Note 29 — Printers as Men of the World
Reading edition
John Bell (1749-1831). Bell was a journalist and impresario in printing whose enterprises ranged from publishing fashion magazines to sets of Shakespeare. If he did not entirely realize the ambition announced when he started his foundry—"... I am not without hopes of raising my fame in this pursuit beyond the reach of competition in any country whatever"—the type which bears his name remains today his best memorial.