Thomas Hookham (c.1739–1819) was a bookseller and publisher in London in the 18th–19th centuries. He issued works by Charlotte de Bournon, John Hassell, Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Nougaret, Ann Radcliffe, Clara Reeve, and others. As part of his business he ran a circulating library, established in 1764 and by the 1800s one of "the two largest in London." The library continued on Bond Street until it was acquired by Mudie's ca.1871. In addition, about 1794 he opened the Literary Assembly subscription reading rooms stocked with periodicals and reference books.
His sons, Thomas Hookham, Jr. (1787–1867) and Edward T. Hookham also worked as publishers and booksellers in London. A third generation, Thomas Hookham and Henry Hookham, continued in the business into the mid 19th century.
Notes
↑Competitors included circulating libraries of John Bell, John Boosey, John Booth, Carpenter, Cawthorn, Cheesewright, Creighton, Thomas Dangerfield, Dutton, William Earle, William Lane, John Noble, David Ogilvy, Parson, Tegg, and Thomas Vernor.
↑Paul Kaufman (1967). "The Community Library: A Chapter in English Social History". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 57 (7): 1–67. doi:10.2307/1006043. JSTOR1006043.
↑Peter Garside (1991). "Popular Fiction and National Tale: Hidden Origins of Scott's Waverley". Nineteenth-Century Literature. 46 (1): 30–53. doi:10.2307/3044962. JSTOR3044962.
↑Ian Maxted (2007), "Thomas Hookham", The London Book Trades 1775-1800: a preliminary checklist of members, Exeter Working Papers in British Book Trade History