The Rev. John Brand, the author of Observations on Popular Antiquities, was born on the 19th of August 1744 at Washington, in the county of Durham, where his father Alexander Brand was parish clerk. When fourteen years of age he was apprenticed to his uncle Anthony Wheatley, a shoemaker of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and during his residence in that town he attended the grammar school there. He displayed so much ability and industry that the master of the school, the Rev. Hugh Moises, with the assistance of some friends, sent him to Lincoln College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1775. He had been ordained some time previously, and, after filling several curacies, in 1784 he was presented by the Duke of Northumberland to the rectory of the united parishes of St. Mary-at-Hill and St. Mary Hubbard in the city of London. In the same year he was elected resident secretary of the Society of Antiquaries, an office he held until his death on the 11th of September 1806. He was buried in the chancel of his church. Brand had a very extensive knowledge of antiquities, and he accumulated a large library, which was very rich in old English literature.

Among the rarer books were the Knight of the Tower, printed by Caxton in 1484; the Dyalogue of Dives and Pauper, and Arnold's Chronicle of the Customs of London, printed by Pynson in 1493 and 1521; A Plaister for a Galled Horse, London, 1548; John Byshop's Beautiful Blossomes, London, 1577; Thomas Bentley's Monument of Matrones, London, 1582; A Booke of Fishing with hooke and line, London, 1600; Mrs. Fage's Poems, London, 1637; and A Juniper Lecture, London, 1639. The collection also contained some curious works on witches.

After Brand's death, the library was sold in two parts by Stewart of 194 Piccadilly. The first sale took place on May 6th, 1807, and thirty-six following days, 'Sundays, the King's Birthday, and May 21-26 excepted.' It consisted of eight thousand six hundred and eleven lots of printed books, and two hundred and forty-three of manuscripts, which realised four thousand three hundred pounds. The second part, containing duplicates and pamphlets, was sold on February the 8th, 1808, and fourteen following days, 'Sundays and the Fastday excepted.' There were four thousand and sixty-four lots in this portion, and the sum obtained for them was eighteen hundred and fifty-one pounds. The Knight of the Tower was purchased by Mr. Payne the bookseller for Earl Spencer for one hundred and eleven pounds, six shillings; Arnold's Chronicle fetched eighteen guineas; the Dyalogue of Dives and Pauper, four pounds, three shillings; Bentley's Monument of Matrones, eight pounds, eighteen shillings and sixpence; and Mrs. Fage's Poems, five pounds, fifteen shillings and sixpence. A copy of Brand's own work on Popular Antiquities, with additions for a new edition, sold, with the copyright, for six hundred and thirty pounds.

In addition to his Observations on Popular Antiquities, which appeared in 1777, Brand published a work on the History and Antiquities of the town and county of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1789; and in 1775 a poem On Illicit Love, written among the ruins of Godstow Nunnery, near Oxford—the place where the celebrated Rosamond, the mistress of Henry II., was buried. He also contributed many papers to the ArchÆologia of the Society of Antiquaries.

Nichols, in his Literary Anecdotes,[90] says of Brand that 'his manners, somewhat repulsive to a stranger, became easy on closer acquaintance, and he loved to communicate to men of literary and antiquarian taste the result of his researches on any subject in which they might require information.'