12 Facts About Samuel Rousseau

Samuel Rousseau was a British Oriental scholar and printer.

Samuel Rousseau compiled very early Arabic-English and Persian-English dictionaries, and translated and printed the first English-language editions of several important Arabic and Persian works.

Samuel Rousseau was the beneficiary of a fund established by Bowyer's will, and was described by John Nichols as 'the father and grandfather of several worthy printers'.

Samuel Rousseau's brother James was a printer, and in his later years oversaw the printing of the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons.

Samuel Rousseau set up his own printing business in Leather Lane, Holborn, and later moved to Wood Street, Spa Fields, Clerkenwell, where he established the Arabic Press, sometimes called the Arabic and Persian Press.

Samuel Rousseau commissioned the making of Persian type by Vincent Figgins and set about translating and printing several classic works of Middle-Eastern literature.

Samuel Rousseau compiled a wide range of these in The Flowers of Persian Literature [1], which he dedicated to Mirza Abu Taleb Khan.

Samuel Rousseau's press published an expanded version of Richardson's Odes of Hafiz with additional material by Samuel Rousseau himself and notes by his fellow Gentleman's Magazine contributor Stephen Weston.

Thereafter, Samuel Rousseau edited a variety of works for booksellers and, as he was more interested in raising money to support himself and his family rather than achieve literary fame, most of his works appeared under a range of pseudonyms.

Samuel Rousseau died at his home in Ray Street, Clerkenwell, on 4 December 1820, at the age of 57.

Samuel Rousseau's works were immediately influential, especially among the employees of the East India Company.

Apart from a small entry in the Dictionary of National Biography, the legacy of Samuel Rousseau is virtually unknown today and he lacks any serious attempt at a biography.