Background
He was born probably in 1821 at Braunston, Northamptonshire, England, United Kingdom.
He was born probably in 1821 at Braunston, Northamptonshire, England, United Kingdom.
He was educated in the schools of his native village and of Oxford but never attended the university.
At fourteen he was apprenticed to Charles Richards, a prominent book dealer of Oxford, to learn the bookbinding trade. He had been at the bookbinder's bench only a few months, when his employer realized that he would be far more valuable in the salesroom. After three years as assistant salesman, he became general manager and had charge of the buying of books.
While serving as apprentice he became interested in the temperance question and all his life was ready to write and speak in advocacy of the cause. During the last year of his apprenticeship, which ended in 1842, he became acquainted with the family of Mr. Winterborn, an architect and builder of Oxford, with one of whose sons he formed a partnership to carry on the business of a bookseller and auctioneer, and to one of whose daughters he was married in 1844.
In 1844 he published anonymously his first regular book, The Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, with Scripture Proof and References. In 1848 he sold his business and sailed on the ship West Point for New York City. From New York he soon removed to Philadelphia, where he obtained employment with George S. Appleton. He settled his family on a farm he purchased on Chestnut Hill, since 1854 within the corporate limits of the city.
In 1850 he was employed by Cooley & Kesse, book auctioneers at 191 Broadway, and later by their successors, Lyman & Rawdon. He devoted much time to the preparation of sales and auction catalogues, of which he issued about 150 during his life. His first important catalogue, for the collection of Samuel Farmar Jarvis, was issued in 1851. That year he was engaged by the rival firm of Bangs, Brother & Company, with whom he remained five years, cataloguing among other collections the extensive library of Americana brought together by E. B. Corwin.
The sale of this library drew attention to Americana and started Sabin on his life work, Dictionary of Books Relating to America, from its Discovery to the Present Time (14 vols. , 1868 - 84), known as well by the fly-leaf title, "Bibliotheca Americana. " In 1856 he opened a second-hand book store on Canal Street, New York, but after a year he returned to Philadelphia and at No. 27 South Sixth St. developed a good business with the South, where an active group of collectors was then to be found. The breaking out of the Civil War brought this business to an abrupt close.
In 1861 with H. A. Jennings he opened an auction room on Fourth Street in New York. Probably in 1865 he retired and devoted himself to the handling of rare books and prints, working steadily on his "Bibliotheca Americana, " for which he issued a prospectus on Dec. 5, 1866. He also was interested in publishing Sabin & Sons' American Bibliopolist and the Sabin's Reprints.
In 1879 he determined to give all his time to the Dictionary and gave up the business, which was, however, carried on under the firm name of J. Sabin's Son. His "Bibliotheca Americana" occupied most of his active hours during the last years of his life, exhausted all his spare funds, and left him a poor man.
He became known, not only in The United States, but in Europe, as an expert in all matters relating to books and prints. In twenty years he made thirty trips to Europe in quest of rare books and managed to attend all the more important sales of this period. He compiled the "stupendous" multivolume Dictionary of Books Relating to America, considered a "bibliophilic monument" and published the American Bibliopolist, a trade magazine.
(Excerpt from A Catalogue of the Books, Autographs, Engrav...)
(Excerpt from Bibliotheca Americana, Vol. 28: A Dictionary...)
He married one of the daughters of Mr. Winterborn in 1844. His sons Robert T. Sabin and William W. Sabin also worked in the bookselling business.
