George C. Virtue, Esq. was a 19th-century London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 publisher, well-known for printing engravings. His publishing house was located at 26 Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row

Paternoster Row

Paternoster Row was a London street in which clergy of the medieval St Paul's Cathedral would walk, chanting the Lord's Prayer . It was devastated by aerial bombardment in The Blitz during World War II. Prior to this destruction the area had been a centre of the London publishing trade , with...

, London, EC.

Pictorial publisher

Virtue selected accomplished artists, employed the best engravers, and produced books that were rarely surpassed in elegance and correctness for the period. Chief among his publications were the following, all illustrated by William Henry Bartlett

William Henry Bartlett

William Henry Bartlett was a British artist, best known for his numerous steel engravings.-Biography:Bartlett was born in Kentish Town, London in 1809. He was apprenticed to John Britton , and became one of the foremost illustrators of topography of his generation...

: Switzerland, by William Beattie, 2 vols. 1836; Scotland, by W. Beattie, 1838; The Waldenses, by W. Beattie, 1838; American Scenery, 2 vols. 1840; Description of the Beauties of the Bosphorus, by Julia Pardoe, 1840; and The Danube, its History and Scenery, by W. Beattie, 1844. Virtue created a prodigious business, issuing upwards of twenty thousand copper and steel engravings through his career.

Magazine publisher

In 1848, Virtue purchased two magazines. One was an art publication, The Art Union, which had been founded in 1839 by Hodgson & Graves, then purchased in 1847 by Chapman & Hall. The second purchase was controlling interest in Sharpe's London Magazine, a literary and cultural magazine, Arthur Hall publisher. In 1849, Virtue renamed the art magazine The Art Journal

The Art Journal

The Art Journal, published in London, was the most important Victorian magazine on art. It was founded in 1839 by Hodgson & Graves, print publishers, 6 Pall Mall, with the title the Art Union Monthly Journal, the first issue of 750 copies appearing 15 February 1839.Hodgson & Graves hired Samuel...

and, in time, it became known as the premier art publication of Great Britain. Also in 1849, he created a new firm with Arthur Hall called "Arthur Hall, Virtue & Co.".

Publishing houses

• George Virtue
  • 26 Ivy Lane, London
  • 25 Paternoster Row, London
  • 26 John Street, New York
• Arthur Hall, Virtue & Co.

Family

Virtue's wife was named Helen.

Their oldest son, George Henry Virtue (d.1866), FSA

Society of Antiquaries of London

The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...

, Esq., was Treasurer of the Royal Numismatic Society

Royal Numismatic Society

The Royal Numismatic Society is a learned society and charity based in London, United Kingdom which promotes research into all branches of numismatics...

 for several years.

When Virtue retired from his publishing business in 1855, his second son, James Sprent Virtue

James Sprent Virtue

James Sprent Virtue was a British publisher. He was born at 26 Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row, London, EC on 18 May 1829. His father, George Virtue, was the founder in London of a publishing business the main feature of which was the production of illustrated works.-Early years:At age 14, J.S...

, took over the business, having spent many years in the United States overseeing the Virtue's New York publishing house.

In 1861, the youngest son, William Alexander Virtue (d.1875), was promoted to Lieutenant, vice Turney, with the 39th Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

 Rifle Volunteer Corps.

Volunteer Force (Great Britain)

The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated with the British Army after the Childers Reforms in 1881, before forming part of the...

. In
1865, he became a partner in the Virtue's City Road and Ivy Lane publishing houses before moving to the United States and taking over the Virtue's New York publishing house, including "Virtue and Yorston" with Charles H. Yorston.
Virtue's daughter, Frances Virtue (d.1878), married the English essayist and historian, James Augustus Cotter Morison

James Augustus Cotter Morison

James Augustus Cotter Morison , English essayist and historian, was born in London.-Early years:His father, who had made a large fortune as the inventor and proprietor of "Morison's Pills", settled in Paris till his death in 1840, and Cotter Morison thus acquired not only an acquaintance with the...

 in 1861. They had one son, Theodore Morison, a principal from 1899–1905 of the college of Aligarh and member of the Council of India

Council of India

The Council of India was the name given at different times to two separate bodies associated with British rule in India.The original Council of India was established by the Regulating Act of 1773 as a council of four formal advisors to the Governor-General at Fort William...

 from 1906; and daughters Helen Cotter, and Margaret.

Community service

Virtue was a common councilman for the ward of Farringdon Within

Farringdon Within

Farringdon Within is a ward in the City of London, England.The ward covers an area from Blackfriars, in the south, to Barbican station, in the north....

, and later was the Deputy of his ward. He was a member of the court of the Stationers' Company and a director of the Great Central Gas Company.

Legacy

Virtue retired in Oatlands

Oatlands

Oatlands is a village and small district near Weybridge in Surrey which has acquired its name from the Royal Tudor and Stuart Oatlands Palace, the site of which is now a luxury hotel...

 Park. He died in 1868 at the home of his daughter, Frances Morison, on Porchester Square, London.
Much of his correspondence and other family records are archived in the Smithsonian through a donation of documents by Virtue's great-great-grandson, Michael Virtue.