Thomas Davies

Thomas Davies attended Edinburgh University before migrating to London, where he found work as an actor. He set up as a bookseller, and failing, became an itinerant actor in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Davies eventually returned to London and became one of the first booksellers to publish reprints of renaissance poetry, including editions of Browne of Tavistock, Sir John Davies, and the plays of Massinger. They were not particularly successful. Perhaps Davies's greatest claim to fame is introducing James Boswell to Samuel Johnson; he was long a member of Johnson's circle.

TEXT RECORDS:

1772Works of William Browne: The Publisher's Advertisement to the Reader.

PUBLICATIONS:

Works of Thomas Browne [ed. Davies]. 3 vols, 1772.
The Poems of Sir John Davies [ed. Davies]. 1773.
Miscellaneous and fugitive pieces by the author of The Rambler [ed. Davies]. 2 vols, 1773.
Lives of Elias Ashmole and William Lilly, written by themselves [ed. Davies]. 1774.
The Works of Mr. George Lillo; with some account of his Life [Ed. Davies]. 2 vols, 1775.
The characters of George the First, Queen Caroline, Sir Robert Walpole, Lord Hardwicke, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Pitt, reviewed. 1777.
Some memoirs of Mr. Henderson. 1778.
Works of Massinger [ed. Davies]. 4 vols, 1779.
The Life of Mr. Garrick. 2 vols, 1780.
Dramatic miscellanies: consisting of critical observations on several plays of Shakespeare. 3 vols, 1783-84, 1785.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

Scottish
Anglican

Edinburgh University

actor
editor
book trade
essayist

St. James's Chronicle

James Boswell
Rev. John Brown
Rev. Richard Farmer
Henry Fielding
David Garrick
James Granger
Samuel Johnson
Rev. Percival Stockdale
Rev. William Thompson
Rev. Thomas Warton

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL.

"Anecdotes of the Author" in European Magazine 5 (March 1784) 199; obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 55 (May 1785) 404; Annual Register for 1785 (1785) 233; Letters in Letters between the Rev. James Granger, M.A. Rector of Shiplake, and many of the most eminent Men of his Time (1805); Nichols, Literary Anecdotes (1812-15); Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Thomas Davies:

1.	1785  Anonymous, "To the Memory of Mr. Thomas Davies" St. James's Chronicle (19 May 1785).
2.	1791  James Boswell, in Life of Johnson, 1791; ed. G. B. HIll (1891) 1:452-54.
3.	1804  William Tooke, Note to The Rosciad; Poetical Works of Charles Churchill (1804) 1:23-24n.
4.	1809  Percival Stockdale, in Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Percival Stockdale (1809) 2:40-41.
5.	1825 ca.  Joseph Cradock, 1825 ca.; Literary and Miscellaneous Memoirs (1828) 4:245-46.
6.	1832  John Taylor Esq., in Records of my Life (1832) 1:382-83, 2:41-43, 46-48.
7.	1848  John Forster, in Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith (1848; 1871) 1:283-85 &n.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Thomas Davies:

1.	1784  Anonymous, "Anecdotes of the Author" European Magazine 5 (March 1784) 199.
2.	1785  Anonymous, Obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 55 (May 1785) 404.
3.	1812  John Nichols, in Literary Anecdotes of the XVIII Century (1812-15) 6:421-43.
4.	1812  Alexander Chalmers, in General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17) 11:320-22.
5.	1842  C. H. Timperley, in Encyclopaedia of Literary and Typographical Anecdote (1842) 2:754.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1772  William Browne of Tavistock:   Thomas Davies, Advertisement to Works of William Browne (1772) 1:i-v.
2.	1780  Rev. Charles Churchill:   Thomas Davies, in Life of Garrick (1780) 1:317-19.
3.	1780  Richard Cumberland:   Thomas Davies, in Life of Garrick (1780) 2:275.
4.	1780  Oliver Goldsmith:   Thomas Davies, in Life of Garrick (1780) 2:141, 150-51.
5.	1780  Thomas Gray:   Thomas Davies, in Life of Garrick (1780) 2:200-02.
6.	1780  Aaron Hill:   Thomas Davies, in Memoirs of the Life of David Garrick (1780) 1:131-32, 155-57.
7.	1780  Robert Lloyd:   Thomas Davies, in Life of Garrick (1780) 1:319.
8.	1780  David Mallet:   Thomas Davies, in Life of Garrick (1780) 2:47-48.
9.	1780  Alexander Pope:   Thomas Davies, in Life of Garrick (1780) 2:202.
10.	1780  James Ralph:   Thomas Davies, in Life of Garrick (1780) 1:239-41.
11.	1780  Tobias Smollett:   Thomas Davies, in Life of Garrick (1780) 1:282-83.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(biography records)

1.	1772  William Browne of Tavistock:   Thomas Davies, Memoir in Works of William Browne (1772) 1:vii-x.