William Blagrove
title: "William Blagrove" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["businesspeople-from-boston", "19th-century-in-boston", "bookstores-in-boston", "american-publishers-(people)", "libraries-in-financial-district,-boston", "financial-district,-boston", "1800s-in-the-united-states"] topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blagrove" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | William Blagrove |
| occupation | Bookseller, publisher, librarian |
| known_for | Running the Union Circulating Library; publishing "a chaste collection of amatory and miscellaneous songs"; editing The Elements of Chess |
| spouse | Nancy Pelham |
| :: |
| name = William Blagrove | occupation = Bookseller, publisher, librarian | years_active = | known_for = Running the Union Circulating Library; publishing "a chaste collection of amatory and miscellaneous songs"; editing The Elements of Chess | spouse = Nancy Pelham William Blagrove was a bookseller, publisher and librarian in Boston, Massachusetts, in the early 19th century. He ran the Union Circulating Library, a subscription library on School Street, from 1804 through 1811. As a publisher, he issued "a chaste collection of amatory and miscellaneous songs, designed chiefly for the ladies" in 1808.
In 1805 his uncle, William Pelham, published The Elements of Chess, "one of the earliest works upon chess published in the United States, and the first of its kind printed at Boston. The editor of this volume — (that the book was edited by some chessplayer at the time of its publication is apparent from an exceedingly interesting appendix, containing much new and original matter) — was undoubtedly a nephew of Mr. Pelham's, named William Blagrove, who is known to have been an enthusiast of chess, and a player of merit."
Blagrove married Nancy Pelham; children included William Pelham (b. 1808).
Notes
References
References
- (1805). "Boston Directory".
- "Blagrove, William". WorldCat.
- Davies Project. "American Libraries before 1876". Princeton University.
- Charles K. Bolton. (February 1907). "Circulating Libraries in Boston, 1765-1865". [[Colonial Society of Massachusetts]].
- (November 1804). "Catalogue of Pelham's Circulating Library, no. 5 School-Street. Removed from no. 59 Cornhill". Munroe & Francis, printers.
- William Arms Fisher. (April 27, 1811}}. Cited in: {{citation). "Union Circulating Library". [[Oliver Ditson]] Company.
- (April 1808). "Monthly Anthology".
- Willard Fiske. (1859). "The book of the first American chess congress: containing the proceedings of that celebrated assemblage held in New York in the year 1857 together with sketches of the history of chess in the old and new worlds". Rudd & Carlton.
- (1894). "Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston, containing Boston births from A.D. 1700 to 1800". Rockwell and Churchill, city printers.
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