John Newbery

John Newbery 1713-67, English publisher and bookseller. He established juvenile literature as an important branch of the publishing business. Included among his publications is Little Goody Two Shoes (1766). Although he published his books anonymously, it is assumed that he planned and wrote a number of them himself. In 1921 the Newbery medal was established by Frederic Melcher to be awarded by the American Library Association to the most distinguished children's book of the year written by an American.

Newbery, John (1713–67), publisher and bookseller, who established himself in 1744 in St Paul's Churchyard, and was one of the earliest and best-known publishers of children's books. He produced and partly wrote many books of riddles, fables, stories, etc. Goldsmith was one of his authors and may have written Goody Two-Shoes for him: he contributed his Chinese Letters (later The Citizen of the World) to Newbery's The Public Ledger. He was a friend of Dr Johnson and appears as ‘Jack Whirler’ in the Idler, and as ‘the philanthropic bookseller’ in The Vicar of Wakefield.