Author: VALPY, Abraham John
Biography:
VALPY, Abraham John (1786-1854: ODNB)
The son of Richard Valpy (q.v.) and his second wife Mary Benwell, he was baptised at Reading, Berkshire, on 30 Oct. 1786. He had a good classical education first at his father’s school and then at Pembroke College, Oxford (matric. 1805, BA 1809, MA 1811, Fellow 1811). He had a second string as a printer, being admitted to the Stationers’ Company in London in 1807. In 1804 before he went up to Oxford he had published excerpts from Cicero’s letters, dedicated to his schoolmates, and in 1809 had printed for private circulation a small volume of his own Latin poems. The editing, printing, and publication of classical authors became his life’s work. From business premises in London, first near Chancery Lane and then, from 1822, at Red Lion Passage, Fleet St., he issued not only scholarly editions and collections but also periodicals dedicated to literary history and classics. There were English works in his stock too, notably a 15-volume Shakespeare (1832-4). The source of the attribution to him of a verse play, King Edward III (1814) is not known, but it would not be inconsistent with his interests and compositions at that time. On 25 Feb. 1813 at Burrington, Somerset, he married Harriet Wylde (d 1864). She was one of a family of 22 children but the couple had no children themselves. Valpy retired from business about 1837. He remained active in companies and institutions in which he had an interest: he was for example a member of the Royal Society of Literature and a Commissioner of Lieutenancy for London. He died at home in St. John’s Wood Rd. on 19 Nov. 1854 and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery. (ODNB 30 May 2025; findmypast.com 30 May 2025; Alumni Oxonienses; GM Feb. 1855, 204-5) HJ