# John Timbs

John Timbs, noto anche con lo pseudonimo di Horace Welby (Clerkenwell, 17 agosto 1801 – Edenbridge, 6 marzo 1875), è stato uno scrittore, editore e antiquario inglese.

## Biografia

Timbs è nato nel 1801 a Clerkenwell, Londra, e ha studiato in una scuola privata a Hemel Hempstead. Nel suo sedicesimo anno fu apprendista di un droghiere e tipografo a Dorking. Aveva mostrato presto capacità letterarie e, quando ebbe diciannove anni, iniziò a scrivere per il The Monthly Magazine. Un anno dopo divenne segretario di Sir Richard Phillips, il suo titolare, e adottò permanentemente la letteratura come professione.
È stato successivamente redattore di The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, il Harlequin, The Literary World e viceredattore di The Illustrated London News. È stato anche fondatore e primo redattore del Yearbook of facts in Science and Art. Le sue opere pubblicate ammontano a più di centocinquanta volumi. Nel 1834 fu eletto membro della Society of Antiquaries of London.
Timbs morì il 6 marzo 1875 e fu sepolto nel cimitero di San Pietro e San Paolo, Edenbridge, nel Kent.

## Opere

Alcune di queste opere sono state pubblicate con lo pseudonimo di Horace Welby. Le sue opere continuarono ad essere rieditate e ripubblicate anche dopo la sua morte.

### Opere letterarie

* A picturesque promenade round Dorking, in surrey, 1822
* Signs before death, and authenticated apparitions: in 100 narratives, collected by Horace Welby, 1825
* Laconics, 1826
* Arcana of science and art: or, an annual register of useful inventions and improvements, discoveries and new facts, in mechanics, chemistry, natural history, and social economy, 1828
* Cameleon sketches, 1828
* Table-wit, and after-dinner anecdote, 1840
* A manual of cage birds, british and foreign: with directions for breeding, rearing and keeping them, 1847
* Wellingtonia: anecdotes, maxims and characteristics of the duke of Wellington, 1852
* Curiosities of London, 1855
* Things not generally known, 1856
* Curiosities of history, 1857
* Curiosities of science ...: a book for old and young, 1858
* School-days of eminent men, 1858
* Painting popularly explained: including fresco, oil, tempera, mosaic, encaustic, water-colour, miniature, missal, painting on pottery, porcelain, enamel, glass, &c., with historical sketches of the progress of the art, 1859
* Things not generally known, familiarly explained, 1859
* Anecdote lives of William Hogarth, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, Henry Fuseli, Sir Thomas Lawrence and J.M.W. Turner, 1860
* Stories of inventors and discoverers in science and the useful arts, 1860
* Mysteries of life, death, and futurity, 1861
* Anecdote lives of wits and humourists, 1862
* Anecdote lives of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, and Edmund Burke, 1862
* Notabilia: or, curious and amusing facts about many things, explained and illustrated, 1862
* Popular errors explained and illustrated, 1862
* Things to be remembered in daily life, 1863
* A century of anecdote from 1760 to 1860, 1864
* Knowledge for the time, 1864
* The romance of London, 1865
* Club life of London, 1866
* English Eccentrics and Eccentricities, 1866
* Something for everybody; and a garland for the year, 1866
* Strange stories of the animal world: a book of curious contributions to natural history, 1866
* Nooks and corners of english life, past and present, 1867
* Historic ninepins: a book of curiosities, where old and young may read strange matters, 1868
* London and Westminster: city and suburb, 1868
* Ancestral stories and traditions of great families, 1869
* Mountain adventures in the various countries of the world, 1869
* Abbeys, castles, and ancient halls of England and Wales, 1870
* Wonderful inventions: from the mariner's compass to the electric telegraph cable, 1870
* Clubs and club life in London, 1872
* Curiosities of animal and vegetable life, 1872
* Oddities of history: and strange stories, 1872
* Thoughts for times and seasons, 1872
* Doctors and patients: or, anecdotes of the medical world and curiosities of medicine, 1873
* Anecdotes about Authors, and Artists
* English eccentrics: portraits of strange characters and oddballs
* Strange sights and sporting scenes

### Periodici

* Harlequin. A journal of the drama, dal 1829
* The Literary World, dal 1839
* Yearbook of facts in Science and Art, dal 1853
* The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction