Publications of William Bowyer the younger

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 William Bowyer the younger

  • Original letters and papers of state, Addressed to Oliver Cromwell; concerning the affairs of Great Britain. From the year MDCXLIX to MDCLVIII. Found among the political collections of Mr. John Milton. Now first published from the originals. By John Nickolls, jun. Member of the Society of Antiquaries, London. London: printed by William Bowyer, and sold by John Whiston Bookseller, at Boyle's Head in Fleet-Street, MDCCXLIII. [1743]. ESTC No. T56123. Grub Street ID 282673.
  • A ceremonial for the private interment of her late Royal Highness Princess Caroline, ... on Thursday the fifth of January, 1758. London: printed by W. Bowyer; and sold by G. Woodfall, 1758. ESTC No. N38525. Grub Street ID 26195.
  • Lyons, Israel. A treatise of fluxions. By Israel Lyons, Junior. London: printed by William Bowyer: and sold by A. Millar in the Strand; B. Dodd in Ave-Mary Lane, London; and J. Fletcher, in Oxford; and by the author in Cambridge, M.DCC.LVIII. [1758]. ESTC No. T106786. Grub Street ID 159880.
  • The Earl Marshal's order concerning the robes, coronets, &c. which are to be worn by the peeresses at the coronation of Their Most Sacred Majesties King George III. and Queen Charlotte. London: printed by William Bowyer, 1761. ESTC No. N37837. Grub Street ID 25743.
  • The earl Marshal's order concerning the robes, coronets, &c. which are to be worn by the peeresses at the coronation of Their Most Sacred Majesties King George III. and Queen Charlotte. London: printed by William Bowyer. And sold by G. Woodfall, at Charing Cross, MDCCLXI. [1761]. ESTC No. N6961. Grub Street ID 50620.
  • Ellys, Anthony. Tracts on the liberty, spiritual and temporal, of protestants in England. Addressed to J. N. Esq; at Aix-la-Chapelle. By Anthony Ellys, D. D. Late Lord Bishop of St. David's. Part I. London: printed by William Bowyer; and sold by Whiston and White, in Fleet-Street; Hooper, near the New Church in the Strand; Woodfall, at Charing Cross; and Robson, in Bond Street, MDCCLXIII. [1763]. ESTC No. T138213. Grub Street ID 186088.
  • Hardouin, Jean. Joannis Harduini, Jesuitæ, ad Censuram scriptorum veterum prolegomena. Juxta autographum. Londini: sumptibus P. Vaillant [printed by William Bowyer], MDCCLXVI. [1766]. ESTC No. T126048. Grub Street ID 176086.

Printed for William Bowyer the younger

  • Johnson, Samuel. The Rambler. In four volumes. ... London: printed for W. Bowyer, W. Strahan, J. and F. Rivington, J. Hinton, Hawes, Clarke, and Collins, [and 16 others in London], 1771. ESTC No. N13487. Grub Street ID 3399.
  • Clayton, Robert. A journal from Grand Cairo to Mount Sinai, and back again. Translated from a manuscript, written by the Prefetto of Egypt, in company with some Missionaries de propaganda side at Grand Cairo. To which are added remarks on the origin of hieroglyphics, and the mythology of the ancient heathens. Dedicated to The Society of Antiquaries, London. By the Right Reverend Robert Lord Bishop of Clogher. London: printed for William Bowyer; and sold by J. Ward against the Royal Exchange, M. Cooper and R. Baldwin in Pater-Noster Row, and J. Robinson in Ludgate Street, MDCCLIII. [1753]. ESTC No. T130544. Grub Street ID 179638.
  • Clayton, Robert. A vindication of the histories of the Old and New Testament. Part III. ... In a series of letters to a young nobleman. By Dr. Robert Clayton, ... [London]: Dublin, printed, London, reprinted for W. Bowyer; and sold by R. Baldwin, and M. Cooper, 1758. ESTC No. T143677. Grub Street ID 190731.
  • Clayton, Robert. A vindication of the histories of the Old and New Testament. In three parts. ... In a series of letters to a young nobleman. ... By the late Dr. Robert Clayton, ... [London]: Dublin, printed, London, reprinted for W. Bowyer: and sold by R. Baldwin, 1759. ESTC No. T98259. Grub Street ID 317567.
  • Verses on the coronation of their late Majesties King George II. and Queen Caroline, October 11, MDCCXXVII. Spoken by the Scholars of Westminster School, (some of them Now the Ornaments of the Nation) on January 15, following, being the Day of the Inauguration of Queen Elizabeth, their Foundress. With a Translation of all the Latin Copies, The Whole placed in the Order of the Transactions of that important Day. Adorned with the Coronation Medals of the Royal Pair, and a Bust of our Present King. To which is subjoined the Ceremonial of the August Procession, very proper to be compared with the approaching one; and a Catalogue of the Coronation Medals of the Kings and Queens of England. London: printed for W. Bowyer. Sold by R. and J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall; S. Barker, in College-Street, Westminster; and G. Woodfall, at Charing-Cross, MDCCLXI. [1761]. ESTC No. T53028. Grub Street ID 280023.
  • Pegge, Samuel. An essay on the coins of Cunobelin: in an epistle to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Carlisle, ... wherein this noble set of coins is classed, and appropriated to our British king ... Two plates are prefixed, ... By Samuel Pegge, A.M. ... London: printed for William Bowyer, 1766. ESTC No. N54947. Grub Street ID 38553.
  • Middleton, Conyers. The origin of printing: in two essays: I. The substance of Dr. Middleton's Dissertation on the origin of printing in England. II. Mr. Meerman's account of the invention of the art. An appendix is annexed, 1. On the first-printed Greek books. 2. On the first-printed Hebre w books, with Observations on some modern Editions; and a Collation, from Walton's Polyglott, of a remarkable Passage, as printed in Kings and Chronicles. 3. On the early polyglotts. London: printed for W. Bowyer and J. Nichols, at Cicero's Head, Red-Lion-Passage, Fleet-Street, MDCCLXXIV. [1774]. ESTC No. N10660. Grub Street ID 667.

Author

  • Bowyer, William, the younger. A view of a book, entitled, Reliquiæ Baxterianæ. In a letter to a friend. [London: printed by William Bowyer?, 1727]. ESTC No. T144364. Grub Street ID 191233.
  • Bowyer, William, the younger. A dissertation: in which the objections of a late pamphlet to the writings of the antients, after the manner of Mr. Markland, are clearly answer'd; those passages in Tully corrected, on which some of the objections are founded: with amendments of a few pieces of criticism i Mr. Markland's Epist. Critica. London: printed for M. Cooper, 1746. ESTC No. T71728. Grub Street ID 295281.
  • Bowyer, William, the younger. Conjectures on the New Testament, collected from various authors, as well in regard to words as pointing: with the reasons on which both are founded. London: printed for W. Bowyer and J. Nichols, at Cicero's Head, Red-Lion-Passage, Fleet-Street, MDCCLXXII. [1772]. ESTC No. T148135. Grub Street ID 194529.
  • Bowyer, William, the younger. An appendix to the first edition of The origin of printing; containing the additional remarks which have been inserted in the second edition. London: printed for W. Bowyer and J. Nichols, 1776. ESTC No. T22323. Grub Street ID 245900.
  • Bowyer, William, the younger. An apology for some of Mr. Hooke's Observations concerning the Roman senate. With an index to the Observations. By Mr. Bowyer. London: printed by and for J. Nichols, 1782. ESTC No. T149081. Grub Street ID 195159.
  • Bowyer, William, the younger. An apology for some of Mr. Hooke's Observations concerning the Roman senate. With an index to the Observations. By Mr. Bowyer. To which are prefixed, some hints towards a life of Mr. Hooke. London: printed by and for J. Nichols, MDCCLXXXII. [1782]. ESTC No. N30090. Grub Street ID 19077.
  • Bowyer, William, the younger. Critical conjectures and observations on the New Testament, collected from various authors, as well in regard to words as pointing: with the reasons on which both are founded. By W. Bowyer. London: printed by and for J. Nichols, MDCCLXXXII. [1782]. ESTC No. T144505. Grub Street ID 191373.
  • Bowyer, William, the younger. Miscellaneous tracts, by the late William Bowyer, Printer, F. S. A. and several of his learned friends; including letters, on literary subjects, by Mr. Markland, Mr. Clarke, &c. &c. Collected, and illustrated with occasional notes, by John Nichols, Printer, F. S. A. Edinb. London: printed by and for the editor, MDCCLXXXV. [1785]. ESTC No. T144504. Grub Street ID 191372.