Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collyer, Joseph (d.1776)
COLLYER, JOSEPH, the elder (d. 1776), compiler and translator was probably the son of Joseph Collyer, a bookseller, who from 1704 till his death (1724) was treasurer of the Stationers’ Company. He edited the translation of Klopstock's ‘Messiah,’ made by his wife, Mary Collyer [q. v.], and was himself the author of: 1. A translation of Bodmer's ‘Noah,’ 1767. 2. ‘A New System of Geography,’ in conjunction with Fenning and others. 3. ‘History of England from the Invasion of Julius Cæsar to the calling of the Parliament in l774,’ 14 vols. London, 1774–5, 12mo. 4. ‘The History of Lady Sophia Sternheim,' translated from the German. He died on 20 Feb. 1778. His son Joseph [q. v.] became a celebrated engraver.
[Gent. Mag. xlvi. 95, xcviii. pt. i. p. 184; Nichols’s Lit. Anecd. iii. 607. viii. 723, ix. 809; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Lowndes’s Bibl. Man. (Bohn), p. 501.]