Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Davis, Charles

by Henry Richard Tedder ‎

DAVIS, CHARLES (d. 1755), bookseller and publisher, carried on a considerable business in Fleet Street, and afterwards in Paternoster Row and in Holborn, opposite Gray's Inn Gate. He was one of the earliest who issued priced catalogues of second-hand books. He also sold libraries by auction, among others that of Dr. John Hancocke and part of that of Thomas Rawlinson. He died 31 Aug. 1755. Lockyer Davis [q. v.], who succeeded to the business, was his nephew.

[Nichols's Lit. Anecd. i. 364, 434, ii. 122, iii. 616, 624, v. 489, vi. 436, viii. 461; Gent. Mag. xxv. (1755), 428; Timperley's Encyclopædia, p. 695.]

H. R. T.