John Almon

John Almon (17. Dezember 1737 in Liverpool – 12. Dezember 1805) war ein englischer Journalist, Verleger und Buchhändler, der sich vor allem politischen Themen und zeitgenössischer Gesellschaftskritik widmete. Ihm war u. a. daran gelegen, Parlamentsdebatten der Öffentlichkeit im Druck zugänglich zu machen und über vorgebliche Missstände in der Regierung aufzuklären. Ab 1761 war Almon in London zunächst als Reporter für den Gazetteer tätig und veröffentlichte A Review of Mr. Pitt’s Administration. Seine Texte fanden Anklang bei der Opposition. Im Jahre 1770 druckte John Almon schließlich einen der berüchtigten Briefe des Junius nach, was zu einer Anklage und Verurteilung wegen Verbreitung staatsgefährdender Schriften (seditious libel) führte.

Während der Amerikanischen Revolution engagierte sich John Almon weiterhin als politischer Autor und Verleger und gab den Remembrancer heraus. Sein Versuch, ab 1784 die Zeitung General Advertiser zu etablieren, scheiterte. Außer politischen Schriften veröffentlichte er Biographien und Unterhaltungsliteratur. Seine Korrespondenz mit Oppositionspolitiker John Wilkes, dem er freundschaftlich verbunden war, erschien nach seinem Tod.

Bibliographie

• 1762 – A review of the reign of George the Second. In which a new light is thrown on the transactions, and the effects of ministerial influence are traced and laid open
• 1762 – A review of Mr. Pitt's administration
• 1763 – A review of Lord Bute's administration. By the author of the Review of Mr. Pitt's
• 1765 – A letter concerning libels, warrants, the seizure of papers, and sureties for the peace or behaviour; with a view to some late proceedings, and the defence of them by the majority
• 1766 – The history of the late minority. Exhibiting the conduct, principles, and views, of that party, during the years 1762, 1763, 1764, and 1765
• 1767 – The peerage of Scotland a genealogical and historical account of all the peers of that ancient kingdom ...
• 1770 – The trial of John Almon, bookseller, upon an information, filed ex officio, ... for selling Junius's letter to the K----. ... To which is prefixed a copy of the information. ... 1770
• 1770 – A Candid Enquiry Into the Present Ruined State of the French Monarchy. With Remarks on the Late despotick reduction of the interest of the national debt of France
• 1777 – A Collection of interesting, authentic papers relative to the dispute between Great Britain and America, shewing the causes and progress of that misunderstanding from 1764 to 1775
• 1785 – An Asylum for fugitive pieces, in prose and verse, not in any other collection: with several pieces never before published. A new ed., including pieces not in the former edition, and several never before printed

Literatur

• The correspondence of the late John Wilkes, with his friends, in which are introduced memoirs of his life, by J. Almon, London, 1805.

• The trial of John Almon, bookseller, upon an information, filed ex officio, by William De Grey, Esq; his Majesty’s Attorney-General, for selling Junius’s letter to the K----. Before the Right Hon. William Lord Mansfield, and a special jury of the county of Middlesex, in the Court of King’s-Bench, Westminster-Hall, on Saturday the second day of June, 1770. To which is prefixed a copy of the information. Taken in short hand, London, printed for J. Miller, in Queen’s-Head-Passage, Pater-Noster-Row, 1770.

• Another letter to Mr. Almon, in matter of libel, Dublin: J. Miliken, 1771.

• The Revolution (in the Government of Great Britain) in MDCCLXXXII impartially considered. The second edition. [Signed: An Independent Whig, i. e. John Almon], London: J. Debrett, 1782.

• Free Parliaments, or a vindication of the Parliamentary Constitution of England, in answer to certain visionary plans of modern reformers. [By John Almon], London: J. Debrett, 1783.

• Memoirs of a late eminent Bookseller (John Almon), London, 1790.

• Bookseller as rogue: John Almon and the politics of eighteenth-century publishing, by Deborah D. Rogers, New York: Peter Lang, 1986.

• John Almon (1737–1805), journalist and publisher, by Lynda Lee Leitner, unveröffentlichte Dissertation, Aberystwyth, 2003.

Weblinks

• Biography of John Almon in the Dictionary of National Biography (1885–1900), Volume 1, by Edward Smith
• Die Briefe des Junius nach der zwoten ächten und vermehrten Ausgabe, aus dem Englischen übersetzet, Mietau und Leipzig, 1776
• Zwischen Ökonomie und Ideologie – der Buchmarkt des 18. Jahrhunderts in England