John Gray Bell

John Gray Bell (21 September 1823 – 21 February 1866) was an English bookseller.

He was the son of Thomas Bell (1785–1860), a house agent and surveyor of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He was born at Newcastle, and married, in 1847, Dorothy Taylor of North Shields. In 1848 he went to London, and began business as a bookseller in Covent Garden.[1] He removed to Manchester in 1854, where he successfully followed his trade for the rest of his life. He died there 21 February 1866, aged 43.[2]

Bell was an earnest student of antiquarian literature, collected topographical books and prints, and issued many interesting trade catalogues. In 1850 he started publishing a valuable series of Tracts on the Topography, History. Dialects, &c., of the Counties of Great Britain, of which about sixteen came out, including original glossaries of Essex, Gloucestershire, Dorset, Cumberland, and Berkshire. In 1851 he published A Descriptive and Critical Catalogue of Works, illustrated by Thomas and John Bell. This was compiled by himself. Another of his works was a genealogy of the Bell and other families, printed for private circulation in 1866, and entitled A Genealogical Account of the Descendants of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.[2]