Robert Sayer & Bennett

1725 - 1794

Robert Sayer, born in 1725, was a very successful Georgian publisher and seller of prints, charts and maps in London. He started in the trade by buying the business of the map and globe maker John Senex. He then became a partner with Phillip Overton and married his wife Mary in 1748, after he died. There is dispute to this though with some sources stating that Robert's brother, James married Mary. However, the well-known Overton business was absorbed by Sayer and he took over their address of the Golden Buck. This property became 53 Fleet Street, London when numbering was introduced in the mid 1760s.

John Bennett was first Sayer's apprentice and then became his partner in 1774 with the business named Sayer and Bennett and remaining at 53 Fleet Street. The name changed again in 1786 to Robert Sayer & Co. (sometimes called Sayer & Co.). Bennett's mental health had deteriorated and in 1781 he had been admitted to an asylum in Clapton. Robert Sayer died in 1794 and his business was taken over by Robert Laurie and James Whittle, his assistants. They changed the company name to Laurie and Whittle and continued into the 19th century before undergoing their own name changes.

Robert Sayer's success was built on innovation and having a good understanding of the print market in the second half of the 18th Century. He published a number of important cartographic works as well as Captain James Cook's charts. Sayer published engravings from pictures of a ... show more

Robert Sayer, born in 1725, was a very successful Georgian publisher and seller of prints, charts and maps in London. He started in the trade by buying the business of the map and globe maker John Senex. He then became a partner with Phillip Overton and married his wife Mary in 1748, after he died. There is dispute to this though with some sources stating that Robert's brother, James married Mary. However, the well-known Overton business was absorbed by Sayer and he took over their address of the Golden Buck. This property became 53 Fleet Street, London when numbering was introduced in the mid 1760s.

John Bennett was first Sayer's apprentice and then became his partner in 1774 with the business named Sayer and Bennett and remaining at 53 Fleet Street. The name changed again in 1786 to Robert Sayer & Co. (sometimes called Sayer & Co.). Bennett's mental health had deteriorated and in 1781 he had been admitted to an asylum in Clapton. Robert Sayer died in 1794 and his business was taken over by Robert Laurie and James Whittle, his assistants. They changed the company name to Laurie and Whittle and continued into the 19th century before undergoing their own name changes.

Robert Sayer's success was built on innovation and having a good understanding of the print market in the second half of the 18th Century. He published a number of important cartographic works as well as Captain James Cook's charts. Sayer published engravings from pictures of a

number of popular artists of the day including Johan Zoffany, which increased their popularity. He also catered for the growing demand of affordable prints by publishing many droll mezzotints. These were non-political, often humorous prints that were available coloured or non-coloured for 2 or 1 shilling respectively. They measured 14 by 10 inches so that they could be easily stored in a folio or fitted into a standard sized frame. He acquired a number of copies of William Hogarth's printing plates and undercut Hogarth's widow on price. Innovation came with his production of 'Metamorphis' books that could be transformed to change the pictures and were aimed at amusing a younger clientele. Robert Sayer's business had many strings to its bow, and so appealed to both a high and low brow market and their different sizes of wallet.

Perhaps a sign of his success was the large house he had built in Richmond for his family which would later become William the IV's country residence when he was still the Duke of Clarence. Zoffany also painted a family portrait of the Sayers with the house in the background.