Bell, John (1797-1869)

US senator and cabinet officer. A prominent Tennessee lawyer, Bell served in the US House of Representatives, 1827-41, first as a Democrat, then as a Whig. In 1860 he was presidential candidate for the Constitutional Union Party, and he won three states.

Although a slave-owner himself, Bell was opposed to the spread of slavery in the new territories and states, and he spent fruitless years trying to fend off the oncoming confrontation over slavery.

Bell, John (1745-1831)

British publisher. Defying the combination of some 40 London publishers who joined in bringing out Dr Johnson's edition of the poets, Bell published The British Poets in his own edition of over 100 volumes. He was one of the founders of the Morning Post and was proprietor of a Sunday newspaper, Bell's Weekly Messenger, and of the sporting paper Bell's Life in London.

Bell was the first publisher to discard the long ‘s’ from his typeface.