Publications of H. W.

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

On this last point, trade publishers such as Mary Cooper appeared in imprints as having "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.

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 H. W.

  • Gentleman.. The happy nuptials, a pastoral epithalamium: as it is performed at the theatre in Goodmans-fields. By a gentleman. London : printed by H. W. and given gratis at the aforesaid theatre, 1733. ESTC No. N1163. Grub Street ID 1633.

Author

  • W., H.. Balaams reply to the asse, or The clergies ansvver to the countreys complaint. By H.VV. London : printed by J.B. and are to be sold at the several booksellers shops in London and Westminster, 1661. ESTC No. R8052. Grub Street ID 128260.
  • W., H.. The freeness of Gods grace in the forgiveness of sins, by Jesus Christ, vindicated. Against the doctrine of Mr. Fergusson, in his sermon preached at the morning lecture, the fifth of August 1668. in a letter to a friend. By H. W. a lover of the truth that is according to Godliness. London : printed for J. J. and are to be sold at William Crooks, at three Bibles near Temple Bar, and at Peter Parker's in Billeter Lane, anno 1668. ESTC No. R217619. Grub Street ID 92389.
  • W., H.. The rule of charity: or, The liberal mans guide; design'd, for the use of all good Christians. Being the pious result of a lay-man's ordinary meditations. By H.W. Gent. Licensed according to order. London : printed for the author, in the year, MDCXC. [1690]. ESTC No. R219405. Grub Street ID 93946.
  • W., H.. The rule of charity: by H. W. gent. Licensed according to order. London : printed for the author,, in the year, MDCXCII. [1692]. ESTC No. R220843. Grub Street ID 95095.
  • W., H.. The rule of charity: by H.W. gent. Licensed according to order. London : Printed for the author,, in the year, MDCXCIII. [1693]. ESTC No. R28906. Grub Street ID 111933.
  • W., H.. The court convert: or, A sincere sorrow for sin, faithfully travers'd; expressing the dignity of a true penitent. Drawn in little by one, whose manifold misfortunes abroad, have render'd him necessitated, to seek for shelter here; by dedicating himself and this small poem. By H.A. Gent. London] : Printed for the author, [1695?. ESTC No. R219546. Grub Street ID 94070.
  • W., H.. The rule of charityDT By H.W. Gent. Licens'd according to order. London : printed for the author, MDCXCV. [1695]. ESTC No. R34716. Grub Street ID 117228.
  • W., H.. The rule of charity· By H.W. Gent. Licens'd according to order. London : printed for the author, in the year MDCXCVI. [1696]. ESTC No. R233386. Grub Street ID 104931.
  • W., H.. The rule of charity. By H.W. gent. Licens'd according to order. London : printed for the author, in the year MDCXCVII [1697]. ESTC No. R219557. Grub Street ID 94077.
  • W., H.. The court convert: or, A sincere sorrow for sin, faithfully travers'd; expressing the dignity of a true penitent. Drawn in little by one, whose maniford misfortunes abroad, have render'd him necessitated, to seek for shelter here; by dedicating himself and this small poem. By H.A. Gent. London] : printed for the author [1700?. ESTC No. R186266. Grub Street ID 75015.
  • W., H.. The court convert: or, A sincere sorrow for sin, faithfully travers'd: expressing the dignity of a true penitent. Drawn in little, by one, whose manifold misfortunes abroad; have render'd him necessitated, to seek for shelter here; by dedicating himself, and the said small poem, to the divine Astrea. By H.A. Gent. London?] : Printed for the author, [1700. ESTC No. R219552. Grub Street ID 94074.
  • W., H.. The court convert: or, A sincere sorrow for sin, faithfully travers'd; expressing the dignity of a true penitent. Drawn in little, by one, whose manifold misfortunes abroad, have render'd him necessitated, to seek for shelter here; by dedicating himself, and the said small poem, to the divine Astrea. By H.A. Gent. London?] : Printed for the author, [1700. ESTC No. R226819. Grub Street ID 99755.
  • W., H.. The coronation, or, England's patroness: being a small poem dedicated to Her Sacred Majesty Queen Anne. By H.W. Gent. London? : s.n.], Printed in the year, 1702. ESTC No. N27493. Grub Street ID 16744.
  • W., H.. The access or permitted approach of a court penitent to the divine Astrea by H. W. gent. London] : Printed, 1703. ESTC No. T124674. Grub Street ID 174856.
  • W., H.. The access to virtue: or, permitted approach of a court penitent to the divine Astrea. By H. W. gent. London?] : Printed, MDCCIV. [1704. ESTC No. T121201. Grub Street ID 172051.
  • W., H.. Two sermons, the one, in commemoration of our dearest Lord's bitter death and passion: the other, immediatly [sic] before receiving the holy sacrament of His supper. Preached at Edinburgh, upon the 14. and 16. April, 1704. By H. W. ... Edinbburgh: printed by the heirs and successors of Andrew Anderson, 1704. ESTC No. T229422. Grub Street ID 249334.
  • W., H.. A miscellany of thought; or, a mixture of sayings both moral and divine. By H. W. Gent. London?] : Printed in the year, 1705. ESTC No. N35004. Grub Street ID 23292.
  • W., H.. The divine or hypostatical union: being a small poem, upon the life and death of the blessed Jesus: beginning with the Advent. By H..W [sic] ... Edinburgh: printed in the year, 1707. ESTC No. T130413. Grub Street ID 179559.
  • W., H.. Miscellanies: or, A variety of notion and thought. Being a small treatise of many small matters, consisting of things both moral and divine. By H.W. gent. London] : Printed for the author, M.DCC.VIII. [1708. ESTC No. N35005. Grub Street ID 23293.
  • W., H.. The dark penitent's complaint: or a hue and cry after charity. Dedicated in particnlar [sic] to the honourable and reputed charitable. [blank] By H. W. gent. Eristol [sic]: printed by W. Bonny, 1712. ESTC No. T219452. Grub Street ID 243588.
  • W., H.. Light extinguish'd. A poem intitul'd the sight's retreat; or, the true light at last made manifest. By H. W. Gent. London?] : Printed for the author, [1715?. ESTC No. N62427. Grub Street ID 44788.
  • W., H.. The court convert: or, a sincere sorrow for sin, faithfully travers'd expressing the dignity of a true penitent. Drawn in little, by one whose manifold misfortunes abroad; have render'd him necessitated, to seek for shelter here; by dedicating himself, and the said small poem, to the divine. Astrea. By H. A. Gent. Dublin: printed for J. C. [i.e. James Connor, bookseller in Drogheda], 1727/8. ESTC No. T192004. Grub Street ID 226607.
  • W., H.. An answer to a piece, entituled A line drawn between Christ, and Anti-Christ. [Providence]: Printed [by William Goddard] for the author, 1765. ESTC No. W35456. Grub Street ID 346122.
  • W., H.. The unlawfulness of polygamy evinced: or, observations occasioned by the erroneous interpretations of the passages of the New Testament, respecting the laws of marriage, lately published in a treatise on female ruin. London : printed for G. Kearsly, Fleet-Street, M.DCC.LXXX. [1780]. ESTC No. T1053. Grub Street ID 158654.
  • W., H.. A poem, descriptive of the terrible fire, which made such shocking devastation in Boston, on the evening of Friday, April 21, 1787, in which were consumed one house of worship, of which the Rev. Ebenezer Wight was pastor, and upwards of one hundred dwelling-houses and other buildings ... Composed by H.W. [Boston]: Sold [by Ezekiel Russell] at the office next Liberty-Pole, 1787]. ESTC No. W27688. Grub Street ID 337802.
  • W., H.. A poem, descriptive of the terrible fire, which made such shocking devastation in Boston, on Friday evening the twenty-first of April, 1787, in which were consumed one house of worship, of which the Reverend Ebenezer Wight was pastor, and upwards of one hundred dwelling-houses and other buildings ... Composed by H.W. [Boston]: Sold [by Ezekiel Russell] at the printing-office in Essex-Street, next Liberty-Pole: where may be had, on Saturday next, a particular account of the above melancholy catastrophe ., [1787]. ESTC No. W31527. Grub Street ID 341950.