In the early nineteenth century, the publishing house of Taylor & Hessey brought out the work of Keats, Clare, Hazlitt, De Quincey, Carlyle, Lamb, Coleridge and many more of the most important literary figures of the time, as well as the great literary journal of the period, the London Magazine. Tim Chilcott here examines the life and work of John Taylor, the firm's founder.

The account, originally published in 1972 and incorporating a large amount of hitherto unpublished material, is a fascinating piece of literary, social and publishing history, showing clearly the relationship between the author and his publisher, and in turn between the publisher and the reading public.