Biography

Stock was the son of a weal­thy fa­ther from an East Ang­li­can fa­mi­ly that set­tled in Es­sex, and a mo­ther from a Hu­gue­not fa­mi­ly named Col­lard. He was the hus­band of Fan­ny Bell­in (mar­ried 1866), the daugh­ter of Sam­uel Bell­in, an ar­tist and en­grav­er.

Stock was a pub­lish­er and bib­lio­phile who col­lect­ed first ed­it­ions. The pub­lish­ing com­pa­ny that bore his name was in bu­si­ness from 1859–1939.

After at­tend­ing Am­er­sham Gram­mar School, Stock first worked for the firm of Pip­er, Ste­phen­son, and Spence, then in 1857 be­came an ap­pren­tice to Mr. B. L. Green, a book-sell­er at 62 Pa­ter­nos­ter Row.

In 1859 Stock ac­quired the bu­si­ness. B. L. Green was the bro­ther of Dr. Green of the Re­li­gious Tract So­ci­ety. In its ear­ly years, the firm of El­li­ot Stock was pri­mar­ily en­gaged in pub­lish­ing re­li­gious works.

Stock be­came an am­ateur paint­er and po­et and ac­quired ma­ny ar­tis­tic and li­ter­ary friends and ac­quaint­anc­es. He was al­so a bird-watch­er and ath­lete (win­ning a sil­ver cup in row­ing).

In 1877 Stock pub­lished fac­si­mi­le first ed­it­ions of John Bun­yan’s Pil­grim’s Pro­gress, Iz­aak Wal­ton’s Com­pleat Ang­ler and George Her­bert’s Tem­ple.

Stock’s firm is­sued ma­ny oth­er not­able fac­si­mi­le first ed­it­ions, such as those for Ro­bin­son Cru­soe, Ras­se­las and The Vi­car of Wake­field.

Works

Stock pub­lished The An­ti­qu­ary from De­cem­ber 1879–1915. In 1887, he be­gan pub­lish­ing the month­ly Book-Prices Cur­rent, which be­came a stand­ard ref­er­ence for book deal­ers and col­lect­ors.

His oth­er works in­clude:

• A Pub­lish­er’s Play­ground (Ke­gan Paul, 1888)