John Seller

Seller, son of Henry Seller, a cordwainer, was baptized in London on 29 December 1632. In 1654 he became a freeman of the Merchant Taylors' Company, and he became a brother of the Clockmakers' Company in 1667. He was a compass maker, and continued this occupation throughout his career.

Seller's subsequent career was affected by being put on trial in 1662, accused of high treason: it is thought he repeated a rumour about a plot involving a cache of arms. Those involved were executed, and although Seller was found guilty and imprisoned, he was later pardoned. In this way his name and occupation became known: the episode may have been a factor in his eventual appointment in March 1671 as hydrographer to the King. In that year he published the first volume of charts and sailing directions, entitled The English Pilot. It was dedicated to the Duke of York, to whom he had appealed from prison. The trade in maritime maps and charts had until then been dominated by the Dutch, and, in many instances, earlier Dutch plates, from which the original title had been replaced by an English title, were used here. The English Pilot ran through many editions, until the end of the eighteenth century, new maps from time to time taking the place of the old.

Seller was for many years settled in Wapping; he had also a shop in Exchange Alley, near the Royal Exchange. He and his wife Elizabeth had three daughters and two sons; John Seller, junior, had a shop in Cheapside, where his father's publications were on sale. He died in May 1697, and was buried at St John's Church, Wapping.