Sampson Low (1797-1886), publisher, was born in London in November 1797, the son of Sampson Low (d. 1800), printer and publisher, of Berwick Street, Soho. He served an apprenticeship with Lionel Booth, the proprietor of a circulating library, and, after a few years spent in the house of Longman & Co., began business in 1819 at 42 Lamb's Conduit Street, London, as a bookseller and stationer, with a circulating library attached ... His eldest son, Sampson Low jun. (1822-1871), and his second son, William Henry Low (d. 1881), were to assist with the family business ... In 1848, in conjunction with his eldest son, Low opened a publishing office at the corner of Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. In 1852 they moved to 47 (and later to 14) Ludgate Hill, where, with the aid of David Bogue, an American department was opened. In 1856 Edward Marston became a partner, and Bogue retired. The firm moved in 1867 to 188 Fleet Street, and, two years after publishing Low's Literary Almanack and Illustrated Souvenir for 1873, Low retired in 1875. In 1887 the firm moved again, to St Dunstan's House, Fetter Lane, and subsequently to Paternoster Row. (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)
