# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Caulfield, James

​CAULFIELD, JAMES (1764–1826), author and printseller, was born in the Vineyard, Clerkenwell, on 11 Feb. 1764. Weak eyesight prevented him following the business of his father, a music engraver, who took him when about eight years old to Cambridge for the benefit of his health. Here he afterwards came under the notice of Christopher Sharpe, the well-known print collector. Sharpe gave him a number of etchings, and five pounds to purchase more. All Caulfield's boyish savings now went in the same direction, and he became a constant bidder for cheap lots at Hutchins's sale-room in King Street, Covent Garden. This induced his father to set him up in business as a printseller, and he opened a small shop in Old Round Court, Strand, where he was visited by Dr. Johnson, R. Cosway, R.A., and other celebrities. In 1784 Caulfield assisted his father, who had been engaged by John Ashley [q. v.] to engrave a large quantity of music wanted for the Handel commemoration. The additional capital acquired by this labour enabled him to remove to larger premises in Castle Street, Leicester Square. In his ‘Enquiry into the conduct of E. Malone,’ Caulfield tells us that ‘having been a considerable collector of materials for publishing the memoirs of remarkable persons, I began [in 1788] to engage engravers to carry on that work, and in 1790 I produced the first number of “Portraits, Memoirs, and Characters of Remarkable Persons.”’ Other parts followed at irregular intervals, without order, as the engravings were ready, and in 1794–5 appeared the complete work, embracing the period from Edward III to the Revolution. Caulfield's ‘remarkable characters’ are persons famous for their eccentricity, immorality, dishonesty, and so forth. The publication of Granger's ‘Biographical History of England’ in 1769 had given a marked impetus to the taste for engraved portraits. In the advertisement Caulfield announces: ‘Of the twelve different classes of engraved portraits arranged by the late ingenious Mr. Granger, there is not one so difficult to perfect, with original prints, as that which relates to persons of the lowest description.’
About 1795 Caulfield removed to 6 Clare Court, Drury Lane, where he issued a reprint of Taylor the Water Poet's ‘Life of Old Parr,’ with some additional portraits. In 1796 he visited Oxford, and transcribed a manuscript ‘Anecdotes of Extraordinary Persons,’ mentioned by Granger, which was in the Ashmolean Museum. In 1797 appeared ‘The Oxford Cabinet,’ with engravings and anecdotes from the notes of Aubrey and others. Malone then claimed a prior right to the manuscript; Caulfield was refused any further use of it, and the work was stopped when only two numbers had been published. This drew from the publisher his ‘Enquiry into the Conduct of E. Malone,’ who is said to have bought up the whole stock of two hundred and fifty copies in one day. In 1797 Caulfield successively occupied premises in William Street, Adelphi, and 11 Old Compton Street, Soho. His next literary undertaking was to assist William Granger (not the biographical historian) to bring out ‘The New Wonderful Museum’ in rivalry with Kirby's ‘Wonderful and Scientific Museum.’ It appeared in numbers, with upwards of a hundred and fifty portraits and plates, some of them familiar in Caulfield's previous publications. The work consists of descriptions of remarkable events and objects, and lives of eccentric individuals. The sixth volume is noteworthy for its accounts of booksellers. His ‘History of the Gunpowder Plot,’ chiefly biographical notices from original sources, came out in 1804. The ‘Cromwelliana’ (1810) is usually attributed to its publisher, Machell Stace, but the book was really edited by Caulfield. It consists ​of extracts from contemporary newspapers and other documents, and it was intended as a basis for illustration. Caulfield edited for the same person a series of reprints of Burton's (or Crouch's) topographical pieces, with full indexes and additional woodcuts, as well as a treatise on ‘The Antiquity, Honour, and Dignity of Trade’ (1813), which had come into the hands of the publisher, with other documents, from Penshurst. The writer was not a member of the Sidney family. The book contains a long list of English merchants who have attained great honour. The stock and coppers of Caulfield's ‘Memoirs, &c., of Remarkable Persons,’ passed into other hands in 1799. Originally published at fifty shillings, it became so much sought after, that copies were fetching seven guineas apiece, and R. S. Kirby arranged with the author to produce a new edition, which was issued in 1813. It contained all the characters of Granger's twelfth class, ‘such as lived to a great age, deformed persons, convicts, &c.,’ with many additions unknown to him, Bromley, Noble, and other authorities. In this edition the portraits are arranged chronologically for the first time. There are upwards of fifty more than in the former one, which only contained sixty.
In 1814 much scandal was caused by ‘Chalcographimania, by Satiricus Sculptor,’ a satirical poem after the style of Mathias's ‘Pursuits of Literature,’ full of ill-natured gossip about artists, print-sellers, and collectors. The verse is supposed to have been written by W. H. Ireland, and the notes supplied by Thomas Coram. Not many months passed before Caulfield published ‘Calcographiana,’ a serious and useful treatise, in which he vigorously denied ‘upon my oath’ any connection with ‘Chalcographimania.’ George Smeeton, his biographer, assures us that ‘the manuscript was offered to the writer of this sketch, who instantly refused it, and it was then sold to Mr. Kirby. Caulfield for a few shillings, while in banco Regis, did certainly read over the work, and added the note k on page 171.’ This note is one of the least important in the whole book, which bears in several places unmistakable signs of Caulfield's co-operation. In 1814 he issued, among other books, a useful ‘Catalogue of Portraits of Foreigners who have visited England;’ the ‘Eccentric Magazine,’ with lives and portraits of misers, dwarfs, murderers, idiots, and similar personages; a new edition of Naunton's ‘Fragmenta Regalia;’ ‘Memoirs’ of the same author; and the commencement of an important undertaking, ‘A Gallery of British Portraits.’ He now resided in Wells Street, Oxford Street, and until 1820 was chiefly occupied in the sale of engravings, the illustration of books, and the compilation of catalogues. That he should have been obliged to take to the latter occupation rather points to a decline of fortune. In more prosperous times he was patronised by the chief collectors of the day, among whom were Earl Spencer, Towneley, Bindley, Cracherode, and others. His next publication was a continuation of his ‘Portraits, &c., of Remarkable Persons,’ carrying the series from 1688 down to the end of the reign of George II. One of these, representing a lady known as ‘Mulled Sack,’ had sold for forty guineas. Another publication was ‘The High Court of Justice,’ in which the portraits of the regicides are decorated with skulls, crossbones, axes and chains. One of his sons seems to have now entered into business, as the last book is ‘printed and published by John Caulfield, print and book seller, Little Newport Street, Leicester Square.’ In 1821 Caulfield edited an edition of the ‘Memoirs of the Kit-Cat Club,’ and two years later he brought out three numbers of ‘Biographical Sketches of British History,’ of which sufficient matter was left to make three volumes. Almost his last undertaking was to edit the fifth and best edition of Granger.
Caulfield had a good memory. His knowledge of English history and biography was minute and extensive, while his acquaintance with engraved British portraits was unequalled by any person of his time. His liberality in imparting his information, and even the mysterious secrets of the trade, was viewed with great jealousy by his rivals. The numerous works written and edited by him usually attain a high standard of excellence. He was always fond of attending places of amusement, and at one time was conspicuous for neatness of dress. With advancing years Caulfield took to drink, became neglectful of his appearance, and troublesome in his social relations. He always worked hard and spent freely, but never lost the generosity which formerly led him to support his aged parents. In the last twelve months of his life, while only earning five shillings a day as a cataloguer, he kept his youngest daughter and her family. In January 1826 he broke his knee-pan, and was conveyed to the house in Camden Town of his brother Joseph. Here he remained six weeks, and then went to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where, after remaining ten days in King Henry VIII's ward, he died on 22 April 1826. He lies buried in the family vault in Clerkenwell Church. He married Miss Mary Gascoigne, who died in 1816, and by whom he had seven children; four survived him. He had several brothers, among whom was ​ Thomas, a comedian and mimic, of Drury Lane Theatre, who died in America, and the Joseph mentioned above, ‘a music engraver and most excellent teacher of the pianoforte’ (J. T. Smith, Nollekens and his Times, i. 222). A portrait of Caulfield was prefixed to his ‘Calcographiana’ ‘to supersede the multiplicity of caricatures of my person.’
The following is a list of his works: 1. ‘Caulfield's edition of curious Tracts: the Age and long Life of Thomas Parr, illustrated with seven elegant Prints from the Designs of Anthony Van Assen,’ London, 1794, 12mo, a reprint of Taylor the Water Poet's life, 1635. 2. ‘Portraits, Memoirs, and Characters of remarkable Persons, from the Reign of Edward III to the Revolution; collected from the most authentic accounts extant by J. C.,’ London, 1794–5, 2 vols. roy. 8vo. 3. ‘The Oxford Cabinet [ed. by J. C.],’ London, 1797, 4to. 4. ‘An Enquiry into the Conduct of Edmond Malone, Esq., concerning the Manuscript Papers of John Aubrey, F.R.S., in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford [by J. C.],’ 1797, 12mo. 5. ‘The new Wonderful Museum and Extraordinary Magazine … by Wm. Granger, assisted by many valuable articles communicated by J. C. and others’ [1803]–1808, 6 vols. 8vo. 6. ‘The History of the Gunpowder Plot, by J. C.,’ 1804, 8vo. 7. ‘Londina Illustrata,’ 1805–25, 2 vols. 4to; the principal part of the letterpress was supplied by J. C. 8. ‘Cromwelliana, a Chronological Detail of Events in which Oliver Cromwell was engaged from 1642 to 1658, with a continuation to the Restoration [ed. by J. C.],’ 1810, folio. 9. ‘Historical Remarks on the ancient and present State of the Cities of London and Westminster,’ Westminster, 1810; ‘The Wars in England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1625 to 1660,’ ib. 1810; ‘Admirable Curiosities, Rarities, and Wonders in England, Scotland, and Ireland,’ ib. 1811; ‘The History of the Kingdom of Scotland,’ ib. 1813; ‘The History of the House of Orange,’ ib. 1814, 6 pieces, 8vo, edited by J. C. from the editions of 1681–5, usually attributed to Richard or Robert Burton [q. v.], the pseudonym under which the publisher and author, Nathaniel Crouch, published his works. 10. ‘The Antiquity, Honour, and Dignity of Trade [ed. by J. C.],’ 1813, 8vo. 11. ‘Portraits, Memoirs, and Characters of Remarkable Persons from the reign of Edward III to the Revolution. A new edition completing the twelfth class of Granger's Biographical History of England, by J. C.,’ London, 1813, 3 vols. 8vo. 12. ‘Calcographiana, Guide to the Knowledge and Value of Engraved British Portraits, by J. C.,’ London, 1814, 8vo, portrait of J. C. 13. ‘A Catalogue of Portraits of Foreigners who have visited England, as noticed by Clarendon, Thurloe, &c. [by J. C.],’ London, 1814, sm. 8vo. 14. ‘The Eccentric Magazine [ed. by Henry Lemoine and J. C.],’ 1814, 2 vols. 8vo. 15. ‘The Court of Queen Elizabeth, originally written by Sir Robert Naunton under the title of “Fragmenta Regalia,” with considerable biographical additions by J. C.,’ London, 1814, 4to. 16. ‘A Gallery of British Portraits during the reigns of James I, Charles I, and the Commonwealth,’ 1814, parts i. and ii. folio. 17. ‘Memoirs of Sir Robert Naunton, Knt.,’ 1814, 4to. 18. ‘Portraits, Memoirs, and Characters of Remarkable Persons, from the Revolution in 1688 to the end of the reign of George II, collected by J. C.,’ 1819–20, 4 vols. roy. 8vo. 19. ‘The High Court of Justice, by J. C.,’ 1820, 4to. 20. ‘Memoirs of the celebrated Persons comprising the Kit-Cat Club [by J. C.],’ 1821, roy. 4to. 21. ‘Biographical Sketches illustrative of British History [by J. C.],’ London, 1823; only three numbers issued. 22. ‘A Biographical History of England, by the Rev. James Granger, fifth edition, with upwards of 400 additional Lives [ed. by J. C.],’ London, 1824, 6 vols. 8vo.
[A biographical sketch was contributed by G[eorge] S[meeton], Caulfield's friend and printer, to the Gent. Mag. 1826, pt. i. p. 569; reproduced in the Annual Register, 1826, p. 246, and the Annual Biogr. and Register, xi. 1827, pp. 441–3. See also Nichols's Illustr. vi. 441.]
H. R. T.