John Adamson (born 1949) is a British publisher, translator and writer. He specialises in illustrated books in the fine and decorative arts.

Biography John Adamson was born in Devon, the younger son of George Worsley Adamson, illustrator and cartoonist and Mary Marguerita Renée (née Diamond). After studying at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Geneva,Dust-wrapper for Katherine Prior and John Adamson Maharajas' Jewels, Paris: Éditions Assouline (2000). he joined Cambridge University Press in 1974.

He held various functions within the marketing department of the Press: first as European sales representative (1975); then publicity manager (1977);"Trade Notes", Bookseller, no. 3747, 15 October 1977, p. 2475; the announcement states that Adamson had been "Cambridge's representative in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland for the last two years". becoming export sales director in 1980."Trade Notes", Bookseller, no. 3886, 4 June 1980, p. 2467; Cambridge University Reporter, Michaelmas, 7 October 1980. See also Saito, Sumio, The Foreign Book Trade: A Memoir from Japan, Tokyo (2005) , p. 78. During the period of his directorship, Cambridge University Press won for the first time the Queen's Award for Export Achievement.London Gazette, Supplement 50896, 20 April 1987. At the time of the award, Geoffrey Cass, CUP's chief executive commented: "This export award is the result of teamwork – and the award authorities emphasize that the award is granted to the press as a whole as an acknowledgement of outstanding achievement by management and staff working as a team." Cambridge Evening News, 17 July 1987. In his Short History of Cambridge University Press (Cambridge: CUP ), Michael Black stated that the award was bestowed on the Press in 1987 "on account of its remarkable export record: two-thirds of its then annual output of 1,000 new academic and educational books were exported worldwide to over 150 countries annually, around double the export ratio of British publishing generally" (p. 58).

While at Cambridge University Press he helped mount two exhibitions of humorous art in his spare time. For the first of these, "L’Humour Actuel franco-britannique. 200 dessins" [Franco-British Humour Today: 200 drawings], hosted by the Galerie M.L.R. Genot in the Marais, Paris in 1974,Advertisement in Le Monde, 5 December 1974, p. 18. he "organized the British contribution","Smile for the cartoonist", Atticus (by Alan Hall) Sunday Times, 24 November 1974, no. 7902, p. 32. The exhibition ran from 20 November 1974 to 10 December 1974, but was extended. See George Adamson Selected exhibitions. There was no catalogue. See John Adamson, "John's private view" in Adamson and Jackson, Footloose in France, Cambridge: John Adamson, 2023, pp. 206–8. commissioning Quentin Blake to design the poster. The second exhibition "Famous British Cartoonists" was held the following year at the London Gallery, N. La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, and featured only the cartoons of artists working in the British Isles. "Many [cartoons] such as those by George Adamson almost leave the field of illustrations to become technically speaking fine art," wrote Betje Howell in her review of the show in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.Los Angeles Herald Examiner, 15 July 1975.

In 1987 he was appointed Head of Publications and Retailing at the National Portrait Gallery,"Trade Notes", Bookseller, 28 August 1987; The Times, 23 April 1988, no. 63063; see also National Portrait Gallery Triennial Report, 1987–90, London: National Portrait Gallery Publications (1990) , pp. 107 and 108. London, where in the course of his five-year tenure he and his team were involved in the publication of exhibition catalogues and books ranging from Franz Xaver WinterhalterOrmond, Richard, Caroline Blackett-Ord, Franz Xaver Winterhalter and the Courts of Europe, 1830–70, exh. cat. London: National Portrait Gallery Publications (1987) ; French edition: Franz Xaver Winterhalter et les cours d'Europe de 1830 à 1870, exh. cat. Paris: Musée du Petit Palais (1988) . to T. E. Lawrence,Wilson, Jeremy, T.E. Lawrence, exh. cat. London: National Portrait Gallery Publications (1988) . from The RajBayly, C.A. (ed.), The Raj: India and the British 1600–1947, exh. cat. London: National Portrait Gallery Publications (1990) ; also co-published in India with Oxford University Press. to a pictorial volume on the NPG's permanent collection.Foister, Susan; Robin Gibson, Malcolm Rogers, Jacob Simon, The National Portrait Gallery Collection, London: National Portrait Gallery Publications (1988) ; US cloth edition (New York: Cambridge University Press) .

In 1992 he set himself up as a publishing and picture-library consultant."Trade Notes", Bookseller, 2 October 1992, no. 4528, p. 994. He advised private collectors as well as museums such as the Wallace Collection, providing them with a full editorial and production service.The Wallace Collection Triennial Report 1992–1995, London: Wallace Collection (1995) , p. 16: "The Staff of the Wallace Collection: Consultant advisers", p. 36; The Wallace Collection Triennial Report 1995–1998, London: Wallace Collection (1999) , "Marketing for a wider audience", pp. 29–30 and list of advisers p. 38. Soon, however, he began working as an independent publisher making available an ongoing range of illustrated books and catalogues for museums, dealers and private collectors under his own imprint, as well as translating books and exhibition catalogues on behalf of French publishers such as the Réunion des musées nationaux (RMN), Éditions Gallimard, Éditions Diane de Selliers and Éditions Faton.

Honours Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA). (3 March 2019)

Select bibliography

As publisher The Alphabet Book of Amos Lewis: An Elizabethan calligraphic manuscript revealed, Simon Swynfen Jervis (editor) John Adamson website. Footloose in France, John Adamson and Clive Jackson John Adamson website. Great Irish Households: Inventories from the Long Eighteenth Century, Tessa Murdoch (editor) The Irish Times , 17 September 2022 (retrieved 19 October 2022) and , 5 November 2022 (retrieved 10 November 2022). Margaret de Flahaut (1788–1867): A Scotswoman at the French Court, Diana Scarisbrick Website of the Fondation Napoléon, Paris. English Silver before the Civil War: The David Little Collection, Timothy Schroder John Adamson website. Art in Industry: The Silver of Paul Storr, Christopher Hartop Koopmanrareart.com: Masterpieces in the Digital Age, Koopman Rare Art with photographs by Karen Bengall Gilt-edged Splendour: Masterpieces of Silver Gilt, Koopman Rare Art with photographs by Guy Hills A Handsome Cupboard of Plate: Early American Silver in the Cahn Collection, Deborah Dependahl Waters with foreword by Kaywin Feldman. In association with Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA), Minneapolis, MA, exh. cat. In Good Hands: 250 Years of Craftsmanship at Swaine Adeney Brigg, Katherine Prior Regency Silver, Koopman Rare Art with photographs by Guy Hills Norfolk Summer: Making The Go-Between, Christopher Hartop Rococo Silver, Koopman Rare Art with photographs by Guy Hills The Classical Ideal: English Silver, 1760–1840, Christopher Hartop with foreword by Tim Knox, exh. cat. Antique Woodworking Tools: Their Craftsmanship from the Earliest Times to the Twentieth Century, David R. Russell with foreword by David Linley and photographs by James Austin. In association with Bernard J. Shapero The French Hospital in England: Its Huguenot History and Collections, Tessa Murdoch and Randolph Vigne with foreword by Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie, 8th Earl of Radnor Geometry and the Silversmith: The Domcha Collection, Christopher Hartop with foreword by Jonathan Norton Noble Households: Eighteenth-Century Inventories of Great English Houses. A tribute to John Cornforth, edited by Tessa Murdoch, inventories transcribed by Candace Briggs and Laurie Lindey In his review of the book Noble Households in the Art Newspaper (no. 178, March 2007, p. 47), John Harris wrote: "John Adamson in Cambridge has produced and printed a handsome volume". Beyond the Maker's Mark: Paul de Lamerie Silver in the Cahn Collection, Ellenor Alcorn with foreword by Tessa Murdoch and preface by Kaywin Feldman. In association with Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN, exh. cat. The German Ambassador's Residence in London, Regine Aldington with photographs by Fritz von der Schulenburg and Marianne Majerus Royal Goldsmiths: The Art of Rundell & Bridge 1797–1843, Christopher Hartop et al., with foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales, introduction by Philippa Glanville; essays by Diana Scarisbrick, Charles Truman, David Watkin and Matthew Winterbottom, exh. cat. East Anglian Silver: 1550–1750, edited by Christopher Hartop with foreword by Robert Shirley, 13th Earl Ferrers, exh. cat. Middle Eastern Environment: Selected Papers of the 1995 Conference of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, edited by Eric Watkins John Adamson website, published under the St Malo Press imprint.

As editor and producer for other publishers Arnold, H. J. P.; Paul Doherty and Patrick Moore. The Photographic Atlas of the Stars. Bristol and Philadelphia: Institute of Physics Publishing (1997) Beresford, Richard. A Dance to the Music of Time. London: Wallace Collection (1995) Chadour-Sampson, Beatriz. Antike Fingerringe/Ancient finger rings. Die Sammlung Alain Ollivier/The Alain Ollivier Collection Munich: Prähistorische Staatssammlung (now Archäologische Staatssammlung) (1997) Hartop, Christopher; and Ellenor Alcorn. British and Irish Silver in the Fogg Art Museum. New Haven: Yale University Press (2007) Hartop, Christopher. The Huguenot Legacy: English Silver 1680–1760 from the Alan and Simone Hartman Collection. exh. cat. London: Thomas Heneage (1996) Hartop, Christopher. Noble Feast: English Silver from the Jerome and Rita Gans Collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. exh. cat. Richmond VA: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in association with John Adamson (2007) Hartop, Christopher. A Noble Pursuit: English Silver from the Rita Gans Collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. exh. cat. Richmond, VA: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in association with John Adamson (2010) Higgott, Suzanne. Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Glass & Limoges Painted Enamels. London: Wallace Collection (2011) Hughes, Peter. French Eighteenth-Century Clocks and Barometers in the Wallace Collection. London: Wallace Collection (1994) Hughes, Peter. Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Furniture (3 vols.). London: Wallace Collection (1996) (cloth); (paperback) Kolba, Judit. Hungarian Silver: The Nicolas M. Salgó Collection. London: Thomas Heneage (1997) (cloth); (paperback) Morton, Lucy, with foreword by John Partridge. Vision of the East. London: Partridge Fine Arts (1999) Ormond, Richard, and James Taylor. Rule Britannia! Art, Royalty & Power in the Age of Jamestown. exh. cat. Richmond, VA: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in association with John Adamson (2008) Prior, Katherine; and John Adamson. Maharajas' Jewels. Paris: Éditions Assouline (2000) A French-language edition was also published (Bijoux de Maharadjas, Paris: Éditions Assouline ) as well as US and Indian editions (New York: Vendome Press ; Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing ). Rawle, Tim. Cambridge (1st ed.). London: Frances Lincoln (2005) Rawle, Tim (author and photographer), John Adamson (editor). Cambridge (new ed. with foreword by William Bortrick). Cambridge: Oxbridge Portfolio (2016), 204 pp. Rawle, Tim (author), Tim Rawle and Louis Sinclair (photographers), John Adamson (editor). A Classical Adventure: The Architectural History of Downing College, Cambridge. Cambridge: The Oxbridge Portfolio (2015), 200 pp. Roth, Linda; and Claire Le Corbeiller. French Eighteenth-Century Porcelain at the Wadsworth Atheneum. Hartford. Connecticut: Wadsworth Atheneum (2000)