Publications of E. C.

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), or an obfuscation of the actual printer's name (e.g., "London: printed, and sold by x"):

  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 (see, e.g. Mary Cooper). The lists below reflect only the information on the imprint, except where ESTC provides extra information.

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. Booksellers may also be 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 (or what we might call a wholesaler) rather than a copyright holder. Copyright owners may also be identified by the words printed for. 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.

He cautions, "The only way to avoid being misled is to regard any imprint which says a book is printed for a publisher as meaning it is sold by him" (5).

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. C.

  • No sence from rogues or turn in, turn out. turn up. turn down. turn which way you will. you cant save your bacon. London]: Printed by E. C. London, 1717. ESTC No. N38265. Grub Street ID 26026.

Printed for E. C.

  • Coles, Elisha. A practical discourse of God's sovereignty: vvith other material points deriving thence. The third impression.. London: printed by Ben. Griffin for E. C. and are to be sold by Tho. Parkhurst, Rob. Boulter, and Nath. Ponder, 1678. ESTC No. R32492. Grub Street ID 115200.

Author

  • C., E.. A new catechisme commanded to be set forth for the instructing of youth in the principles of religion: truly explaining I The articles of our beliefe. 2 The X. commandements. 3 The Lords prayer. 4 The two Sacraments. With usefull instructions for all persons, before they receive the Lords Supper. Written by E.C. and published by authority. London: printed for H[ugh]. P[erry]. and are to be sold by Francis Coles, at the signe of the Halfe-Bowle in the Old-Baily, 1645. ESTC No. R20329. Grub Street ID 80408.
  • C., E.. The Wiltshire-petition for tythes explained, for the better understanding of the people of this Commonwealth. Herein you have first the petition it self at large inserted, and then the observations follow, being directed to each material passage in the petition by a letter of the alphabet. By E.C. and R.E. London: printed for William Larnar, at the Black-moor's head neer Fleet-bridge, 1653. ESTC No. R206992. Grub Street ID 83431.
  • C., E.. Obsequium Londini serenissimo ac potentissimo principi Carolo II:, magnæ Britanniæ, Franciæ & Hiberniæ regi pio, augusto in illustrissimo illo conventu ad Guild Hall / humillime exhibitum ab E.C. Londini: Typis Tho. Newcomb, 1660. ESTC No. R28741. Grub Street ID 111780.
  • C., E.. The poor doubting Christian drawn to Christ. Plainly shewing every poor sinner the miserableness of his estate he is in, without Christ. With several sweet motives to draw us to Christ, also comfortable directions how to live by faith, and so to attain unto grace and salvation. Being very useful for every poor sinner to practice and make use of, in these sinful, wicked, and backsliding times. By E.C. The 4th impression.. London: printed for John Wright, at the Globe in Little-Brittain, 1669. ESTC No. R33297. Grub Street ID 115937.
  • C., E.. The poor doubting Christian drawn unto Christ· Plainly shewing every poor sinner the miserableness of his estate he is in, without Christ with several sweet motives to draw us to Christ. Also comfortable directions how to live by faith, and so to attain unto grace and salvation. Being very useful for every poor sinner to practise and make use of in these sinful, wicked, and back-sliding times. By E.C. The ninth impression.. London: printed by H[enry]. B[rugis]. for J[ohn]. Wright, J[ohn]. Clark, W[illiam]. Thackery and T[homas]. Passinger, 1683. ESTC No. R173301. Grub Street ID 66918.
  • C., E.. A faithful account, of the present state, of affairs, in England, Scotland, and Ireland: or, The remarkable transactions and proceedings that have happened in these kingdoms, since the discovery of the horrid Popish Plot, anno 1678. to this present year, 1689/90. Plainly shewing the state of affairs, from time to time, in peace and war; but more particularly what has happened under the government and reign of their present Majesties, King William and Queen Mary, and of our wonderful deliverance from popery and slavery, &c. By E.C. Licensed, and entered according t order. London: printed for Tho. Bever, at the Hand and Star next the Middle Temple-Gate, near Temple-Bar, 1690. ESTC No. R22985. Grub Street ID 102250.
  • C., E.. A faithful account, of the present state of affairs, in England, Scotland, and Ireland: or, The remarkable transactions and proceedings that have happened in these kingdoms, since the discovery of the horrid Popish Plot, anno 1678. to this present year, 1690. Plainly shewing the state of affairs, from time to time, in peace and war; but more particularly what has happened under the government and reign of their present Majesties, King William and Queen Mary, and of our wonderful deliverance from popery and slavery, &c. By E.C. Licensed, and entered according to order. London: printed for Tho. Bever, at the Hand and Star, next the middle temple-gate, near Temple-Bar, 1690. ESTC No. R176220. Grub Street ID 68845.
  • C., E.. The taunton-Dean letter, from E. C. to J. F. at the Grecian Coffee-House. London: [s.n.], printed in the year, 1701. ESTC No. T173865. Grub Street ID 211051.
  • C., E.. The Taunton-Dean letter, from E. C. to J. F. at the Grecian coffee-house. London: printed in the year, 1701. ESTC No. T124366. Grub Street ID 174583.