The Longman family had been involved in the manufacture of soap for several generations and his father owned a shop and stalls in Temple Street.

When Longman was seventeen his guardians - his brother Ezekiel, Nathaniel Webb, and Mrs. Thomas Coules - apprenticed him for seven years to John Osbom, a bookseller in Lombard Street, London.

Taylor had been the first publisher of Robinson Crusoe, and traded at the sign of the Ship and Black Swan.

They were among the original shareholders of the Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences of Ephraim Chambers, which became very successful and profitable.

He was one of the six booksellers, who entered into an agreement with Samuel Johnson to produce an English dictionary, the 'Plan' of which was issued in 1747.