Benjamin Guild

[1] He ran the "Boston Book Store" and a circulating subscription library in the 1780s and 1790s at no.59 Cornhill, "first door south of the Old-Brick Meeting-House.

"[2][3] Born in 1749 to Benjamin Guild and Abigail Graves, Benjamin attended Harvard College (class of 1769); classmates included Theophilus Parsons, Alexander Scammel, Peter Thacher, William Tudor, and Peleg Wadsworth.

[7][nb 1] He served as a charter member and an officer of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,[8][9][10] and on the editorial committee of the Boston Magazine.

The library contained "several thousands" of volumes, which, according to its 1787 newspaper advertisement "will furnish such a fund of amusement and information as cannot fail to entertain every class of readers ... whether solitary or social -- political or professional -- serious or gay.

"[14] Guild stipulated that "any book lost, abused, leaves folded down, writ upon or torn, must be paid for.