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{{Short description|English journalist, writer, socialist activist and publisher}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| caption = Holbrook Jackson in 1913
| image = Holbrook Jackson 1913.jpg
| birth_name = George Holbrook Jackson
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1874|12|31|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Liverpool]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1948|6|16|1874|12|31|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Bournemouth]], Hampshire, England
| occupation = Journalist, writer and publisher
| spouse = Frances Jones Jackson
| children = Gwendolen
| known_for = {{plainlist|
* ''All Manner of Folk, Interpretations and Studies''
* ''The Eighteen Nineties: A Review of Art and Ideas at the Close of the Nineteenth Century''
* ''The Anatomy of Bibliomania''
* ''Bookman's Pleasure: A Recreation for Booklovers''
}}
}}
'''George Holbrook Jackson''' (31 December 1874 – 16 June 1948) was a British journalist, writer and publisher. He was recognised as one of the leading [[bibliophile]]s of his time.

==Biography==
Holbrook Jackson was born in [[Liverpool]], England. He worked as a clerk, while freelancing as a writer. Around 1900 he was in the [[lace]] trade in [[Leeds]], where he met [[A. R. Orage]]; together they founded the [[Leeds Arts Club]]. At that time Jackson was a [[Fabian socialist]], but also influenced by [[Nietzsche]]. It was Jackson who introduced Orage to Nietzsche, lending him a copy of ''[[Thus Spoke Zarathustra]]'' in 1900.<ref>David S. Thatcher, ''Nietzsche in England: 1890–1914'', Toronto, 1972, p 221</ref>

Later they separately moved to London as journalists. In 1906, shortly after arriving in the capital, Jackson suggested founding a similar group to the Leeds Arts Club, the [[Fabian Arts Group]]. This eventually led to a split from the [[Fabian Society]], whose interest was economic and political. In 1907, Jackson and Orage bought ''[[The New Age]]'', a struggling Christian Socialist weekly magazine, with financing from Lewis Wallace and [[George Bernard Shaw]].

Initially Jackson and Orage co-edited, with Jackson setting the editorial line with [[Cecil Chesterton]] and [[Clifford Sharp]] (later the editor of the ''[[New Statesman]]''). In 1908 Jackson left and Orage continued as sole editor. Around this time, Orage's wife left him for Jackson, but refused to divorce Orage.<ref>John Carswell, ''Lives and Letters'', London, 1978, {{ISBN|0-571-10596-3}}, p 31</ref>

From 1911 Jackson had an editorial position on [[T. P. O'Connor]]'s ''[[T.P.'s Weekly]]'', a newspaper with a strong literary emphasis. He took over as editor from [[Wilfred Whitten]] in 1914. Later he bought the publication, and converted it into his own literary magazine, ''To-Day'', which was published 1917 to 1923, when it merged with ''[[Life and Letters]]''.

At the same period he set up in 1912 or 1913 the [[Flying Fame Press]], with the poet [[Ralph Hodgson]] and designer [[Claud Lovat Fraser]].<ref>Harding, John, Dreaming of Babylon. The Life and Times of Ralph Hodgson. (Greenwich Exchange 2008) https://greenex.co.uk/</ref> This was the beginning of a long association with [[small press]] and the worlds of [[typography]] and [[book collecting]], on which he wrote extensively. He was in the short-lived Fleuron Society (1923) with [[Stanley Morison]], [[Francis Meynell]], [[Bernard Newdigate]] and [[Oliver Simon]]. He did more, as a patron of the Pelican Press amongst others, to encourage the raising of production standards of books.

After [[World War I]], Jackson introduced Orage to [[C. H. Douglas]], who subsequently wrote economics articles for ''The New Age'', expounding his theory of [[Social Credit]].

== In popular culture ==
[[James Joyce]] singled out Jackson to [[Sylvia Beach]] as someone who "resembles" [[Leopold Bloom]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P3gBAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Holbrook%20Jackson%22%20leopold%20bloom&pg=PA539|title=Dictionary of Real People and Places in Fiction|last=Rintoul|first=M. C.|date=2014-03-05|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136119408|language=en}}</ref> The photo that Joyce dismissed as "not a good likeness" is online.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/items/show/9326|title=Holbrook Jackson, seated, smoking a pipe |website=University at Buffalo Libraries|access-date=2018-03-02}}</ref>

== Works ==
===By Holbrook Jackson===
* ''Edward Fitzgerald and Omar Khayyam: an Essay and Bibliography'' (1899)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007700095|title=Edward FitzGerald and Omar Khayyám. An essay and a bibliography.|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1899|publisher=Nutt|location=London}}</ref>
* ''The Eternal Now'' (1900)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/eternalnowquatra00jackuoft|title=The eternal now, a quatrain-sequence and other verses|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1900|publisher=London D. Nutt|others=Robarts - University of Toronto}}</ref>
*''Everychild: a Book of Verses'' (1903)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100794746|title=Everychild; a book of verses for children|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1921|publisher=Bean & Halliday|location=Leeds}}</ref>
*''Bernard Shaw'' (1907)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000288413|title=Bernard Shaw.|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1907|publisher=G.W. Jacobs; G. W. Jacobs & co.|isbn=0836954270|location=Philadelphia : London}}</ref>
*''Great English Novelists'' (1908) essays<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001016684|title=Great English novelists|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1908|publisher=G. Richards|location=London}}</ref>
*''William Morris: Craftsman-Socialist'' (1908)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007680853|title=William Morris, craftsman-socialist|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1908|publisher=A. C. Fifield|series=Social reformers seriesno. 3|location=London}}</ref>
*''Romance and Reality: Essays and Studies'' (1911)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001025403|title=Romance and reality; essays and studies.|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1911|publisher=G. Richard|location=London}}</ref>
*''Platitudes in the Making'' (1911)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/101985158|title=Platitudes in the making, precepts and advices for gentlefolk|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1911|publisher=D.J. Rider; M. Kennerly|location=London, New York}}</ref>
*''Great Soldiers'' (1911) as George Henry Hart (?)
*''All Manner of Folk, Interpretations and Studies'' (1912) essays<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000159959|title=All manner of folk; interpretations and studies|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1912|publisher=G. Richards, ltd.|location=London}}</ref>
*''Town: An Essay'' (1913)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011985053|title=Town: an essay|last1=Jackson|first1=Holbrook|last2=Fraser|first2=Claud Lovat|date=1913|publisher=Printed for R.H., L.F., and H.J. at the Sign of Flying Fame|series=Flying Fame chapbooks; no.2|location=Westminster}}</ref>
*''The Eighteen Nineties: A Review of Art and Ideas at the Close of the Nineteenth Century'' (1913)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100748724|title=The eighteen nineties; a review of art and ideas at the close of the nineteenth century|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1913|publisher=M. Kennerley|location=New York}}</ref>
*''Southward Ho! and Other Essays'' (1914) compilation<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000117182|title=Southward ho! and other essays.|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=c. 1914|publisher=Dent|series=The Wayfarer's library|location=London}}</ref>
*''Contingent Ditties. and Other Soldier Songs of the Great War by Frank S. Brown'' (1915) editor<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007696670|title=Contingent ditties and other soldier songs of the great war|last1=Brown|first1=Frank S.|last2=Jackson|first2=Holbrook|date=1915|publisher=S. Low, Marston|location=London}}</ref>
*''Southward Ho! and Other Essays'' (1914) compilation<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000117182|title=Southward ho! and other essays.|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=c. 1914|publisher=Dent|series=The Wayfarer's library|location=London}}</ref>
*''Occasions'' (1922) essays<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007661677|title=Occasions; a volume of essays on such divers themes as laughter and cathedrals, town and profanity, gardens and bibliomania, etc.|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1922|publisher=G. Richards ltd.|location=London}}</ref>
*''Brief Survey Of Printing History & Practice'' ([[Kynoch Press]] 1923) with Stanley Morison<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001159814|title=A brief survey of printing: history and practice|last1=Morison|first1=Stanley|last2=Jackson|first2=Holbrook|date=1923|publisher=A. A. Knopf|location=New York}}</ref>
*''Private Presses in England'' (1923)
*''William Morris'' (1926)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000671282|title=William Morris|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1926|publisher=J. Cape ltd.|location=London}}</ref>
*''The Bibliophile's Almanack for 1927'' (The Fleuron 1927) with [[Harold Child]], [[Osbert Sitwell]], [[W.J. Turner]] and [[Frank Sidgwick]]
*''Essays of To-day and Yesterday'' (1929) with [[Philip Guedalla]], [[Allan Monkhouse]], [[Ivor Brown]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102081220|title=Essays of to-day and yesterday.|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1927|publisher=[[G. G. Harrap]]|series=Essays of to-day and yesterday.|location=London}}</ref>
*''The Anatomy of Bibliomania'' ([[Soncino Press]], 1930)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001761735|title=The anatomy of bibliomania|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1931|publisher=Charles Scribner's sons|location=New York}}</ref>
*''The Fear of Books'' (Soncino Press, 1932)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010098099|title=The fear of books|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1932|publisher=Soncino Press; Charles Scribner's Sons|location=London : New York}}</ref>
*''William Morris and the Arts and Crafts''. ([[Oriole Press]] 1934)
*''Maxims of Books and Reading'' (1934)
*''Three Papers on William Morris'' ([[Shenval Press]] 1934) with [[Graily Hewitt]] and James Shand
*''A Cross-Section of English Printing : The Curwen Press 1918–1934'' ([[Curwen Press]] 1935)
*''The Early History of the Double Crown Club'' (1935)
*''Opening Speech at an Exhibition of Percy Smith's Typographical work'' (First Edition Club, 1935)
*''Of the Uses of Books'' (1937)
*''Shopping and Taste: a lecture'' (1937)
*''The Printing of Books'' (1938)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001757322|title=The printing of books|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1947|publisher=Cassell & company, ltd.|location=London, Toronto etc.}}</ref>
*''The Aesthetics of Printing.'' (1939)
*''The Story of Don Vincente'' ([[Corvinus Press]] 1939)
*''Bookman's Holiday: A Recreation for Booklovers'' ([[Faber & Faber]] 1945)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000160847|title=Bookman's holiday, a recreation for booklovers|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1945|publisher=Faber & Faber limited|location=London}}</ref>
*''The Reading of Books'' ([[Faber and Faber]] 1946)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001010380|title=The reading of books|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1947|publisher=C. Scribner's Sons|location=New York}}</ref>
*''The Hunting of Books'' (1947)
*''The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear'' (Faber & Faber, 1947)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006156282|title=The complete nonsense of Edward Lear|last1=Lear|first1=Edward|last2=Jackson|first2=Holbrook|date=1947|publisher=Faber and Faber|location=London|isbn=9780571064403 }}</ref>
*''On Art and Socialism. Essays and Lectures by William Morris'' (John Lehmann, 1947) editor
*''Dreamers of Dreams: The Rise and Fall of 19th Century Idealism'' (Faber & Faber, 1948) essays<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001016407|title=Dreamers of dreams; the rise and fall of 19th century idealism.|last=Jackson|first=Holbrook|date=1948|publisher=Faber and Faber|location=London}}</ref>
*''Pleasures of Reading'' (1948)
*''Typophily'' (1954) reprinted essay
*''William Caxton'' (the first English printer) (Oriole Press, 1959)
*''Sanctuary of Printing: the Record Room at the University Press, Oxford''
*''Thoughts on Book Design'' (1968) with Paul Valery and Stanley Morison
*''Platitudes Undone: a Facsimile Edition of Holbrook Jackson's "Platitudes in the Making" With Original Handwritten Responses by G. K. Chesterton'' ([[Ignatius Press]] 1997)

===About Holbrook Jackson===
*Sir Francis Meynell, ''The Holbrook Jackson Library: A Memorial Catalogue with an Appreciation'', Bishop's Stortford: Elkin Mathews, 1951 (Elkin Mathews Catalogue 119)

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* [http://www.authorandbookinfo.com/cgi-bin/auth.pl?J000096 Author and Book Info.com]

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=George Holbrook Jackson |sopt=t}}
* {{Librivox author |id=8767}}
* Archival Material at {{wikidata|qualifier|property|P485|Q24568958|P856|format=\[%q %p\]}}
*[https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_4078936 Finding aid to Holbrook Jackson papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Holbrook}}
[[Category:1874 births]]
[[Category:1948 deaths]]
[[Category:English bibliophiles]]
[[Category:English essayists]]
[[Category:English male journalists]]
[[Category:English literary critics]]
[[Category:Journalists from Liverpool]]
[[Category:Publishers (people) from Liverpool]]
[[Category:English male essayists]]
[[Category:English book and manuscript collectors]]

Holbrook Jackson - Revision history

imported>Pmf-ks at 10:08, 30 April 2025