WHITTINGHAM, CHARLES (1767-1840), English printer, was born on June 16, 1767, at Caludon, Warwickshire, and was apprenticed to a Coventry printer. In 1789 he set up a printing press in London, started a paper-pulp factory in Chiswick in 1809, and in 1811 founded the Chiswick press. He was a pioneer of cheap reprints of the classics, was the first to use proper overlays in printing woodcuts, and was also the first to print a fine or "Indian paper" edition. He died at Chiswick on Jan. 15, 1840.
His nephew and partner, Charles Whittingham (1795-1876), re moved the whole business to London in 1852. Under him the Chiswick press increased its reputation.