I found the term book deliverer when my three times great-grandfather John Martin gave this as his occupation for the 1881 census. The family moved quite a bit across the North of England, from Newcastle to Hexham, then on to Ulverston, finally settling in Lancaster. When I tried to find out more about the role to add context to his life, I found next to nothing on it, yet there were hundreds of newspaper advertisements for them across the British Isles. So what was a Victorian book deliverer?
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| Glasgow Herald - Monday 02 June 1856 In the public domain, accessed thanks to the British Newspaper Archive |
A book deliverer was employed by a publisher or printer in a city or large town. For every book deliverer, there were several canvassers, who took orders in the surrounding area for publications that were due to be printed. If they gained enough orders, the publication would go ahead, and the book deliverer would call on the client with the part to which they had subscribed. Once a client had a book's worth of parts, they could be sent back to be bound into a book. Common topics for publication were encyclopaedias, natural history, bibles and gazetteers.
To gain employment as a book deliverer, first of all you must be steady. And just in case you weren't steady, you must also leave a sum of money with your employer as security, lest you disappear with large quantities of cash or books. I have seen amounts up to £50 that were requested as security; a large sum, but understandable I suppose when you consider the amount of money some of these men were carrying. One book deliverer was robbed of 28 pounds when he disappeared with a woman into a house in the back slums of Stamford in Lincolnshire. [1]
Secondly, you must be a respectable person. Often selling to people above your class, you must be smart and presentable. You'll often find them described in articles as respectably dressed, wearing trousers and waistcoats, and carrying pocket watches and spectacles. Some book deliverers were so smart, that they were ushered straight into the parlour by servants who assumed they must have been a visitor.
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| John Martin, book deliverer between 1875-1891. Image credit to Ancestry user LisaGH08. |
A good book deliverer must also be an intelligent person. They must write well and keep their own accounts. To the chagrin of their employers, some book deliverers were too intelligent for their own good! In 1859, the Lancaster Gazette reported that Andrew Armstong of Skerton, Lancashire, who had been previously employed by Blackie & Co, had been receiving commission under false pretences. He was given commission on new orders taken, but not when an item was returned and exchanged for another item. Therefore, he had written the item required as a new order under a false name, obtaining another commission of 2 shillings for it. [2]
The most important quality for a book deliverer, judging by the amount of times it is used in advertisements, was that he was active. It was a role which often entailed travelling across the county, and carrying a bag full of heavy items. It wasn't just one way carrying either; once subscribers had a full collections of parts to make a book, the book deliverer would collect them up and return them to be bound. In 1859, a Miss Lupton had sent 34 individual commentaries on the Bible off to be bound into a full book. [2]
Positions were often permanent for the right candidate, while salaries varied depending on the location and employer. In the 1850s, advertised salaries were between 20 and 30 shillings a week, plus commission, a good salary for the time.
It's likely due to his employment as a book deliverer that allowed my ancestor John Martin to leave behind the leather working area of Newcastle where he grew up. By the time he gave up book delivering in his mid-forties, he was able to use his knowledge of books and business to set up a bookshop instead; by the time of his death in 1920, his bookselling business consisted of two properties, a market stall and a warehouse for stock.
[1] Stamford
Mercury - Friday 19 March 1858
[2] Lancaster
Gazette - Saturday 22 January 1859
Various other newspaper articles, courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive.