Publications of E. W.

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 E. W.

  • The report from the Committee of Secrecy, relating to the examination of Thomas Harley, Esq; veneris 19 die Augusti, 1715. [Dublin: printed by E. W. in Essex-Street, at the corner of Sycamore-Alley, 1715]. ESTC No. N47828. Grub Street ID 32467.

Author

  • W., E.. Four queries resolved for the satisfaction of all men, who are not willingly ignorant, touching the late arch-bishop I. What his religion was, he so coloured over at his death?, II. What his church was, he so bemoaned at that time?, III. What his confessions was?, IV. And prayer, which his brethren, in iniquity, do approve of at this day : concluded that all those four are so many abominations before the Lord God, and all good men. London: Printed for John Hancock .., 1645. ESTC No. R10954. Grub Street ID 59283.
  • W., E.. No præexistence. Or A brief dissertation against the hypothesis of humane souls, living in a state antecedaneous to this. By E.W. A.M. London: printed by T.R. for Samuel Thomson at the sign of the Bishops-Head in Duck-Lane, MDCLXVII. [1667]. ESTC No. R8175. Grub Street ID 128374.
  • W., E.. Protestancy without principles, or, Sectaries unhappy fall from infallibility to fancy. Laid forth in four discourses by E.W. Printed at Antwerp: by Michael Cnobbaert, in the year 1668. ESTC No. R34759. Grub Street ID 117269.
  • W., E.. The down-right vvooing of honest John & Betty. To the tune of, Cold and raw. This may be printed, R.P. [London]: Printed for J[onah]. Deacon, at the Angel in Guiltspur-street, [1671 - 1704]. ESTC No. R227115. Grub Street ID 100023.
  • W., E.. Reason and religion. Or The certain rule of faith, where the infallibility of the Roman Catholick Church is asserted, against atheists, heathens, Iewes, Turks, and all sectaries. With a refutation of Mr Stillingfleets many gross errours. By E.W. author of the book called, Protestancy without principles. Printed at Antwerp: by Michael Cnobbaert, in the year 1672. ESTC No. R34760. Grub Street ID 117271.
  • W., E.. The infallibility of the Roman Catholick Church and her miracles, defended against Dr Stillingfleets cavils, unworthily made publick in two late books, the one called, An answer to several treatises &c, the other, à [sic] vindication of the Protestant grounds of faith, against the pretence of infallibility, in the Roman Church &c. By E.W. The first part. Antwerp: printed by Michael Cnobbaert, at the sign of. [sic] S. Peter, in the year. 1674. ESTC No. R21280. Grub Street ID 88346.
  • W., E.. Spadacrene Dunelmensis: or A short treatise of an ancient medicinal fountain or vitrioline spaw near the city of Durham. Together with the constituent principles, virtues and use thereof. By E.W. Doctor of Physick. London: printed by W[illiam]. Godbid, 1675. ESTC No. R38665. Grub Street ID 120732.
  • W., E.. Spadacrene Dunelmensis: or a short treatise of an ancient medicinal fountain or vitrioline spaw near the city of Durham. With the constituent principle, virtues and use thereof. By E.W. Doctor of Physick. London: printed by W[illiam]. G[odbid], and are to be sold by William Shrowsbury, at the Bible in Duck-lane, 1675. ESTC No. R186631. Grub Street ID 75216.
  • W., E.. Spadacrene Dunelmensis: or, A short treatise of an ancient medicinal fountain or vitrioline spaw near the city of Durham. Together with the constituent principles, virtues and use thereof. By E.W. Doctor of Physick. London: printed for Mark Pardoe, at the Black Raven in the Strand, 1682. ESTC No. R221220. Grub Street ID 95414.
  • W., E.. Harmonia grammaticalis, or a view of the agreement between the Latin and Greek tongues as to the declining of words: and principally conduces to the Attainment of the Greek Language, is lendred much more easy to be learn'd by Young Scholars. London: printed for James Knapton, at the Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard, MDCXI [1711]. ESTC No. T96509. Grub Street ID 315960.
  • W., E.. Harmonia grammaticalis, or, a view of the agreement between the Latin and Greek tongues as to the declining of words: ... London: printed for James Knapton, 1711. ESTC No. T96510. Grub Street ID 315962.
  • W., E.. Poems written upon several occasions, and to several persons. To which are added, three essays, I. On pride. II. Contempt. III. Solitude. By E. W. London: printed for J. Baker at Mercers Chapel in Cheapside, MDCCXI. [1711]. ESTC No. T129159. Grub Street ID 178642.
  • W., E.. The amorous bugbears: or, the humours of a masquerade. Intended as a supplement to the London-Spy. By E. W. London: printed: and sold by A. Bettesworth, J Bately in Pater-Noster-Row, and J. Brotherton at the Bible in Cornhil, 1725. ESTC No. T68077. Grub Street ID 292408.
  • W., E.. A paraphrase on the hundred and fourth Psalm, in verse. By E. W. London: printed by R. Dodsley, and sold by T. Cooper, 1741. ESTC No. T56159. Grub Street ID 282707.