Publications of Joshua Conyers

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.

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 for Joshua Conyers

  • The Jacobite tossed in a blanket: or, A dialogue between a VVilliamite and a Jacobite: concerning the times, and the losses of the French. Tune Fa la: or, Tan tara tantroy. Licensed according to order. London]: Printed for J. Conyers at the black Raven in Holbourn, and J. Conyers adjoyning to St. Peters Alley, at the upper end of Cornhil, [1692. ESTC No. R178823. Grub Street ID 70459.
  • The vvitty harlot; or, The French King in the powdering tub. Tune, I love you more and more each day. Licensed according to order. London]: Printed for J. Conyers at the Black Raven in Holbourn, and J. Conyers adjoyning to St. Peters Alley in Cornhill, [1692?. ESTC No. R187706. Grub Street ID 75882.
  • Arundell, Thomas. The holy breathings of a devout soul, in meditations, contemplations, and prayers. London]: Printed for Josh. Conyers, at the Anchor and Bible, in Cornhill, 1695. ESTC No. R43604. Grub Street ID 124531.
  • Charleton, Walter. Enquiries into human nature, in VI. anatomic prælections in the New Theatre of the Royal Colledge of Physicians in London· With a large preface of the antiquity, uses, differences, &c. of anatomy, by Walter Charleton, M.D. and fellow of the same Colledge. Published by orde of the most learned president. London: printed for J. Conyers, at the Bible and Anchor in Cornhil, 1697. ESTC No. R23989. Grub Street ID 107828.
  • Drayton, Michael. England's heroical epistles, written in imitation of the stile and manner of Ovid's epistles: with annotations of The chronicle history. By M. Drayton Esq; Newly corrected and amended. Licensed according to order. London: printed for J[oshua]. Conyers at the Bible and Anchor in Cornhil, 1697. ESTC No. R171836. Grub Street ID 65924.
  • Lansdowne, George Granville. The she-gallants: a comedy. As it is acted at the Theatre in Little Lincoln's-Inn Fields, by His Majesties servants. By the Honourable George Granville, Esq. London: printed for J. Conyers at the Bible and Anchor in Cornhill, 1700. ESTC No. R1108. Grub Street ID 59397.
  • Solid geometry: or, foundation of measuring, of all manner of solid bodies. Most accurately demonstrated in various propostions; and applied to practice in the exact mensuration of timber or stone (though never so irregular) being of great use to all carpenters, Bricklayers and Masons, &c. But Particularly intended, for the true Gauging of all Manner of Vessels, of what Form or Figure soever; either in whole or in part: As Wine, Beer-Casks, Brewers-Tuns and Coppers, Backs or Coulers. Being very useful for all Gaugers, Generals, Surveyors, Supervisors, and all other Gaugers, &c. To which is now added, a very necessary appendix explaining and facilating the former Work, in the Practical Part thereof; being of singular Use to all Persons concern'd therein: The like not Extant in the English Tongue. Recommended to the Reader by the Royal Society. London: printed for J. Conyers at the Bible and Anchor near St. Peter's Church in Cornhill, 1703. ESTC No. T130063. Grub Street ID 179283.
  • Lucian, of Samosata. Luciani Samosatensis Dialogorum selectorum lib. II. A Gulielmo Du-gardo recogniti, ... cum interpretatione Latinâ, ... Londini: impensis J. Walthoe, J. Knapton, R. Knaplock, J. & B. Sprint, J. Conyers, [and 7 others in London], 1723. ESTC No. T113071. Grub Street ID 165024.
  • The life of Oliver Cromwel, L. Protector of the Common-Wealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. Being an account of all the battles, sieges, and other military atchievements wherein he was engaged in these three nations. And likewise, of his civil administration, while he had the supream government, till his death. Relating matters of fact, without partiality. London: printed for T. Bradshaw, J. Timms, D. Midwinter, P. Darbey, and J. Coniers, 1724. ESTC No. T228226. Grub Street ID 248742.
  • Roberti, Antonius. Clavis Homerica, sive Lexicon vocabulorum omnium, quae continentur in Homeri Iliade et potissima parte Odyssaeae. Cum brevi de dialectis appendice. Nec non Mich. Apostolii proverbiis Graeco-Latinis. Accessere etiam huic postremae editioni varia elogia seu testimonia de Homero, ex diversis auctoribus, tum antiquis, tum neotericis collecta. Londini: impensis J. Walthoe, J. Knapton, R. Knaplock, J. & B. Sprint, J. Conyers, B. Lintot, D. Midwinter, A. Bettesworth, W. & J. Innys, R. Robinson, B. Motte, T. Wotton & A. Ward, M DCC XXVII. [1727]. ESTC No. T67151. Grub Street ID 291795.
  • Lucian, of Samosata. Luciani Samosatensis Dialogorum selectorum libri duo, a Gulielmo Du-gardo recogniti, ... cum interpretatione Latinâ, ... Londini: excudit T. Wood; impensis J. Walthoe, J. & J. Knapton, R. Knaplock, J. & B. Sprint, J. Conyers, [and 9 others in London], 1729. ESTC No. N5531. Grub Street ID 38830.