Wilson, Peter

Dates Active in Dublin: 

1739–1771

Business Type: 
Bookseller
Music publisher
Address(es): 

Gay's Head, near Fownes Street, 1739–47
Corner of Castle Lane, opposite the old Horse Guard, Dame Street, 1748–66
Angel and Bible, Dame Street, 1748
Upper Blind Quay, 1766–67
6 Dame Street, 1767–71

Details: 

Wilson published broadly, including books, pamphlets and music. In 1751 he first published his Dublin Directory which was to appear annually for many years and is an important source for this Dublin Music Trade project.

[Details differ according to sources: Munter gives the dates and addresses as above. Boydell (Calendar) gives the Fownes Street address from 1742 to 1743 and the Castle Lane address from 1749 to 1762. Berry gives Gay's Head, Dame Street in 1739 and the Angel and Bible, Dame Street in 1748. Munter states, in reference to Wilson's The Dragon of Wantley, that it was his first publication in January 1743 but Flood gives a date of 1739 for the publication, with a 15th edition in January 1743. The opera was first performed in Dublin in January 1738.]

Select Product/Work List: 

Published

  • Lampe, The Dragon of Wantley, a Burlesque Opera, [1739? 1743?] [vocal score] (Flood and Munter)
  • Margery, or, A Worse Plague than the Dragon [word book] (Flood)
  • 'The Bull Finch [...] Being a choice collection of the newest and most favourite English Songs, most of which have been set to Musick, & sung at the Publick Theatres & Gardens by Mr Beard, Mr Lowe, Mr Sullivan, Mrs Arne, Mrs Lampe, Miss Faulker &c.', 1749 (Dublin Journal, 7–11 November 1749, cited in Boydell, Calendar)
    • Source(s): 

    Dublin Directories

    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. 91)

    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 (p. 239)

    Boydell, Brian, A Dublin Musical Calendar 1700–1760 (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1988), pp. 131, 151, 261

    Munter, Robert, A Dictionary of the Print Trade in Ireland: 1550–1775 (New York: Fordham University Press, 1988), pp. 305–06

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

    Last Update: 12-02-2017