Powell, Samuel

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Dates Active in Dublin: 

1728–1775

Business Type: 
Music printer
Music publisher
Address(es): 

Crane Lane, near Essex Street, 1728–62
Dame Street, 1762–?
42 Dame Street, opposite Fownes Street, ?–1775

Details: 

Apprentice to his father Stephen Powell, completing his apprenticeship with his brother Sylvester, working with him until 1728 (Munter).

Munter suggests that he possibly bought his brother's share of the business but Dix in 'The Powell Family' states (citing the Registry of Deeds) that Stephen Powell left his widow Deborah all his "goods, chattels, &c." in his will; Deborah assigned them to Edward Bate, who in 1831 assigned them to Samuel (Edward's brother-in-law).

One of Dublin's leading stationers, he was also a music printer.

Samuel Powell married Mary Rothery in 1729 at St Werburgh's, where he was a churchwarden in 1754.

From 1762 to 1766, he worked in partnership with his son Samuel Powell Jr. as 'Powell and Son' / 'S. Powell & Son'. Samuel Jr. died in 1766 at the age of 23 (Munter).

Samuel Powell left his printing equipment to his daughter Sarah Allen who apparently sold it to George Bonham (Munter).

[Note: Berry erroneously gives Sam. Powell instead of Stephen Powell at the Printing Press, Copper Alley (Fishamble Street) in 1717. Dates for Powell and Son differ according to sources: Munter gives 1762 to 1766, Dix gives 1764 to 1766.]

Select Product/Work List: 

Published

  • Clegg, 'Seven Sonatas for the Violin', 1729 (Flood, 'Dublin Music Printing from 1685 to 1750')
  • Daniel Wright, Aria di Camera, 1729 [pirate edition, printed for George Risk] (Flood, 'Dublin Music Printing from 1685 to 1750')
  • Ballad opera, Omomus turned Fabulist, 1730 (Flood, 'Dublin Music Printing from 1685 to 1750')
  • Les Paumes de David mis en vers francois ... Nouvelle edition, 1731 (Humphries & Smith)
  • Allen Ramsey, Tea Table Miscellany, 1734 [pirate edition of the tunes, printed for George Risk] (Flood, 'Dublin Music Printing from 1685 to 1750')
  • The Psalms of David in Metre. Collected out of principal versions now in use. To which are added Hymns, particularly designed for the Lord's Supper. Printed by S. Powell for A. Bradley, 1740 (Humphries & Smith)
  • 'A Dissertation on Italian and Irish Musick', 1742 (Dublin Journal 1–4 May 1742, cited in Boydell, Calendar)
  • Laurence Whyte, 'A Poetical Description of Mr Neale’s New Musick Hall, on the grand effects & Excellence of Musick, but more particularly on the famous Mr Handel’s Compositions and Performance', 1742 (Dublin Journal 1–4 May 1742, cited in Boydell, Calendar)
  • A Collection of Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1749 (Humphries & Smith)
  • Selected Psalms, for the Use of the Parish-church of New St. Michan's in Dublin, 1752 (Humphries & Smith)

    • Printed

  • Coffey, Charles, The Beggar's Wedding, a New Opera as it is acted at the Theatre in Dublin, with Great Applause (Dublin: printed by S. Powell for Thomas Benson, 1729) [libretto only]
  • 'French Prayer Book', 1731 [used by the Nonconforming Huguenot Refugees] (Dix, 'French Prayer Book')
    • See Also: 

    Benson, Thomas
    Bonham, George
    Powell and Son
    Powell, Stephen
    Risk, George

    Source(s): 

    Flood, W.H. Grattan, 'Music-Printing in Dublin from 1700 to 1750', The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 5th ser., 38.1 (30 September 1908), 236–40 (pp. 238–40)

    Berry, Henry F., 'House and Shop Signs in Dublin in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries', The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, 5th ser., 40.2 (30 June 1910), 81–98 (p. 88)

    Flood, W.H. Grattan, 'Dublin Music Printing from 1685 to 1750', The Bibliographical Society of Ireland: Short Papers, 2.1 (1921), 7–12 (pp. 11–12)

    Dix, E.R. McC., 'French Prayer Book Printed in Dublin in 1731, The Bibliographical Society of Ireland: Short Papers, 2.5 (1923), 96–97 (p. 96)

    Dix, E.R. McC., 'The Powell Family. Printers in Dublin in the Eighteenth Century', The Bibliographical Society of Ireland: Short Papers, 2.5 (1923), 85–7 (p. 86)

    Dix, E.R. McC., ‘Some Dublin Music Printers and Music Sellers of the Eighteenth Century’, The Irish Book Lover, 18.1 (January/February 1930), 26–28 (p. 27)

    Humphries, Charles and William C. Smith, Music Publishing in the British Isles, from the Beginning until the Middle of the Nineteenth Century; a Dictionary of Engravers, Printers, Publishers, and Music Sellers (London: Oxford University Press, 1970), p. 262

    Boydell, Brian, A Dublin Musical Calendar 1700–1760 (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1988), pp. 81, 261

    Munter, Robert, A Dictionary of the Print Trade in Ireland: 1550–1775 (New York: Fordham University Press, 1988), pp. 214–15

    Boydell, Barra, 'The Development of the Dublin Music Print Trade to 1800', Long Room (1996), pp.25-33 (p. 30)

    Boydell, Brian, ‘Bradley, Abraham’, Dublin Music Trade Card Index <http://dublinmusictrade.ie/card-index>

    Boydell, Brian, ‘Powell, Samuel’, Dublin Music Trade Card Index <http://dublinmusictrade.ie/card-index>

    Last Update: 20-05-2021