3.2 Paternoster Row and Paternoster Square

Paternoster Row became a synonym for the English book trade fairly early. When constructed in the aftermath of the Great Fire the street stretched from Warwick Lane in the west, and ran more or less in a straight line, at a slight angle to St Paul’s Church Yard road joining it at the beginnings of Cheapside in the east. Today, the western end is still just visible in the shape of Paternoster Lane but all the rest of the street has vanished. In the 1880s it was a busy road with 68 registered buildings numbered 1 to 35 westwards from Cheapside on the north side and running 37 to 68 on the south. At the beginning of the 19th century Newgate Market was situated at the back of the Row, with an alley between buildings 30 and 31 giving direct access. Formerly a meat market it had now been taken over by the book trade and where the market square had stood were Paternoster Square and Paternoster Buildings (Fig. 40.). A little further along the Row, situated between houses 19 and 20 was a small alley leading to Lovell´s Court, another hive of activity in the flourishing book trade.


  

Fig. 40. Situation of Paternoster Row, Paternoster Square and Paternoster Buildings.

 

There are several interesting stories associated with Paternoster Row. There are two apparent sources for its name: it acquired its name as illiterate priests walking through the street would be chanting their Pater Noster (while learned brothers chanted the psalms); and / or it was here that the paternoster beads were made and sold. Before about 1750 there were no numbers for the buildings and many shopkeepers used a sign to distinguish themselves from rivals. Hence, Longman from the early 1800s was at premises formerly at the sign of the Ship (e.g., B Took about 1680), or Moses Pitt, publisher of an ill-fated atlas, was at the Angel in 1683. Magazine Day was quite an event in the Row. It was on the last day of the month that the next issues of the ever more popular magazines or monthly number of a serial publication would be sold on the streets. However, by the 1880s the importance of the industry had increased and that of the Magazine Day had declined due to the increasing number of weekly magazines and newspapers on offer.

According to Kelly´s Directory for 1882, the Eyre Brothers´ offices were at 26 and 27 Paternoster Square (and used on the imprint). Occupying the space vacated by the meat market, Paternoster Square ran from the left as you entered through the alleyway and numbering continued clockwise to number 31 back to the (unnamed) alley back to the Row. While listing every occupant of each building Kelly has omitted to mention exactly where Rose Street is situated (it was opposite the entrance from the Row) and numbers 7, 8, 9 and 10 are likewise missing at the point where White Hart Street enters the square. The centre is taken up with a block known as Paternoster Buildings. See Section 4.2 for a list of those involved in the book trade and for a more detailed map of the street at the end of the 19th century.

Along Pasternoster Row at this time there were some 27 publishers alone. The offices of many printed works were also located here such as, Weekly Tract Society, the Edinburgh Review Office or of the Hansard´s Parliamentary Debates. St. Pauls Buildings occupied 28, 29 and 30 with a total of 14 firms resident, 3 of which were publishers. At Lovell´s Court the scene was even more intense as all five companies occupying the 12 premises were either printers, publishers, bookbinders, bookbinders´ tool cutters or letter clip makers.

Although number 10 Paternoster Square, the address of the brothers from 1877 until 1879-80, is not listed, 26 and 27 must have been reasonably large premises to the southeast corner of the square. Altogether 11 publishers occupy the square along with 4 booksellers, 2 printers, 3 bookbinders and another 7 in assorted book trades. In Paternoster Buildings opposite, a further 6 publishers were housed along with a bookseller and offices of many publications. At number 6 the company of W A K Johnston, geographers was sharing the premises with MacDougle and Dolling, engravers.

St Paul’s Chambers in Paternoster Row, the address used in the various Butcher imprints from 1873 to 1876 (Fig. 32.), is not named in the Kelly directory of 1882, but there is a building registered as St Paul’s Buildings at 28, 29 and 30 Paternoster Row. There is, however, a St Paul´s Chambers listed at 19, 21 and 23 Ludgate Hill, only a few blocks from W H Hood´s premises. St. Paul´s Chambers (Butcher?) is between Creed Lane and Ludgate Sq. and St. Martin´s House (Hood) would be a few houses further along in the direction of Pilgrim Street (bottom left on Fig. 40.). Ludgate Street ran from the western end of St. Paul´s Church Yard and was linked to Paternoster Row by Ave Maria Lane.

 

 

Fig. 41. Somerset with Butcher, Cole & Co. title and St Paul´s Chambers in imprint.

 

The address used by G P Butcher in the directories of 1880-1881 was Manchester Chambers in Paternoster Square. There is no such address in the 1882 directory but this could also have been the Eyre premises.

Opposite the Eyre Brothers offices is Paternoster Buildings and No. 6 is occupied by W A K Johnston, who would become one of the leading mapmakers of the time, providing maps for many works including local guides. Not only did they provide sectional maps for Cassell´s Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1898) but also transfers for The English Riviera: a guide to Sidmouth by Mcvean and Williams (1894). The premises were shared by MacDougle & Dolling, engravers. The map of London in the first two Hotels guides was engraved for Eyre Brothers and signed Dolling. This might have been James Dolling, engraver, living at Carter Lane in 1891 (Fig. 42.).[i][ii]

Those seeking Paternoster Row and its side streets will largely be disappointed today. The area behind St Paul’s was badly destroyed in the Second World War. The streets were reorganised and the original layout completely changed although a few streets in the neighbouring area are intact such as Warwick Lane, Ave Maria Lane and Amen Corner, retaining their links to pre-Wren days. In the more recent past the whole area has been redeveloped to make way for newer, more modern buildings. Paternoster Square is still there (but not in its original position) together with a new Paternoster Square Column but the buildings facing you are all from c.2000 including the new London Stock Exchange.



Fig. 36. Eyre Brothers Map of London signed Dolling Sc.




[i] For more on Paternoster Row read Kathryn Kane´s article at https://regencyredingote.wordpress.com/2019/01/11/paternoster-row-and-the-book-trade-in-britain/.

[ii] For more about Magazine Day read Allen-Emerson, Michelle. “On Magazine Day.” Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History. Ed. Dino Franco Felluga. Extension of Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net. Web. (2022).


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