[1][2] Hollis was educated at Adams Grammar School in Newport, Shropshire, until the age 10, and then in St. Albans until 15, before learning French, Dutch, and accountancy in Amsterdam.

From 1754, he reprinted and distributed literature from the seventeenth-century, including works such as Toland's Life of Milton, tracts by Marchamont Nedham, Henry Neville, and Philip Sidney, and John Locke's Two Treatises of Government.

The books were elegantly bound to give them greater effect and tooled with libertarian ornaments such as the liberty cap and owl.

[1] He also published writings by American colonists on the Stamp Act crisis, including John Adams's Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law (1765).

He continued his great-uncle Thomas's practice, as a great benefactor to American colleges, especially Harvard, sending donations and numerous books, often decorated with libertarian symbols.