Michael Faraday began working as a bookbinder's apprentice at age 14.
In 1805, Faraday was apprenticed to George Riebau, a bookseller and bookbinder on Blandford Street in London. The seven-year apprenticeship gave him practical training, but it also placed him unusually close to books at a time when he had received very little formal education.
Faraday used that opportunity to teach himself. He read scientific works that came through the shop, attended lectures, and copied illustrations from books. Among the works that influenced him was Jane Marcet's Conversations on Chemistry. His growing interest in science eventually led him to attend lectures by chemist Humphry Davy.
The apprenticeship was therefore much more than a childhood job. Riebau encouraged Faraday's curiosity, and the notes Faraday made from Davy's lectures helped him secure work at the Royal Institution. His bookbinding experience became the first major step in a scientific career that transformed physics and chemistry.