Lawton Gilliver (d. 1748; fl. 1728–1748)

GILLIVER (LAWTON), bookseller and publisher in London, (1) Homer's Head against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street; (2) Westminster Hall. 1728(?)–38(?). Chiefly remembered as one of Alexander Pope's numerous publishers. No biographical or other details are obtainable. He is not mentioned by Timperley, and is only briefly alluded to in Knight's Shadows. At one time Gilliver appears to have been in partnership with J. Clarke, and at another time with Dodsley: but such partnerships were only in the proprietorship of books and not in the actual business. He had a share in the publication of Bayle's Dictionary. [Daily Journal, January 13th, 1735.] As an elaborate piece of caution, Pope assigned the copyright of The Dunciad to Lords Bathurst, Burlington, and Oxford, who afterwards assigned it to Lawton Gilliver. [Camb. Hist. of Lit.] In 1729 Gilliver obtained an injunction against Watson for printing a pirated edition of The Dunciad.

GILLIVER, LAWTON. A noted bookseller of the mid-years of the eighteenth century, seems to be first mentioned in the Daily Post of April 9, 1730. At this date his business premises were situated at Homer's Head, against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street. He was still flourishing in 1735, for in that rear he was one of the partners in the publication of Henry Carey's ballad farce, 'The Honest Yorkshireman.'

—Frederick T. Wood, 22 August 1931

GILLIVER, LAWTON. We can carry this bookseller's date back to 1729, when he published an edition of 'The Dunciad,' from Homer's Head in Fleet Street. It would appear also that we might extend his date down to 1747, when an advertisement appeared in the London Evening Post of a sermon "Printed for L. Gilliver at the Oxford Arms, in Warwick Lane." A correspondent in 'N. and Q.' 6 S. ii. 141, stated that in 'The Works of the Learned,' 1737–43, the names of Gilliver and Clark are found in partnership at Westminster Hall and also at Homer's Head in Fleet Street.

—Ambrose Heal, 3 October 1931