Elliot Stock

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Elliot Stock''' (1838 – 1 March 1911) was an English publisher and bibliophile who collected first editions.<ref name=Obit>{{cite journal|title=Obituary: Mr. Elliot Stock|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=iau.31858029268293;view=1up;seq=301|journal=The Athenæum|date=11 March 1911|number=4350|pages=277–278}}</ref> The publishing company that bore his name was in business from 1859 to 1939.<ref name=DictEntry>{{cite book|editor=Brake, Laurel|editor2=Demoor, Marysa|year=2009|chapter=Elliot Stock|title=Dictionary of Nineteenth-century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland|publisher=Academia Press|page=198|isbn=9789038213408|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVrUTUelE6YC&pg=PA198}}</ref>

==Early life and career== His father was wealthy but died when Elliot was in his infancy. After education at Amersham Grammar School, Elliot Stock first worked for the firm of Piper, Stephenson, and Spence and then in 1857 became an apprentice to Mr. B. L. Green, a book-seller at 62, Paternoster Row.

==Publisher== In 1859 Stock acquired the business. B. L. Green was the brother of Dr. Green of the Religious Tract Society. In its early years, the firm of Elliot Stock was primarily engaged in publishing religious works.

In 1877 Stock published facsimile first editions of ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', ''The Compleat Angler'' and George Herbert's ''The Temple''. Every effort was made to recreate the actual type, paper, and binding of the original works in these facsimiles.<ref>McKitterick, D. (2013). ''Old books, new technologies: The representation, conservation and transformation of books since 1700''.</ref> Stock's firm published many other notable facsimile first editions, such as those for ''Robinson Crusoe'', ''Rasselas'' and ''The Vicar of Wakefield''.<ref name=Obit/> ''The Antiquary'' was published by the Elliot Stock company from December 1879 to 1915. The monthly ''Book-Prices Current'' was started in 1887 by the firm of Elliot Stock and became a standard reference for book dealers and collectors.<ref name=DictEntry/> Beginning in 1886 Stock published a book series titled ''The Book-Lover's Library'' under the editorship of Henry B Wheatley.

==Personal life== [[File:Stock, Elliiot 1911.jpg|thumb|150px|Grave of Elliot Stock in Highgate Cemetery]] In 1866 Stock married Fanny Bellin, the daughter of Samuel Bellin, an artist and engraver. Stock became an amateur painter and poet and acquired many artistic and literary friends and acquaintances. He was also a bird-watcher and athlete (winning a silver cup in rowing).<ref name=Obit/><ref name=DictEntry/>

Elliot Stock and Fanny R. Bellin were the parents of four sons and a daughter. Their son Ernest Elliot Stock (1869–1957) was the author of ''The Ring of Ug, and Other Weird Tales''<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review: ''The Ring of Ug, and Other Weird Tales'' by E. Elliot Stock|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=iau.31858029268293;view=1up;seq=297|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407160836/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=iau.31858029268293;view=1up;seq=297|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 April 2022|journal=The Athenæum|date=11 March 1911|number=4350|pages=273–274}}</ref> and publications on climbing in the Alps.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Stock, Ernest Elliot|title=A Scramble on the Wellen Küppe|journal=The Leisure Hour|year=1904|volume= 4, 1903–1904|pages= 1025–1029|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yOpMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1025}}</ref>

Stock died on 1st March 1911 and was buried in the dissenters section of the west side of Highgate Cemetery.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stock |first1=Elliot |title=Highgate Cemetery |url=https://highgate.burialgrounds.co.uk/mapmanagement/#/memorialmanagement/bc6da438-210b-4e20-83a9-e2fc73521924/grave_slab/o/persons/01b847bf-457f-4705-b02c-7c5d1bd84678/4d53c30f-a730-449f-81d6-40791d488704?tab=0 |website=Burial Grounds |access-date=20 September 2025}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{cite book|author=Stock, Elliot|title=A Publisher's Playground|year=1888|location=London|publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench & Co|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jllHAAAAYAAJ}} (63-page book of poetry)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stock, Elliot}} Category:1838 births Category:1911 deaths Category:Burials at Highgate Cemetery Category:Publishers (people) from London Category:19th-century English poets Category:19th-century English businesspeople Category:English book and manuscript collectors