Publications of John Torbuck

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 John Torbuck

  • Ward, Edward. The modern courtier: or the ambitious statesman's advice to his son. In order to his advancement at c------t. A poem. In five canto's. Written by a noble L----d to his son. London: printed and sold by J. Torbuck, in Clare-Court, Drury-Lane; and by the Booksellers and Publishers in Town and Country, [1741]. ESTC No. T65494. Grub Street ID 290411.

Printed for John Torbuck

  • Woolston, Thomas. The old apology for the truth of the Christian religion against the Jews and Gentiles revived: Wherein is shewn Against the Jews, that Christ is the Prophet like Moses, doing all those Signs, Wonders and Judgments before and upon the Emperors and Empire of Rome, which Moses wrought upon Pharaoh and Egypt, untill the Heathen Emperors and the Gentiles, like Pharaoh and the Egyptians, were drown'd and overwhelm'd in the Red Sea. And Against the Gentiles, that God in Christ Jesus did manifest his Divine Authority to the Emperors and the Gentiles in the best and properest manner that can be imagined; and that they were very inexcusable for Persecuting the Church, and no sooner departing from Idolatry to the Worship of him. By Thomas Woolston, B. D. Fellow of Sidney-Sussex College in Cambridge. London: printed for John Torbuck Bookseller in Clare-Court near Drury-Lane, MDCCXXXII. [1732]. ESTC No. T77102. Grub Street ID 299317.
  • Goodwin, Timothy. The life and character of that eminent and learned prelate, Dr. Edward Stillingfleet, Lord Bishop of Worcesetr. [sic] In which is contained, an account of the controversies of those times, wherein his lordship was concerned with the CHurch of Rome, Dissenters, Deists, and Socinians. Together with some account of his other works. To which prefixed a table of contents. London: printed for John Torbuck, in Clare Court, near Drury-Lane, M.DCC.XXXV. [1735]. ESTC No. T55962. Grub Street ID 282543.
  • Alberoni, Giulio. Cardinal Alberoni's scheme for reducing the Turkish empire to the obedience of Christian princes: and for a partition of the conquests. Together with a scheme of a perpetual dyet for establishing the publick tranquility. Translated from an authentick copy of the Italian manuscript, in the hands of the Prince de la Torella, the Sicilian Ambassador, at the Court of France. London: printed for J. Torbuck; in Clare-Court, Drury-Lane, and sold at the pamphlet-shops at the Royal Exchange, Temple-Bar, and Charing-Cross, 1736. ESTC No. N26640. Grub Street ID 16007.
  • Barber, Rev. James. The farmer's daughter: or, the art of getting preferment. To which is added, The female skirmish: or the tripple plea. London: printed for J: Torbuck in Clare-Court near Drury-Lane; and W: Smith at Lord Chancellor Talbot's-Head near Serle's-Gate Lincolns-Inn, [1737?]. ESTC No. T87098. Grub Street ID 307181.
  • Floyer, John. The art of preserving old men's healths, explain'd: in twenty chapters. With an appendix, concerning the use of oils and unction, in some diseases. And a method, from a Florentine physician, of curing convulsions and epilepsies, by external operation. By Sir John Floyer, Kt. of Litchfield, M. D. The second edition, corrected. To which is added, A letter to the Hon. Mr. Ch----- St----- concerning the regimen of the health of the younger years and adults, as Galen has describ'd them. London: printed for J. Torbuck, in Clare-Court, near Drury-Lane; and E. Torbuck, at the Half-Moon in Exeter-Exchange, in the Strand, MDCCXXXVIII. [1738]. ESTC No. N14576. Grub Street ID 4372.
  • Barber, Rev. James. The farmer's daughter: or, the art of getting preferment. To which is added, The female skirmish: or, the tripple plea. London: printed for J: Torbuck; and W: Smith, [1738]. ESTC No. N46496. Grub Street ID 31332.
  • Barber, Rev. James. Tom K----g's: or, the Paphian grove. With the various humours of Covent Garden, the theatre, The Gaming-Table, &c. A Mock-Heroic-Poem, in three cantos. The second edition. To which is added, a dedication to Mrs. K----g, and the Author's Apology to such Gentlemen as think themselves personally reflected on in this Poem. London: printed for John Torbuck, in Clare-Court near Drury-Lane; J. Robinson, the Corner of Maiden-Lane, in Southampton-Street, Covent-Garden; G. Spavan, next the Feathers Tavern against St. Clement's-Church in the Strand; and sold at the pamphlet shops, at the Royal-Exchange, Temple-Bar, and Charing-Cross, [1738]. ESTC No. T87097. Grub Street ID 307180.
  • Burnet, Thomas. Archæologiæ philosophicæ: or, the ancient doctrine concerning the originals of things. Written in Latin by Thomas Burnet, L.L.D. Faithfully translated into English. Containing I. Moses's description of paradise. ... London: printed for J. Torbuck in Clare-Court, Drury-Lane, [1740?]. ESTC No. N29504. Grub Street ID 18632.

Printed by and for, or by/for and sold by John Torbuck

  • Ward, Edward. The modern courtier: or the ambitious statesman's advice to his son, in order to his advancement at c---t. A poem. In five canto's. Written by a noble L---d to his son. London [i.e. Edinburgh?]: printed and sold by J. Torbuck, [1741?]. ESTC No. N5088. Grub Street ID 34909.