Name of a family of London booksellers and publishers. Richard and Jacob Tonson (c. 16561736), sons of a London barber-surgeon, started in 1676 and 1677 independently as booksellers and publishers in London. In 1679 Jacob, the better known of the two, bought and published Drydens Troilus and Cressida, and from that time was closely associated with Dryden, and published most of his works. He published the Miscellany Poems (16841708) under Drydens editorship, the collection being known indifferently as Drydens or Tonsons Miscellany, and also Drydens translation of Virgil (1697). Serious disagreements over the price paid, however, arose between poet and publisher, and in his Faction Displayed (1705) Dryden described Tonson as having two left legs, and Judas-coloured hair. Subsequently the relations between the two men improved. The brothers jointly published Drydens Spanish Friar (1683). Jacob Tonson also published Congreves Double Dealer, Sir John Vanbrughs The Faithful Friend and The Confederacy, and the pastorals of Pope, thus justifying Wycherlys description of him as gentleman usher to the Muses. He bought also the valuable rights of Paradise Lost, half in 1683 and half in 1600. This was his first profitable venture in poetry. In 1712 he became joint publisher with Samuel Buckley of the Spectator, and in the following year published Addisons Cato. He was the original secretary and a prominent member of the Kit-Cat Club. About 1720 he gave up business and retired to Herefordshire, where he died on the 2nd of April 1736. His business was carried on by his nephew, Jacob Tonson, jun. (d. 1735), and subsequently by his grandnephew, also Jacob (d. 1767).