The history of Messrs. Longmans may be said to commence with the birth
of Thomas Longman in 1699. The son of a Bristol gentleman, he lost his
father in 1708, and, eight years later, was apprenticed, on June 9,
1716, to Mr. John Osborn of Lombard Street, London. His apprenticeship
expiring (he had come into the possession of his property two years
earlier), we find him, in 1724, purchasing from his master, John Osborn
(acting with William Innys as executors), the stock in trade of William
Taylor, of the Ship and Black Swan in Paternoster Row. Readers of
_Longman’s Magazine_ turn to Mr. Andrew Lang’s genial gossip, “At the
Sign of the Ship,” without recalling the origin of the title.
Henceforward the Ship carried the Longman fortunes as cargo, and the
prosperity of the vessel is not yet ended. Messrs. Longmans have used
nearly a dozen Marks, all of which have been suggested, like those of
the Rivingtons, by the sign of their shop, which has now grown into a
very imposing pile of buildings. Of these Marks we give two of the most
artistic and interesting. As taking us back into a comparatively remote
period in the history of printing and publishing in England, the Mark of
the Clarendon Press, or, in other words, the arms of the University of
Oxford, may be here cited.
[Illustrations: WILLIAM PICKERING.