assuming full ownership after Edward Chapman retired from Chapman & Hall in early 1866. Subsequently, Chapman spent around ten years touring Europe before declining health prompted him to reside initially in Royal Tunbridge Wells and later at Elm Lodge in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, close to his relatives.
Edward Chapman passed away at Elm Lodge in 1880 and was laid to rest alongside his wife and brother-in-law, Thomas Whiting, in Hitchin Cemetery.
In popular culture
In the 2017 movie The Man Who Invented Christmas, which dramatizes the development of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol, Ian McNeice takes on the role of Chapman.