Publications of Samuel Powell

Note: The following printer, bookseller, or publisher lists are works in progress. They are generated from title page imprints and may reproduce false and misleading attributions or contain errors.

What does "printed by" mean? How to read the roles ascribed to people in the imprints.

In terms of the book trades, the lists below are sorted into up to four groups where: the person is designated in the imprint as having a single role:

  1. "printed by x"; or
  2. "sold by x"; or
  3. "printed for x" or "published by x"; or

as having multiple roles in combination (which suggests a likelihood that the person is a trade publisher):

  1. "printed and sold by x"; "printed for and sold by x"; or "printed by and for x" and so on.

Printers (owners of the type and printing presses, and possibly owners of the copyright) may be identified by the words printed by, but printed by does not universally designate a person who is a printer by trade. Booksellers may be identified by the words sold by, but sold by encompasses a number of roles. Booksellers or individuals who owned the copyright are generally identified by the words printed for, but nothing should be concluded in this regard without further evidence, especially since "printed for" could signify that the named person was a distributor rather than a copyright holder. Trade publishers, who distributed books and pamphlets but did not own the copyright or employ a printer—and were not printers themselves—might be identified by the words printed and sold by. Furthermore, works from this period often display false imprints, whether to evade copyright restrictions, to conceal the name of the copyright holders, or to dupe unwitting customers. Ultimately, one must proceed with caution in using the following lists: designations in the imprints may not reliably reflect the actual trades or roles of the people named, and the formulas used in imprints do not consistently mean the same thing.

David Foxon discussed the "meaning of the imprint" in his Lyell Lecture delivered at Oxford in March 1976, with particular attention to "publishers" in the eighteenth-century context:

The fullest form of an imprint is one which names three people, or groups of people:
     London: printed by X (the printer), for Y (the bookseller who owned the copyright), and sold by Z.
In the eighteenth century the printer's name is rarely given, at least in works printed in London, and the form is more commonly:
     London: printed for Y, and sold by Z.
Very often in this period, and particularly for pamphlets, it is further abbreviated to:
     London: printed and sold by Z.
It is this last form which is my present concern. Z is usually what the eighteenth century called 'a publisher', or one who distributes books and pamphlets without having any other responsibility—he does not own the copyright or employ a printer, or even know the author.

D. F. McKenzie coined the term "trade publisher" for these publishers in his Sandars Lectures, also in 1976, on the grounds that their principal role was to publish on behalf of other members of the book trade (Treadwell 100).

Michael Treadwell cautions that "In this period the imprint 'London: Printed and sold by A.B.' normally means 'Printed at London, and sold by A.B.' and must not be taken to mean that A.B. is a printer in the absence of other evidence." Further, "The imprint 'published by' occurs only rarely in Wing and is almost always associated with the name of a trade publisher" (104). While there are exceptions to the rule, it is "certain," he explains, "that anyone who made a speciality of distributing works for others will show a far higher proportion than normal of imprints in one of the 'sold by' forms" (116), which appear in the imprint as "sold by," "printed and sold by," or "published by" (104). Treadwell gives Walter Kettilby as an example of "a fairly typical copyright-owning bookseller" (106)—his role is almost always designated by the phrase "printed for" on imprints.

A final caution: publisher is a word that should be used with some deliberation. Samuel Johnson defines it simply as "One who puts out a book into the world," but "published by" rarely appears on the imprint until later in the eighteenth century, and then primarily associated with newspapers and pamphlets. Treadwell observes that John Dunton names only five publishers among the 200 binders and booksellers in his autobiographical Life and Errors (1705) wherein he undertakes "to draw the Character of the most Eminent [Stationers] in the Three Kingdoms" (100). Treadwell also remarks, however, that "in law, anyone who offered a work for sale 'published' it. In this sense every work had one or more 'publishers', and every bookseller, mercury, and hawker was a 'publisher'" (114).

See:

  • Terry Belanger, "From Bookseller to Publisher: Changes in the London Book Trade, 1750–1850," in Book Selling and Book Buying. Aspects of the Nineteenth-Century British and North American Book Trade, ed. Richard G. Landon (Chicago: American Library Association, 1978).
  • Bricker, Andrew Benjamin. "Who was 'A. Moore'? The Attribution of Eighteenth-Century Publications with False and Misleading Imprints," in The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 110.2 (2016).
  • John Dunton, The Life and Errors of John Dunton (London: Printed for S. Malthus, 1705).
  • John Feather, "The Commerce of Letters: The Study of the Eighteenth-Century Book Trade," Eighteenth-Century Studies 17 (1984).
  • David Foxon, Pope and the Early Eighteenth-Century Book Trade, ed. James McLaverty (Oxford University Press, 1991).
  • Samuel Johnson, Dictionary of the English Language, (printed for J. and P. Knapton; T. and T. Longman; C. Hitch and L. Hawes; A. Millar; and R. and J. Dodsley, 1755).
  • D.F. McKenzie, The London Book Trade in the Later Seventeenth Century (Sandars lectures in bibliography, 1977).
  • Michael Treadwell, "London Trade Publishers 1675–1750," The Library sixth series, vol. 4, no. 2 (1982).

Printed by Samuel Powell

  • The Dublin evening-post. Dublin [Ireland]: printed by S[amuel]. Powell in Crane-lane, where all manner of printing work is done, at reasonable rates, [1732]-. ESTC No. P1629. Grub Street ID 55418.
  • Dryden, John. The Spanish fryar: or, the double discovery: a tragi-comedy. Written by Mr. Dryden. Dublin: printed by S. Powell. For Philip Crampton, 1733. ESTC No. N23904. Grub Street ID 13266.
  • The weekly miscellany. [Dublin, Ireland]: This paper will appear every Thursday, and be sent to subscribers at a British shilling per quarter, to be paid at subscribing, by Edward Exshaw, bookseller, at the Bible on the Blind-Key, near Cork-Hill, where advertisements for this paper are taken in and by S[amuel]. Powell, printer hereof. ESTC No. P1630. Grub Street ID 55419.
  • Robins, Benjamin. Observations on the present convention with Spain. Dublin: printed by S. Powell, for George Faulkner, in Essex-Street, opposite to the Bridge, 1739. ESTC No. N10056. Grub Street ID 67.
  • Wesley, John. A plain account of the people called Methodists. In a letter to the Revd. Mr. Perronet. Vicar of Shoreham in Kent. Dublin: printed by S. Powell in Crane-Lane, MDCCXLIX. [1749]. ESTC No. N11514. Grub Street ID 1515.
  • Cumberland, Richard. A philosophical enquiry into the laws of nature: wherein The Essence, the Principal Heads, the Order, the Publication, and the Obligation of these laws are deduced from The nature of things. Wherein also, the principles of Mr. Hobbes's philosophy, both in a State of Nature, and of Civil Society, are examined into, and confuted. Written originally in Latin by the Right Reverend Father in God, Richard Cumberland, D. D. Late Lord Bishop of Peterborough. And translated into English, With large Explanatory Notes, and an Appendix, by the Reverend John Towers, D. D. Prebendary of St. Patrick's Cathedral Church, Dublin, and Vicar of Castleknock, &c. Dublin: printed by Samuel Powell in Crane-Lane, MDCCL. [1750] [1751]. ESTC No. T140744. Grub Street ID 188431.
  • Edwards, Morgan. A farewel discourse delivered at the Baptist meeting in Rye. On February 8, 1761. Printed, by them who heard it, in testimony of their affection to their late minister. By Morgan Edwards, A.M. Dublin: reprinted by Sam. Powell, Printer in Crane-Lane, and J. Fisher, Bookseller, in the Old Exchange on Corkhill, M,DCC,LXII. [1762]. ESTC No. T11766. Grub Street ID 169246.

Sold by Samuel Powell

  • Reasons humbly offer'd against a proposal for suppressing the method of agriculture, commonly called burning or burnbaiting of land. [Dublin: printed and sold by S. Powell, 1744]. ESTC No. N14455. Grub Street ID 4328.
  • Drake, Peter. The memoirs of Capt. Peter Drake. Containing an account of many strange and surpising events, which happened to Him through a Series of Sixty Years, and upwards; and several material anecdotes, regarding King William and Queen Anne's wars with Lewis XIV. of France. Dublin: printed and sold by S. Powell in Crane-Lane, for the author, MDCCLV. [1755]. ESTC No. T145643. Grub Street ID 192371.

Printed for Samuel Powell

  • Towgood, Micaiah. A dissent from the Church of England, fully justified: and proved the genuine and just consequence of the allegiance due to Christ, the only lawgiver in the church. Being the dissenting gentleman's three letters and postscript, in answer to Mr. John White's on that subject. Dublin: printed for S. Powell and Son, 1766. ESTC No. T182250. Grub Street ID 218747.
  • Whitehead, William. A trip to Scotland. As it is acted at the Theatre Royal in Drury-Lane. Dublin: printed for S. Powell, P. and W. Wilson, J. Exshaw, H. Bradley, J. Potts, D. Chamberlaine, W. Sleator, H. Saunders, S. Watson, J. Williams, J. Hoey, Jun. J. Porter, and T. Walker, MDCCLXX. [1770]. ESTC No. N13866. Grub Street ID 3763.

Printed by and for, or by/for and sold by Samuel Powell

  • Letters to His Grace the Lord Primate of all Ireland. Containing a vindication of the doctrine and character of Saint Paul, in answer to the objections of the late Lord Bolinbroke. By John Brett, D. D. Rector of Moynalty in the Diocese of Meath, and of Fercullen in the Diocese of Kildare. Dublin: printed and sold by S Powell in Crane-Lane, 1755. ESTC No. T123047. Grub Street ID 173553.