John Cassell (23 January 1817 – 2 April 1865) was an English publisher, printer, writer and editor, who founded the firm Cassell & Co, famous for its educational books and periodicals, and which pioneered the serial publication of novels.[1] He was also a well-known tea and coffee merchant and a general business entrepreneur who supposedly sold and coined the term Cazeline which mutated into the word gasoline,[2] though dictionaries do not support this etymology.[3][4] A fervent Christian,[5] he campaigned throughout his life for the temperance movement in Britain, and for the reduction of taxes on publishing. He was a social reformer who recognised the importance of education in improving the life of the working class, and whose many publications, both magazines and books, brought learning and culture to the masses.
- ^ Cassell & Co., 1922, p157.
- ^ "The etymology of gasoline". Oxford Dictionaries (website). Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
- ^ "gasoline". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
- ^ gasoline". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 2024.
- ^ Ehland, Christopher. Thinking northern: textures of identity in the north of England (Rodopi, 2007) p144.