Publications of permission of

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 the seller and printer roles in combination, or an absence of the printer's name following "London: printed:" or "London: printed,":

  1. "printed and sold by x"; or "printed for and sold by x"; or "printed by and for x"; or "printed: and sold by x"; or "printed, and sold by x";  and so on.

On this last point, trade publishers may seem to have "printed" or "published" the work, though they did not own the copyright. The lists below reflect only the information on the imprint, except where ESTC provides extra information.

See also "The Meaning of the Imprint."

Printed by permission of

  • Watts, Isaac. Dr. Watts's divine and moral songs for children; revised and altered so as to render them of general use. To which are added, a short catechism and prayers. London: printed by permission of the proprietors, for J. Johnson, 1787. ESTC No. N30730. Grub Street ID 19658.

Sold by permission of

  • A short treatise on the slavery of negroes in the British colonies. Shewing that they are much happier than in their native country, ... By Samuel Martin, Senr. ... [Antigua]: (By permission of the author,) Antigua, printed and sold by Robert Mearns, 1775. ESTC No. N36868. Grub Street ID 24823.