Publications of Richard Gunne

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 Richard Gunne

  • Berkeley, George. A letter to T---- P----, Esq; from the author of Siris. Containing some farther remarks on the virtues of tar-water, and the methods for preparing and using it. Dublin: printed by R. Gunne, 1744. ESTC No. N54821. Grub Street ID 38463.

Sold by Richard Gunne

  • Fleetwood, William. The reasonable communicant: or, an explanation of the doctrine of the sacrament of the Lord's-Supper, ... In a discourse between a minister and one of his parishioners. [Dublin]: London printed: and re-printed and sold by R. Gunne, 1715. ESTC No. T214516. Grub Street ID 240903.
  • St. John, Henry, Viscount Bolingbroke. A dissertation upon parties; in several letters to Caleb D'Anvers, Esq; dedicated to the Right Honourable Sir Robert Walpole. Dublin: re-printed by G. Faulkner. Sold by him, by R. Gunne, and by J. Smith and W. Bruce, 1735. ESTC No. N8886. Grub Street ID 53795.

Printed for Richard Gunne

  • Aylmer, William. A recantation sermon against the errors of popery, Particularly Transubstantiation. Preach'd at St. Martin's in Oxford, Sept. 20th, 1713. Before the Right Reverend Father in God, William, Lord Bishop of Oxford, And the Right Worshipful the Mayor, Aldermen, Assistants and Bailiffs of that City. By William Aylmer, lately Professor of Divinity in the Roman Church. Publish'd at the Desire of His Lordship, And the said Gentlemen. [Dublin]: Oxford printed; and re-printed in Dublin, by Aaron Rhames, for R. Gunne, Bookseller in Capple-Street, MDCCXIV. [1714]. ESTC No. N21487. Grub Street ID 10857.
  • Haywood, Eliza. Memoirs of a certain island adjacent to the Kingdom of Utopia. Written by a celebrated author of that country. Now translated into English. Dublin: printed for R. Gunne, and P. Dugan, 1725. ESTC No. T171551. Grub Street ID 209167.
  • Miller, Philip. The gardeners dictionary: containing the methods of cultivating and improving the kitchen, fruit and flower garden. As also, the physick garden, wilderness, conservatory, and vineyard, ... Adorn'd with copper plates. By Philip Miller, ... Dublin: printed by S. Powell, for Richard Gunne, George Risk, George Ewing, and William Smith, and John Smith and William Bruce, 1732. ESTC No. N18262. Grub Street ID 7740.
  • Miller, Philip. The gardeners kalendar, directing what works are necessary to be done every month, in the kitchen, fruit, and pleasure gardens, and in the conservatory. With An Account of the particular Seasons for the Propagation and Use of all Sorts of Esculent Plants and Fruits proper for the Table, and of all Sorts of Flowers, Plants, and Trees, that flower in every Month. The second edition. By Philip Miller, Gardener to the Worshipful Company of Apothecaries, at their Betanick Garden in Chelsea, and F. R. S. Dublin: printed by M. Rhames, for Richard Gunne in Capel-Street, George Risk, George Ewing, William Smith, in Dame's-Street, and John Smith and William Bruce on the Blind-Key, Booksellers, MDCCXXXV. [1735]. ESTC No. T59421. Grub Street ID 285438.
  • Berkeley, George. A defence of free-thinking in mathematics. In answer to a pamphlet of Philalethes Cantabrigiensis, intituled, Geometry no friend to infidelity, or a Defence of Sir Isaac Newton, and the British Mathematicians. Also an Appendix concerning Mr. Walton's Vindication of the Principle of Fluxions against the Objections contained in the Analyst. Wherein It is attempted to put this Controversy in such a Light as that every Reader may be able to judge thereof. By the author of The minute philosopher. Dublin: printed by M. Rhames, for R. Gunne near the Ram in Capel-Street, MDCCXXXV. [1735]. ESTC No. T111602. Grub Street ID 163839.
  • Chambers, Ephraim. Cyclopædia: or, an universal dictionary of arts and sciences; ... By E. Chambers, F.R.S. The third edition corrected and amended; with some additions. In two volumes. ... Dublin: printed for Richard Gunne; Robert Owen; Geo. Risk, Jos. Leathley, Geo. Ewing [and 5 others in Dublin], 1740. ESTC No. T135914. Grub Street ID 184260.
  • Miller, Philip. The gardeners kalendar, directing what works are necessary to be done every month, in the kitchen, fruit, and pleasure garden, and in the conservatory. ... The third edition. By Philip Miller, ... Dublin: printed for R. Gunne; G. Risk, G. and A. Ewing, W. Smith, 1746. ESTC No. N18200. Grub Street ID 7676.