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    the Pointers Fifty-ninth ' Pension Annua...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    The Late Mb. John Miles.

    w — =

    488 The Publishers' Circular May 15 , t ^ 6

    relates that c in 1827 an unpretentious little volume , " Poems by Two Brothers , " having

    the modest motto Hsec nos novimusesse nihil , published by J . & J . Jackson , Louth , was

    also stamped with the imprimatur of Simpkin & Marshall , and thus they had the signal

    honour of being Mr . Tennyson ' s first London publishers , though very probably the honour in this case was greater than the profit . '

    By that time , however , the firm had themselves become publishers , gradually obtaining

    the possession of several very valuable literary properties .

    It was in 1829 that Mr . John Miles entered the house , about the time of the retirement of

    Mr . Simpkin . In 1836 he became a partner , and the business henceforth was carried on

    under the designation of Simpkin , Marshall , & Co . A year later the failure of Baldwin &

    Cradock brought a very large increase to the transactions of the firm .

    Mr . Simpkin , after a long retirement , died in 1854 , and Mr . Marshall in 1863 .

    Ever since he became a member of the firm , Mr . John Miles undertook the financial

    management of the establishment . During the period of nearly fifty years , that is to say

    from 1836 to 1883 , the business under his control and that of his brothers , Frederick and

    " William , continued to expand , not only in the home connection , but also in the department

    of colonial trade . When in October of the last mentioned year Mr . Miles retired , the charge

    of affairs devolved wholly upon his remaining partners .

    Occupying an important position in the trade , it was only natural that the late Mr .

    Miles should have been intimately associated with its various institutions , especially inclining

    towards those of a benevolent character . He was one of the Vice-Presidents of the

    Booksellers' Provident Institution , a charity of which he held the position of treasurer for

    about twenty years , finally becoming one of its trustees . As a member of the Stationers '

    Company he took up his freedom and livery by patrimony in 1834 ; was appointed

    renterwarden in 1843 ; was admitted to the Court in 1878 ; and served as master during 1883-84 .

    At the time when Paris was in a si at 9 of siege Mr . Miles took a very deep in J ersst in the

    measures which were taken for the relief of the booksellers of that city , and waa

    aubsequently unanimously elected to the honorary freedom of the Cercle de la Librairie .

    Outside of trade circles Mr . Miles waa most promin -M ently before the public ^ througf ^ J h hia - • - —

    connection with the Corporation of tho New River Company , which he joined in 1856 aa a

    director , to be soon afterwards elected to the

    position of deputy-governor , and ultimately to the dignity of chairman and governor . He

    was also a director of the Union Assurance Company , and a Conservator of the river Lea .

    Charities in which he was especially interested were St . Bartholomew ' Hospital , of which he

    was a governor , and the Sanatorium at Bourne - mouth .

    Mr . Miles ' s demise must be considered a public loss : certainly it will be long before his

    name ^ M . perishes from the annals of ——¦ the book trade . One community especially deplores the

    removal of so large-hearted a friend . We refer to the district of Friern Barnet , where

    Mr . Miles resided for about five and thirty years , and of which he was Lord of the Manor .

    The local paper , the North Middlesex Chronicle , says : — The almshouses , the schools , and

    the poor were ever the \ object of his deepest sympathy and active support and help . Some

    fifteen or twenty years ago , he , practically at his own cost , rebuilt the parish church of

    St . Jaraes , and more recently he "built and endowed All Saints' Church , at Oakleigh

    Park . No one ever appealed for help to Mr . Miles and was turned empty-handed away . '

    The funeral , which the family wished to be as private as possible , took place at St .

    James , Friern Barnet , on Monday the 10 th current . He was interred in his family vault

    in the churchyard . In addition to his relatives , many friends attended to show their last

    respect to Mr . Miles' memory . . lOi i

    The Pointers Fifty-Ninth ' Pension Annua...

    the Pointers Fifty-ninth ' Pension Annual Corporation Report we . — observe From

    organisa that the tion benevolen continues t work to carried be wor on thil by y t his

    abl noticed y prosecu in our ted last . Our issue readers that the will annual have

    dinner Willis' of Rooms the , Corp on the oration 25 th takes current place , Earl in

    Beauchamp in the chair . , The Colonial and Indian Exhibition . —

    iden The tified — Art -- — — — — — Journal with v — - — —¦ - —— ¦ ¦ ¦ illustrated - — , m h - ^ k which — « - ^ pr ^^— - —^ h ~ m ^ —^ ~^* ~^^ ~^ F" ™^ has cat ~^ mr - ^~ w ^^ alogues *¦• ^™ been » " ^ ™ ^ p ^ B ^ m —^ — *^™~ w ^^ r special of ^^» ¦ b the *^» - — l y

    Great Exhibitions ever since the famous issue of 1851 willin the course of the next month

    , , tra or tion so , devote of the leading a special features number in to the the Colonial

    illusand South Indian Kensington Exhibition . The at letterpress present is open in the in

    be hands numerous of specialists , and selec , and ted the for illus their trations intrinsic will

    art merit . Art Exhibition Cataloguer . — From

    Messrs . Cassell & Co . we have received the New York ' National Academy m / Notes and

    ing Comp —¦ ' — m V * bookle ¦ ~^ lete — " ~^~ ' - ^^ ™ ^ Catalogue ^ . * t ¦•» , "m prettil Vi ^ ^^ - *^~ ^™ ^ p » i *^ ^ ' y w for printed ¦^* " dPi ^ ^ 1886 » «¦* «» * ^ p » ^¦ J » r ~ "^^ , a and ^ p ^^ v ^^ very ^^ - ^ r ^ m admirabl wi ^^ w * -m ^ interest ^* ^ m *¦* mm ^^ m ^ m ^ # ~ w f *^ ^™ ¦ y -

    arranged Catalogue . of Mr the . Fisher Summer Unwin Exhibition sends us of the the

    lioyal Society of Painters in Water Colours .

• Citation
  • Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), May 15, 1886, page 488, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_15051886/page/6/