George Nicol (bookseller)

George Nicol
Born	Template:Birth year and age Liberton, Midlothian, Scotland
Died	June 25, 1828(1828-06-25) (aged 86–87) Pall Mall, London, England
Occupation(s)	Bookseller, publisher, librarian, auctioneer
Years active	circa 1769–1825
Known for	Bookseller to George III; involvement in Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery; publishing official expedition accounts; organizing major book auctions

George Nicol (circa 1740 – 25 June 1828) was a distinguished bookseller and publisher based in 18th-century London. In 1781, he was appointed bookseller to George III, a position he maintained until 1820. Nicol issued an enhanced edition of James Cook's third expedition in 1785 and played a significant role in John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery in 1786, managing the letterpress and striving to develop a typeface that balanced practicality with refinement.

Early life and career

Nicol was born in Liberton, Midlothian, Scotland, in May 1741. Around 1769, he relocated to London to join his uncle David Wilson’s bookshop on the Strand, eventually becoming his business partner. By 1773, Nicol had achieved sufficient prominence to receive an informal royal commission to acquire books on behalf of George III. Notably, during the auction of James West’s library, Nicol secured almost all available volumes printed by William Caxton, acting under the king’s directive to avoid competing with bidders focused on scientific or literary materials.

His enterprise developed over time. Initially operating as Wilson and Nicol, the partnership dissolved upon Wilson’s death in 1777, after which Nicol conducted business under his own name. From 1778 to 1788, his shop was located at 441 The Strand. He also inherited part ownership of The Gazetteer, a newspaper he managed until it ceased publication in 1797. In 1779, Nicol was named Bookseller to the Great Wardrobe, retaining this title until the department was disbanded in 1782.

In 1787, Nicol moved to Pall Mall, acquiring properties numbered 51 and 58—residing at No. 51 and operating his bookshop at No. 58. That same year, John and Josiah Boydell leased No. 52 for their Shakespeare Gallery project. By 1800, the business was rebranded as George and William Nicol to reflect his son’s participation. Around 1821, operations shifted from No. 58 to No. 51. Following George’s retirement in 1825, William continued the enterprise under both names until 1837 and then solely as William Nicol until 1855, with premises at No. 60 Pall Mall from 1839 onward.

Nicol published several official government accounts of expeditions, including A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean (1784), the posthumous publication of James Cook's journal, and the authoritative report on George Macartney’s Embassy to China in 1795.

Connection with the Boydell family

Nicol married twice; his first wife Elspeth Wilken bore six sons, among them William. By the mid-1780s, he had developed a close partnership with the family of engraver and publisher John Boydell. In November 1786, Nicol and Boydell attended a dinner at Josiah Boydell's residence that inspired the Boydells' Shakespeare Gallery initiative, a project in which Nicol was instrumental. He later asserted partial credit for conceiving an illustrated Shakespeare edition—a concept previously proposed without success to David Garrick. Other figures such as painter George Romney also claimed involvement.

Nicol actively championed the Shakespeare venture and enlisted William Martin, a typefounder from Birmingham, to craft the typeface for the edition. Martin initially worked from Nicol's home on Pall Mall. During this time, Nicol and Boydell encountered printer William Bulmer; together they established Bulmer and Nicol's Shakespeare Press at 3 Russell Court near Pall Mall. Martin’s typeface combined functionality with aesthetic appeal and was often mistaken for Giambattista Bodoni’s work. This font was later revived under the name Bulmer.

Although satisfied with their typeface design, Nicol and Bulmer faced unfavorable comparisons with Bodoni’s printing style. To demonstrate their capabilities, they produced what became known as the "Bodoni Hum": Bulmer printed Cicero’s De Officiis mimicking Bodoni’s style but credited their own press on the specimen’s final page. This strategic move enhanced Bulmer and Nicol's reputation and contributed significantly to elevating British book production quality during the late eighteenth century. William Nicol managed Bulmer’s press from 1819 until 1835. The formal partnership between Nicol and Bulmer concluded on December 31, 1819.

Beyond his professional association with the Boydells, Nicol developed a personal relationship with Mary Boydell—John Boydell's niece and Josiah Boydell's sister—who was a distinguished print collector and memoirist having traveled Europe with her uncle.

On July 9, 1787, while walking near Leicester Square, Mary survived an attack by Dr. John Elliot who fired pistols tied together at her cloak; though her garment caught fire she sustained only bruises. Elliot had been a suitor who believed Mary had reneged on a promise to marry him—and consequently lost access to John Boydell's £30,000 fortune—and was charged accordingly. Despite attempts during trial to plead insanity or claim unloaded weapons, Elliot was acquitted of attempted murder but convicted of assault; he died shortly afterward in Newgate Gaol after refusing sustenance.

Nicol wed Mary Boydell on September 8, 1787. She became renowned as a collector of prints and an author until her death on December 21, 1820; her collection was purchased by the Duke of Buckingham. Her prints and books were auctioned over multiple days in July 1822 by R. H. Evans; catalogues from this sale are preserved at Cambridge University Library. In December 1804, Nicol and his son joined Josiah and John North Boydell in attending John Boydell’s funeral procession.

Librarian and Auctioneer

In addition to his roles in publishing and bookselling, Nicol acted as a librarian for distinguished nobility such as George III, John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburghe, and Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton. Following the death of the Duke of Roxburghe in 1812, Nicol joined forces with bookseller Robert Harding Evans to oversee the dispersal of the duke's vast collection. He was responsible for compiling the catalogue and organizing the auction event. The sale, which lasted 42 days, generated £23,341—far exceeding the original £5,000 acquisition cost—triggering a surge of "bibliomania" and leading to the establishment of the Roxburghe Club. This triumph helped launch Evans’s prominence as a top book auctioneer in early nineteenth-century London. Nicol and Evans later partnered again in 1815 to handle the auction of the Duke of Grafton's library.

Later Life

Nicol withdrew from professional life in 1825, with Evans managing the auction of Nicol’s personal book collection that same year. Among the notable items was a vellum edition of the Gutenberg Bible, currently preserved at The Huntington Library. After enduring a lengthy illness, Nicol passed away at his Pall Mall home on 25 June 1828. He and his spouse were laid to rest at St. Olave Old Jewry.