John Jaffray (31 October 1811 – 25 July 1869[1][2][3]) was a London bookbinder who was active in the early Chartist movement and who assembled a large collection of literature and notes relating to the bookbinding trade.
[4] Jaffray was a member of the committee of the London Working Men's Association and a signatory to The People's Charter 1836,[5] an important charter calling for greater political rights for the working classes that presaged the more well known People's Charter of 1838.
The collection includes scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, agendas of union meetings and ephemera including trade cards and advertisements.
It is believed that Jaffray relied heavily on William Hall, a journeyman bookbinder originally from Berwick-on-Tweed, who arrived in London in 1781 and first made contact with Jaffray in 1843.
[4] The collection was first examined in detail by Ellic Howe in about 1945 and it formed the basis for Howe and John Child's subsequent works.