English antiquary and bibliographer
Thomas Park (1759–1834) was an English antiquary and bibliographer, also known as a literary editor.
Life.
He was the son of parents who lived at East Acton, Middlesex. When ten years old he was sent to a grammar school at Heighington, County Durham, and remained there for more than five years.
He was brought up as an engraver, and produced mezzotint portraits, including John Thomas, bishop of Rochester, and Miss Penelope Boothby, after Sir Joshua Reynolds; Mrs. Jordan as the Comic Muse, after John Hoppner; and a Magdalen after Ubaldo Gandolfi. In 1797 he abandoned this career, and devoted himself to literature and the study of antiquities. In London he lived in turn in Piccadilly; Marylebone High Street, where Richard Heber used to drink tea two or three times a week; Durweston Street, Portman Square; and Hampstead, where he was involved with local charities.
On 11 March 1802 he was admitted as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries; but he resigned in 1815 for financial reasons. He sold his books to Thomas Hill (1760–1840), with the condition that he could still consult them. Later they went to Longmans, and, after being catalogued by A. F. Griffiths in "Bibliotheca Anglo-Poetica" were dispersed by sale. He edited many works, and assisted leading antiquaries in their researches.
He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1821.
Park died at Church Row, Hampstead, where he had resided for thirty years, on 26 November 1834, aged 75.
Works.
Park wrote:
He also wrote some cards of 'Christian Remembrance: a Plain Clue to the Gospel of Peace.’ Park's name is included in John Julian's "Hymnology" for his hymn "My soul, praise the Lord; speak good of His name".
Several poetical articles were supplied by him for John Nichols's 'Progresses of Queen Elizabeth;' some of his notes and illustrations were added to W. C. Hazlitt's edition of "Diana, Sonnets and other Poems", by Henry Constable, 1859; and he was a contributor to the "Gentleman's Magazine" and the "Monthly Mirror". Letters to and from him are printed in several places. Cowper's letters to him, originally printed in the 'Monthly Mirror,' were in Southey's edition of the "Life and Correspondence of Cowper".
Editor.
Southey praised Park to Longmans as the best editor for the "Bibliotheca Britannica" which they projected. Among the works which he edited were:
Park is sometimes said to have been associated with Edward Dubois in editing, in 1817, the works in two volumes of Sir John Mennes and James Smith, and there was reprinted at the Lee Priory Press in 1818 under his editorship a volume called "The Trumpet of Fame, written by H. R. 1595."
Park's assistance was acknowledged by Sir Egerton Brydges in the "Restituta" (vol. iv. p. xi), and in prefaces to the volumes of the "Censura Literaria". He helped George Ellis in his various collections of poetry and romance; he aided Joseph Ritson in the "Bibliographia Poetica" and the unpublished "Bibliographia Scotica", though their friendly relationship was broken off before Ritson's death; and George Steevens, when engaged in editing Shakespeare, called on him for advice and information. At one time he planned to edit Thomas Warton's "History of English Poetry"; his notes were added to the 1824 edition of that work, and were incorporated under their proper headings in the 1840 edition.
Robert Bloomfield, the ploughboy poet, was introduced to him, and he superintended the publication, and corrected the various editions, of Bloomfield's "Poems". He also helped the posthumous reputation of Henry Kirke White.
Family.
His only son John James Park died young in June 1833. He left four daughters, the survivors of a large family. His wife Maria Hester Park who long suffered from ill-health, died at Hampstead on 7 June 1813, aged 52. (She must be distinguished from Maria Frances Parke, married name Mrs. Beardmore, a singer and musical composer, daughter of John Parke.)
Notes.
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