PITT, Moses (1639 - 1697) ‹ LBT 02626 ›
floruit 1668 (A)—1697 (B); Male, married
Life Events
| Event | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Birth | 1639 | Harris. |
| Baptism | 12 Mar 1639 - at St Teath, Cornwall - Cornwall R.O. | |
| Death | - before 8 Oct 1697 <Administration> in St.Gregory's Parish, London. |
Will
| Will (Ref., Piece, Image) | Will Dates | Intestate | Probate Dates | Administration Dates | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
PROB 11/440, Pyne: 178-218, 366/355 |
1697-10-08 | Administration to his widow - estate to be divided between his widow, Mary, and his son, John, who was to be given control of all his leases and property. |
Family Relationships
| Relationship | Name | Occupation | Comments | Conf |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| spouse: | UPMAN, Mary (mar. PITT) ‹ LBT 02989 › | 95 | ||
| parent: | PITT, John ‹ LBT 32842 › | Yeoman | 60 | |
| child: | PITT, John ‹ LBT 36267 › | Comment for child John PITT: Cf. Will. | 60 |
Livery Companies
| Company | Source |
|---|---|
| Haberdashers' Company |
Occupations (2)
| Occupation | Comment |
|---|---|
| Bookseller | Plomer, H.R. (1907);Plomer, H.R. &c. (1922) |
| Printer |
Was Apprentice to Master(s): (1)
| Name | Premium | Paid By | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| LITTLEBURY, Robert ‹ LBT 02622 › | In 1654 |
Addresses (4)
| Date | Address | Trade at Addr | Source | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1668, (1668-73) | Little Britain, - White Hart | Plomer, H.R. &c. (1922) | ||
| 1673, (1673-86) | St Paul's Churchyard, - Angel; over against the Little North Door | Plomer, H.R. &c. (1922) | ||
| 1680, (1680-2) | Oxford | Plomer, H.R. &c. (1922) | ||
| 1688, (1688) | Duke Street, Westminster | Plomer, H.R. &c. (1922) |
Events (3)
| Date | Event type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Mar 1639 | Baptized | St Teath, Cornwall |
| 1654 | Bound | to Robert Littlebury (LBT/02622) |
| 1 Mar 1686 | Appr - Freedom | Charles Shortgrave (LBT/14326) - fine 2s 6d for 'not being bound at ye Hall' |
SOURCES & TRANSCRIPTIONS
Transcriptions
- at St Teath, Cornwall ODNB - article by Michael Harris
Dunton, J. (1705), p.313
Plomer, H.R. (1907) p.147
PITT (MOSES), bookseller in London, (1) White Hart, Little Britain; (2) Angel, St. Paul's Churchyard, over against the little North door. 1666-81. Mentioned in the Hearth Tax Roll for the half-year ending Lady Day, 1666, as a bookseller in Little Britain. [P.R.O. Lay Subsidy 252/32.] Published in 1667 a Short Account of the life and death of Pope Alexander VII.
He became one of the most important booksellers of the second half of the seventeeth century. (See Arber, Term Catalogues.)
Plomer, H.R. &c. (1922), pp.238-9
PITT (MOSES), bookseller and printer, London and Oxford; London, (1) White Hart, Little Britain, 1668-73; (2) (a) Angel, in St. Paul's Churchyard, (b) over against the Little North Door of St. Paul's Church, 1673-86; (3) Duke Street, Westminster, 1688; Oxford, The Theatre, 1680-82. 1668-96. Son of John Pitt, yeoman, of St. Teath, Cornwall. On October 1st, 1654, Moses Pitt was hound apprentice to Robert Littlebury { LITTLEBURY, Robert ‹ LBT 02622 › }, citizen and haberdasher of London, and was made free of the Haberdashers' Company on November 8th, 1661. His first publication was Thomas Brancker's Introduction to Algebra, 1668. He continued to publish copiously. Shortly before 1679, when Dr. Fell was looking for some London men to manage the printing and book selling business on which the University of Oxford was embarking at his suggestion, he chose Moses Pitt as one of them, and it is interesting to read Pitt's own narrative of the transaction as set out in his pamphlet, The Cry of the Oppressed. He there says: "Having undertaken the printing of an Atlas or Description of the Whole World, which will be about Twelve volums in Folio ... and being much incouraged by Dr. Fell, then Bishop of Oxford, I took of him the Printing House at Oxford called The Theatre, where I have finished four of the volums ... and have Two volums more almost finished ... and did also purchase of the Bishop a great quantity of Books, to the value of many thousands of pounds. And did in the latter end of King Charles Time, print great quantities of Bibles, Testaments, Common Prayers &c. in all volums, whereby I brought down the price of Bibles &c. more than half, which did great good at that time (Popery then being likely to over-flow us)." He continued to publish in London throughout these years, and till 1688. The published volumes of the Atlas appeared in 1680-82. Had he confined himself to bookselling Pitt might have completed the publication of The English Atlas, and retired a rich man; but he launched out into building speculations, chiefly in Westminster, over which he lost large sums of money and weakened his credit to such an extent that his partners in the bookselling business and Bible trade [see Guy (Thomas) { GUY, Thomas (1644 - 1724) ‹ LBT 11909 › } ] cut themselves loose from him. In Pitt's own words, "they pretended that I ow'd them some hundreds of pounds, and they lock't up my Oxford-warehouse". But it was a relative, Adiel Mill { MILL, Adiel (1651 - ) ‹ LBT 12329 › }, who, taking advantage of Pitt's difficulties, advanced him money on exorbitant terms for his building schemes and induced the unfortunate bookseller to hand over to him his "stock of books, atlases, Atlas paper, Copper Plates, Pictures, Printing Press, letters &c.", afterwards forcing him to become a prisoner in the Fleet Prison for debt. Whilst there Pitt wrote a graphic account of the miseries suffered by the prisoners, which he entitled The Cry of the Oppressed, 1691. At the same time he endeavoured to raise money for them in various ways. Pitt remained a prisoner from April 20th, 1689, to May 16th, 1691. He married a Miss Upman { UPMAN, Mary (mar. PITT) ‹ LBT 02989 › }, perhaps a relative of the Rev. - Upman, to whom he refers in his Cry. After his release Pitt wrote An Account of one Ann Jefferies .. who was fed for six months by ... fairies, 1696.