John Worrall

John Worrall was an English bookseller active in London, with a shop in Bell Yard, Temple Bar. A period source reproduced in A Dictionary of Printers and Printing says he originally worked as a bookbinder before opening his own bookshop, and notes that he died on November 8, 1771.

He is best known today as the compiler of useful reference works rather than as a novelist or poet. Among the works linked to him are The Annual Catalogue (1737), prepared with William Warner, and Bibliotheca Legum, a catalogue of English law books that later readers described as an important legal bibliography.

What makes Worrall interesting is how closely his work reflects the everyday business of the 18th-century book trade. His catalogues were meant to help readers and buyers keep track of new books, editions, pamphlets, and legal texts, making him one of the practical guides behind the literary world of his time.