John Weale was an English publisher of popular scientific, architectural, engineering and educational works.

Life

He went into the trade first with George Priestley in St Giles-in-the-Fields who died around 1812, and worked then with Priestley's widow. He took a particular interest in the study of architecture. In 1823 he issued a bibliographical Catalogue of Works on Architecture and the Fine Arts, of which a new edition appeared in 1854. He bought the architectural publishing business at 59 High Holborn

High Holborn

High Holborn is a road in Holborn in central London, England. It starts in the west near St Giles Circus, then goes east, past the Kingsway and Southampton Row, and continues east. The road becomes Holborn at the junction with Gray's Inn Road....

 built up by Isaac Taylor and his son Josiah Taylor as The Architectural Library, after Josiah's death in 1834.

He followed the Catalogue in 1849–50 with a Rudimentary Dictionary of Terms used in Architecture, Building, and Engineering, a work which reached a fifth edition in 1876.
Weale died in London on 18 December 1862.

Works

He published also:

• ‘A Series of Examples in Architectural Engineering and Mechanical Drawing,’ London, 1841; supplemental ‘Description,’ London, 1842.
• ‘Designs of ornamental Gates, Lodges, Palisading, and Ironwork of the Royal Parks adjoining the Metropolis, edited by John Weale,’ London, 1841.
• ‘The Theory, Practice, and Architecture of Bridges of Stone, Iron, Timber, and Wire, edited by John Weale,’ London, 1843, 2 vols.; a supplemental volume, edited by George Rowdon Burnell and William Tierney Clark
  William Tierney Clark
  William Tierney Clark FRS was an English civil engineer particularly associated with the design and construction of bridges...
  
  , appeared in 1853.
• ‘Divers Works of early Masters in Christian Decoration,’ London, 1846, 2 vols.
• ‘The Great Britain Atlantic Steam Ship,’ London, 1847.
• ‘Letter to Lord John Russell on the defence of the Country,’ London, 1847.
• ‘London exhibited in 1851,’ London, 1851; 2nd edit. 1852.
• ‘Designs and Examples of Cottages, Villas, and Country Houses,’ London, 1857.
• ‘Examples for Builders, Carpenters, and Joiners,’ London, 1857.
• ‘Steam Navigation, edited by John Weale,’ London, 1858.
• ‘Old English and French Ornaments, comprising 244 Designs. Collected by John Weale,’ London, 1858.

He edited ‘Weale's Quarterly Papers on Engineering,’ London, 1843–6, 6 vols., and ‘Weale's Quarterly Papers on Architecture,’ London, 1843–5, 4 vols.

Weale's Rudimentary Series

He was on intimate terms with many men of science, and published cheap educational literature, for technical education. His Rudimentary Series (over 130 works, usually selling at one shilling) and other educational series comprised standard works, both in classics and science. They were suggested initially by William Reid

William Reid (British Army officer)

Sir William Reid was a British soldier, administrator and meteorologist.He was born at Kinglassie, Fife and was educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich....

, and were continued after his death, first by 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...

.

Source: Lists at end of the publications. The series was later taken on by the publisher Crosby Lockwood, who added volumes while retaining the system of reference numbers (across editions).

Series number	First published	Author	Title	Comments
1	1849?	George Fownes George Fownes George Fownes, FRS was a British chemist.He attended the Palace School in Enfield. He obtained his PhD at Giesen, in Germany. From 1842 he was chemistry professor at the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, and from 1846 at University College, London. He was also secretary of the Chemical...	Rudimentary Chemistry	WorldCat editions archive.org Read Online (1853).
2	1848	Charles Tomlinson Charles Tomlinson (scientist) Charles Tomlinson FRS was a British scientist.-Biography:He studied science under George Birkbeck, the founder of the London Mechanics' Institute. For a while, he had a school with his brother Lewis, at Salisbury...	Introduction to the Study of Natural Philosophy	WorldCat editions
3	1849	Joseph Ellison Portlock Joseph Ellison Portlock Major-General Joseph Ellison Portlock was born at Gosport and was a British geologist and soldier, the only son of Nathaniel Portlock, and a captain in the Royal Navy....	Rudimentary Geology	WorldCat editions There was an 1871 rewrite as Rudimentary Treatise on Geology by Ralph Tate Ralph Tate Ralph Tate was a British-born botanist and geologist, who was later active in Australia.-Early life:Tate was born at Alnwick in Northumberland, the son of Thomas Turner Tate , a teacher of mathematics and science, and his wife Frances... : WorldCat editions
4, 5	1848	Delvalle Varley	Rudimentary Mineralogy	WorldCat editions Later editions with James Dwight Dana James Dwight Dana James Dwight Dana was an American geologist, mineralogist and zoologist. He made pioneering studies of mountain-building, volcanic activity, and the origin and structure of continents and oceans around the world.-Early life and career:... , as Rudimentary Treatise on Mineralogy. Delvalle Varley was the second wife of John Varley John Varley (painter) John Varley was an English watercolour painter and astrologer, and a close friend of William Blake. They collaborated in 1819–1820 on the book Visionary Heads, written by Varley and illustrated by Blake... , and daughter of Wilson Lowry Wilson Lowry Wilson Lowry FRS was an English engraver. He was born at Whitehaven, Cumberland, the son of Strickland Lowry, a portrait painter. The family settled in Worcester, and Wilson Lowry, as a boy, left home to work as a house painter in London and Arundel, Sussex... ; her mother Rebekah Eliza Delvalle was a mineralogist.
6	1849	Charles Tomlinson Charles Tomlinson (scientist) Charles Tomlinson FRS was a British scientist.-Biography:He studied science under George Birkbeck, the founder of the London Mechanics' Institute. For a while, he had a school with his brother Lewis, at Salisbury...	Rudimentary Mechanics	WorldCat editions archive.org Read Online
7	1848	William Snow Harris William Snow Harris Sir William Snow Harris was an English physician and electrical researcher, nicknamed Thunder-and-Lightning Harris, and noted for his invention of a successful system of lightning conductors for ships...	Rudimentary Electricity	WorldCat editions Google Books, 1851 edition
8, 9, 10	1850	William Snow Harris William Snow Harris Sir William Snow Harris was an English physician and electrical researcher, nicknamed Thunder-and-Lightning Harris, and noted for his invention of a successful system of lightning conductors for ships...	Rudimentary Magnetism	WorldCat editions
11	1852	Edward Highton	The Electric Telegraph: its history and progress	Edward Highton was the brother of Henry Highton Henry Highton Henry Highton was an English schoolmaster and clergyman, Principal of Cheltenham College, known also as a scientific and theological writer.-Life:... , and they both experimented with electricity, taking a particular interest in telegraphy Telegraphy Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages via some form of signalling technology. Telegraphy requires messages to be converted to a code which is known to both sender and receiver... . WorldCat editions archive.org
13, 14, 15, 15*	1848	Henry Law	Rudiments of Civil Engineering	Henry Law (1824–1900) was a civil engineer, a pupil of Brunel much involved in the Thames Tunnel Thames Tunnel The Thames Tunnel is an underwater tunnel, built beneath the River Thames in London, United Kingdom, connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping. It measures 35 feet wide by 20 feet high and is 1,300 feet long, running at a depth of 75 feet below the river's surface... . WorldCat editions archive.org Read Online, 1852 edition
16	1852	William Henry Leeds William Henry Leeds William Henry Leeds was an English architectural critic and journalist.Leeds was a frequent contributor to the Foreign Quarterly Review in the 1830s, writing for them on Russian literature as well as architecture. In the 1840s he wrote for the Westminster Review...	Rudimentary Architecture (Orders)	Google Books
17	1849	Thomas Talbot Bury Thomas Talbot Bury Thomas Talbot Bury was a British architect and lithographer.Bury was articled to Augustus Charles Pugin in 1824 and started his own practice in Soho in 1830. At various times he collaborated with other notable architects including Charles Lee, Louis Vulliamy and A.W.N...	Rudimentary Architecture (Styles)	WorldCat editions Google Books (2nd edition)
33	1853	Samuel Hughes	A treatise on gas works	Samuel Hughes (c. 1816-1870), son of the engineer Thomas Hughes, was a civil engineer and Fellow of the Geological Society. http://www.worldcat.org/title/treatise-on-gas-works-and-the-practice-of-manufacturing-and-distributing-coal-gas-with-some-account-of-the-most-improved-methods-of-distilling-coal-in-iron-brick-and-clay-retorts-and-of-the-various-modes-adopted-for-purifying-coal-gas-including-also-a-chapter-on-the-hydrocarbon-or-water-gas-and-on-the-rating-of-gas-works-in-parochial-assessments/oclc/4661471&referer=brief_resultsWorldCat edition]
45		G. R. Burnell	Limes, cements, mortars, concretes, mastics, plastering etc.	George Rowdon Burnell (1814-1868) was a writer on architecture and engineering, "one of the very few who have united a Fellowship of the Royal Institution of British Architects with a Membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers Institution of Civil Engineers Founded on 2 January 1818, the Institution of Civil Engineers is an independent professional association, based in central London, representing civil engineering. Like its early membership, the majority of its current members are British engineers, but it also has members in more than 150... ". WorldCat edition
61	1850	Thomas Baker	Rudimentary treatise on mensuration
63-65	1852-53	G. H. Andrews	Rudimentary treatise on agricultural engineering	George Henry Andrews (1816-1898), though trained as an engineer, was better known as a marine watercolorist. WorldCat edition
66	1852	John Donaldson	Rudimentary treatise on clay lands and loamy soils	John Donaldson (1799-1876) described himself as a 'Professor of Botany'. He taught at the Agricultural Training College at Hoddesdon Hoddesdon Hoddesdon is a town in the English county of Hertfordshire, situated in the Lea Valley. The town grew up as a coaching stop on the route between Cambridge and London. It is located southeast of Hertford, north of Waltham Cross and southwest of Bishop's Stortford. At its height during the 18th... , established in the 1840s under the headmastership of William Haselwood. WorldCat edition
69-70		Charles Child Spencer	A rudimentary and practical treatise on music	Charles Child Spencer (1797-1869) was an organist and choirmaster of St. James's Chapel, Clapton, London. WorldCat edition
80		Robert Murray Robert Murray Robert Murray , a prominent merchant, was born in County Armagh, Ireland, arriving with his father in Pennsylvania in 1732. Originally a Presbyterian, he became a Quaker after marrying Mary Lindley, daughter of a Quaker politician, in Pennsylvania in 1744. The couple arrived in New York City in...	Rudimentary treatise on marine engines and steam vessels	WorldCat edition
99-100		John Radford Young	Tables intended to facilitate the operations of navigation and nautical astronomy	John Radford Young (1799-1885) was professor of mathematics at Belfast College fom 1833 to 1849. WorldCat edition
101	1852	W. S. B. Woolhouse	The elements of differential calculus	WorldCat edition
132		S. H. Brooks	Erection of Dwelling-houses	WorldCat edition

• John George Swindell, Well-digging, Boring, and Pump-work
• Edmund Beckett Denison
  Edmund Beckett, 1st Baron Grimthorpe
  Edmund Beckett, 1st Baron Grimthorpe, Q.C. , known previously as Sir Edmund Beckett, 5th Baronet and Edmund Beckett Denison was a lawyer, horologist, and architect...
  
  , Clock and watch making
• Joseph Glynn
  Joseph Glynn (engineer)
  Joseph Glynn, FRS was a British steam engine designer.He was born the son of James Glynn of the Ouseburn Iron Foundry in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and taught by John Bruce at the Percy Street Academy....
  
  , On the construction of cranes, and machinery for raising heavy bodies
• Joseph Glynn, On the power of water, as applied to drive flour mills, and to give motion to turbines and other hydrostatic engines
• Alan Stevenson
  Alan Stevenson
  Alan Stevenson FRSE MInstCE was a Scottish lighthouse engineer who was Engineer to the Board of Northern Lighthouses...
  
  , On the history, construction, and illumination of lighthouses
• William Snow Harris
  William Snow Harris
  Sir William Snow Harris was an English physician and electrical researcher, nicknamed Thunder-and-Lightning Harris, and noted for his invention of a successful system of lightning conductors for ships...
  
  , On Galvanism
• Thomas Roger Smith (1861) Acoustics