Publications of A. F.

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 for A. F.

  • The poetical library; being a collection of the best modern English poems, chiefly didactic and descriptive. Vol. I. Leipzig: printed for A. F. Boehme, by I. G. Struck at Wernigerode, MDCCLXXXVI. [1786]-87. ESTC No. T76149. Grub Street ID 298642.

Author

  • F., A.. Strange newes from Yorke, Hull, Beverley, and Manchester. Or A continuation of the proceedings passages, and matters of consequence that hath passed this last weeke in his Maiesties army before Hull, with some occurrences from York during the Kings absence as also of my Lord Stranges comming in a warlike manner against the town of Manchester and slew three of the inhabitants thereof. Beeing all that passed here from the 16 of Iuly to the 23. Sent in a letter from a worthy knight now resident in Yorke, to a gentleman in Kings Street in Westminster, Iuly 25. 1642. Also the humble petition of Sir Francis Wortley Knight and Baronet to the Kings most Excellent Majestie. With his Maiesties answer thereunto. Edw. Nicholas. London: printed for Iohn Thomas, 1642. ESTC No. R5791. Grub Street ID 126202.
  • F., A.. A pilgrimage to the grand jubilee at Rome, in the year 1700. By an English gentleman. London: printed by J. How, [1701?]. ESTC No. T155211. Grub Street ID 199049.
  • F., A.. The travels of an English gentleman from London to Rome, on foot. Containing, a comical description of what he met with remarkable in every city, town, and religious house in his whole journey. Also An Account of their Ridiculous Religious Processions and Ceremonies, in their Churches, thro' their Streets, and in the Woods. Likewise The Debauch'd Lives, and Amorous Intrigues of the Lustful Priests, and Leacherous Nuns. With A Pleasant Account of the opening the Holy Gate of St. Peters Church; also Reflections upon the Superstition and Poppish Pageantry of the whole Ceremony of the last Grand Jubilee at Rome. Now Published for the Diversion and Information of the Protestants of England. London: printed and sold by J. How, at the Seven-Stars in Talbot-Court, in Grace-Church-Street, 1704. ESTC No. T62153. Grub Street ID 287660.
  • F., A.. The travels of an English gentleman from London to Rome, on foot. Containing a comical description of what he met with remarkable in every city, town, and religious house in his whole journey. Also An Account of their Rediculous Religious Processions and Ceremonies, in their Churches, thro' their Streets, and in the Woods. Likewise The Debauch'd Lives, and Amorous Intrigues of the Lustful Priests, and Leacherous Nuns. With A Pleasant Account of the Opening the Holy Gate of St. Peter's Church; also Reflections upon the Superstition and Popish Pageantry of the whole Ceremony of the last Grand Jubilee at Rome. Now Published for the Diversion and Information of the Protestants of England. London: printed for A. Bettesworth, at the Red-Lion in Pater-Noster-Row, 1718. ESTC No. T62158. Grub Street ID 287665.
  • F., A.. The travels of an English gentleman from London to Rome, on foot: ... London: printed for A. Bettesworth, 1728. ESTC No. T176358. Grub Street ID 213395.
  • F., A.. The general entertainer: or, a collection of near three hundred polite tales and fables. Wherein in contained the Lives, Adventures, Intrigues, Sayings, Laws, and Customs, Of most of the Greatest Personages and Countries in the World. The whole collected for the entertainment and improvement of all gentlemen and ladies of wit, humour, and gallantry. In two volumes. London: printed for Henry Slater, at the Golden Key, in Clare-Court, Drury-Lane; and Richard Adams, at Dryden's Head, Holborn-Bars, MDCCXLVI. [1746]. ESTC No. T66895. Grub Street ID 291558.
  • F., A.. A trip to the jubilee: by a gentleman that was at the late grand one at Rome. Containing a diverting account of the most remarkable occurrences in his travels thro' France, Milan, Venice, Florence, &c. ... London: printed for Richard Adams, 1749. ESTC No. T106617. Grub Street ID 159763.
  • F., A.. A trip to the jubilee: by a gentleman that was at the late grand one at Rome. Containing a diverting account of the most remarkable occurrences in his travels thro' France, Milan, Venice, Florence, &c. ... London: printed for Richard Adams, 1750. ESTC No. T209145. Grub Street ID 237848.