DID YOU KNOW?

The earliest examples of what would today be considered a ‘radical’ or ‘ethical’ bookshop occur in the 1820’s. Particularly notable is Christopher Tinker’s shop which sold periodicals and books, as well as operating a circulating library. As an agency for Radical and Liberal newspapers and publications, Tinker’s shop became perhaps the first centre of radical ideals in the UK, resulting in his imprisonment (3 times), and eventual migration to the United States. A group of Socialists attempted to purchase the operation, but couldn’t raise the funds, so instead the shop was sold to Joshua Hobson, a similarly central figure in contemporaneous radicalism. Hobson would go on to publish several radical newspapers; Voice of the West Riding, Leeds Demagogue, and most famously, The Northern Star.