William Strahan (1715-1785), printer, served his apprenticeship, c.1729-1736, to Mossman and Brown, the king's printers in Scotland. Moving to London, he worked as a journeyman compositor for William Bowyer the elder from 1736 to 1738. Immediately afterwards, he opened his own business, and by 1740, was able to start a wholesale trade in books to Philadelphia because James Read, an American, visited his shop. Through Read, Strahan also obtained a position for his friend David Hall in America, who became manager for Benjamin Franklin's fourth printing company. Also in 1738, Strahan began to buy copyrights from authors, or shares in copyrights from their booksellers. Between 1751 and 1780 he completed at least 330 transactions for sets of copyright shares in 411 books, and had the influence of a major bookseller, especially when he joined with Thomas Cadell. He was close friends with David Hume, Benjamin Franklin, and Samuel Johnson, while his business friends included such many literary figures such as Tobias Smollett, Adam Smith, Edward Gibbon, Henry Fielding, and Oliver Goldsmith. Strahan also entered Parliament briefly, representing Malmesbury (1774-80) and Wootton Bassett (1780-84). By 1783, he had turned most of the business over to his son Andrew, and died in 1785. His wife died a month later.
From the description of Parliamentary characters, from the Public Ledger, 1779, and the English Chronicle, 1780, & 1781, 1779-1781. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702185823
