Publications of B. B.

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 B. B.

  • Walls, Edward. A postscript to the reply to Mr. John Parkinson, of the Welton inclosure. Boston: printed by B. B. Kelsey; and to be had of him, and of the booksellers at Lincoln, Louth, Horncastle, and Spilsby, gratis, by those who have purchased The Reply, [1796]. ESTC No. N20820. Grub Street ID 10198.

Sold by B. B.

  • The demon cast-out that first flung the bone of contention in England. London: printed and sold by B. B. near Ludgate, 1705. ESTC No. N50711. Grub Street ID 34760.

Printed for B. B.

  • Bourne, Benjamin. The description and confutation of mysticall Anti-Christ, the Familists; or, an information drawn up and published for the confirmation and comfort of the faithfull, against many Antichristian Familisticall doctrines which are frequently preached and printed in England: particularly in those dangerous books called Theologia Germanica, the Bright Star, Divinity and Philosophy dissected. Written by Benjamin Bourne. Published according to order. London: printed by Matthew Symons for B. B. and are to be sold at the signe of the Angel in Cornehill, 1646. ESTC No. R201037. Grub Street ID 78502.

Author

  • B., B.. The way to honour. In three parts. First part, of councils and councellors. Second part, of the well-qualified courtier. Third part, of martial prowess and learning. Illustrated and adorn'd by many famous examples, as well ancient as modern. By B.B. Gent. London: printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns, at the lower end of Cheapside, 1678. ESTC No. R28323. Grub Street ID 111404.
  • B., B.. A letter from St. Omers to a friend in London. London: printed for Langley Curtis at the Goat on Ludgate-Hill, [1681?]. ESTC No. R12370. Grub Street ID 60562.
  • B., B.. A historical and law treatise against the Jews and Judaism: Shewing that by the ancient establish'd laws of the land, no Jew hath any right to live in England, no[t] to appear without Yellow Badges upon his or her upper garment; that none of the rabbies of the Jews shall upon pain of death, pervert any Christian to Judaism; that no Jew shall cohabit with a Christian woman; that no Jew shall be sworn upon the holy evangelist, nor be admitted to swear upon any other Christian translation; no Jew shall bring his action against a Christian but in the Queen's name; no Jew's widdow shall adminster, but the right of adminstration is in the Queen; no jews synagogue shall be errected in England, but all such shall be suppres'd; and lastly, that the return of the Jews after their total expulsion, render them all uncapable of receiving any benefit by our law. Together with a consutation of the two arguments us'd by some for the re-admission of the Jews. London: [s.n.], Printed in the year 1703. ESTC No. T14204. Grub Street ID 189540.
  • B., B.. An historical treatise concerning Jews and Judaism, in England: Giving an account of the particular crimes and Impieties, that have brought upon them the heavy punishments they have sustained in this Kingdom, from the reign of Edward I. Ans shewing that by our ancient established laws, a Jew had no Right to appear in England, without a yellow badge to be worne on the upper garment, nor co-habit with a Christian woman, nor bring an action against a Christian, but in the King's name. That synagogues were to be suppressed, and that no Rabbi, on pain of death, was to pervent any one to Judaism, and that the return of the Jews after their expulsion, renderd them incapable of receiving any benefit from our laws. Together with a consutation of the arguments made use of for their re-admission. London: [s.n.], Printed in the year 1720. ESTC No. T36330. Grub Street ID 266256.
  • B., B.. A historical and law treatise against the Jews and Judaism: shewing that by the antient establish'd laws of the land, no Jew hath any right to live in England, nor to appear without yellow badges upon his or her garment; that none of the Rabbies of the Jews shall upon pain of death pervert any Christian to Judaism, that no Jew shall cohabit with a Christian woman; that no Jew shall be witness against a Christian; that no Jew shall be sworn upon the Holy Evangelist, nor be admitted to swear upon any other Christian translation, no Jew shall bring his action against a Christian, but in the King's name; no Jew's widow shall administer, but the right of administration is in the king, no Jews synagogue shall be erected in England, but all such shall be suppress'd; and lastly, that the return of the Jews after their total expulsion, renders them all uncapable of receiving any benefit by our laws. Together with a confutation of the two arguments us'd by some for the re-admission of the Jews. London: printed, and sold by J. Roberts in Warwick-Lane, 1721. ESTC No. T36309. Grub Street ID 266237.
  • B., B.. An historical treatise concerning Jews and Judaism, in England: Being a circumstantial narrative of the punishments that people have from time to time undergone in this Kingdom, since the reign of Edward I. with an account of their particular crimes and impieties which occasion'd them. Collected from our historians and ancient established laws; by which it appears, that a few has no right to appear in England, without a yellow badge fixed on the upper garment, nor co-habit with a Christian woman, nor bring an action against a Christian, but in the King's name. That synagogues are to be suppressed, and that no Rabbi, on pain of death, is to pervert any one to judaism, and that a return of the Jews after their their expulsion, renders them incapable of receiving any benefit from our laws. Together with a consutation of the arguments made use of for their re-admission. The second edition.. London: Printed for R. Baldwin, in Pater-noster Row, MDCCLIII. [1753]. ESTC No. T14621. Grub Street ID 192896.