Fonds MSG 1210 - John Mappin Fonds

Antiquarian book dealer, author, publisher, and reviewer, John Newton Mappin was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1926 and died there in 2008. Mappin lived in Montreal with his wife Judith (Judy) Taylor, who had co-founded The Double Hook, a Canadiana bookshop, while she was a student at McGill University. John Mappin took over the family jewelry business, Mappin & Webb Limited, after his father’s death. He sold the business in 1962 and entered the book trade business shortly thereafter. Mappin graduated with a Master of Arts in political science and economics from McGill University in 1968. His thesis was titled The political thought of Francis Maseres, attorney general of Canada, 1766-69.

For over 40 years, Mappin himself was a collector and dealer of antiquarian books in Montreal, as John N. Mappin Rare Books. He operated out of his home office and as thus never had a brick and mortar store, nor did he participate in book fairs. He issued book lists and met privately with his customers, many of which were libraries building their Canadiana collections.

As an author, Mappin is most known for his book Bernard Amtmann 1907-1979: a personal memoir, which has been cited multiple times in scholarly literature. Antmann was a fellow Canadian antiquarian bookseller from Montreal.