John Partridge (fl. 1623–1649)

PARTRIDGE (JOHN), bookseller in London, (1) Purse Court in the Old Bailey, 1641; (2) Sun in St. Pauls Churchyard, 1644; (3) Cock in Ludgate Street, 1645; (4) Blackfriars, going into Carter Lane, 1648–9 (1623–49). At the outbreak of the Civil War, Partridge added a trade in astrological books to his other branches of bookselling, and with H. Blunden, q.v., became the publisher of the writings of William Lilly and John Booker. Thomas Brudnell did a good deal of printing for him, and after Partridge's death in 1649 brought an action against his executors to recover a sum of money which he claimed for printing certain books. [P.R.O. Chancery Proc. before 1714, Brudnell v. P. Stephens and L. Fawne.] The details of the account are set out in a schedule, and there is also an inventory of the stock of books owned by Partridge at his death. [Library, January, 1906, pp. 32-45.] Mr. Sayle states that Partridge used a device of "the sun in splendour." This was not a device, it was only an ornament, a portion of an old wooden block, just as likely to have belonged to the printer as to the publisher.