John Camden Hotten

John Camden Hotten (12 September 1832, Clerkenwell – 14 June 1873, Hampstead) was an English bibliophile and publisher. He is best known for his clandestine publishing of numerous erotic and pornographic titles.

Life

Hotten was born John William Hotten in Clerkenwell, London to a family of Cornish origins. His father was William Hotten of Probus, Cornwall, a master carpenter and undertaker; his mother was Maria Cowling of Roche, Cornwall. At the age of fourteen Hotten was apprenticed to the London bookseller John Petheram, where he acquired a taste for rare and unusual books. He spent the period from 1848 to about 1853 in America but by mid-1855 had opened a small bookshop in London at 151a Piccadilly and went on to found the publishing business under his own name which after his death became Chatto & Windus.

Hotten was a member of the Ethnological Society of London, which he joined in 1867. His literary knowledge and intelligence brought him a large circle of acquaintances. He died in Hampstead, 14 June 1873, and was buried on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery. His publishing business was subsequently bought from his widow by Chatto & Windus.

Author

Hotten was a compiler of an English language dictionary of slang, first published in 1859 under the title A dictionary of modern slang, cant, and vulgar words. The book was reissued posthumously in 1874 and reprinted numerous times. Other works bearing his imprint followed, in the composition of nearly all of which he took some part; many he wrote himself. His most laborious and least-known compilation was the Handbook of Topography and Family History of England and Wales (1863).