Page:A history of booksellers, the old and the new.djvu/357

317 AND JAMES NISBET. 317 In 1856 the Gentleman's Magazine was transferred to his house, and for some time he was, with two other gentlemen, conjoint editor; and in 1863 he retired in favour of his son James, devoting his time exclusively to the study of architecture. Among his best-known writings are " The Glossary of Architec- ture," and " An Introduction to the Study of Archi- tecture," both of which are considered standard works on the subject. In 1863, the year of his retirement, the agency of the works published by the delegates of the Oxford University Press was transferred to Messrs. Mac- millan and Co., and the ancient connection was alto- gether broken. Mr. James Parker, however, still continues the Oxford book-trade, though we believe the London house does the more important business. Having dealt thus cursorily with the firm of John Henry and Joseph Parker, of London and Oxford, we come to the somewhat similar title of John William Parker and Son, of the West Strand, London. John William Parker,* whose father was in the navy, was born in the year 1793, and at an early age entered the service of the late Mr. Clowes, printer, then only commencing business, and, at the age of 14, was bound apprentice to him. Here he took a strong dislike to the irksomeness of case, and it was found more profitable to employ him in the counting-house generally, where his retentive memory and his habits of close observation were quickly turned to good account. When, indeed, most of the records were destroyed by the outbreak of a fire, young Parker's an interesting obituary notice in the Bookseller.
 * For the facts in the earlier portion of this memoir we are indebted to