Publications of James Woodman

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

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 Lectures 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 for James Woodman

  • Haywood, Eliza. The British recluse: or, the secret history of Cleomira, suppos'd dead. A novel. By Mrs. Eliza Haywood, Author of Love in Excess; or, the Fatal Enquiry. London: printed for D. Brown, Jun. at the Black-Swan, without Temple-Bar; W. Chetwood, and J. Woodman, in Russel-Street Covent-Garden; and S. Chapman, in Palmall, MDCCXXII. [1722]. ESTC No. N15726. Grub Street ID 5426.
  • Haywood, Eliza. The British recluse: or, the secret history of Cleomira, suppos'd dead. A novel. By Mrs. Eliza Haywood, Author of Love in Excess; or, the Fatal Enquiry. London: printed for D. Brown, jun. at the Black-Swan, without Temple-Bar; W. Chetwood, and J. Woodman, in Russel-Street Covent-Garden; and S. Chapman, in Palmall, MDCCXXII. [1722]. ESTC No. T65368. Grub Street ID 290279.
  • Brooke, Ralph. A second discoverie of errours published in the much-commended Britannia, 1594. Very preiudiciall to the discentes and successions of the aunciente nobilitie of this realme. With a reply to Mr. Camden's apology ad lectorem, in his fift edition, 1600. By Rafe Brooke ... London: printed for James Woodman, 1723. ESTC No. N21751. Grub Street ID 11106.
  • Haywood, Eliza. The injur'd husband; or, the mistaken resentment. A novel. Written by Mrs. Eliza Haywood. London: printed for D. Brown, jun. at the Black Swan, without Temple-Bar; W. Chetwood, and J. Woodman, in Russel-Street Covent-Garden; and S. Chapman, in Pall-Mall, MDCCXXIII. [1723]. ESTC No. T75400. Grub Street ID 298127.
  • Haywood, Eliza. The injur'd husband; or, the mistaken resentment. A novel. Written by Mrs. Eliza Haywood. London: printed for D. Brown, jun. at the Black Swan, without Temple-Bar; W. Chetwood, and J. Woodman, in Russel-Street Covent-Garden; and S. Chapman, in Pall-Mall, MDCCXXIII. [1723]. ESTC No. T75401. Grub Street ID 298128.
  • Brooke, Ralph. A discoverie of certaine errours published in print in the much commended Britannia, 1594. Very preiudicial to the discentes and successions of the auncient nobilitie of this realme. By Ralphe Brooke, ... To which are added, the learned Mr. Camden's answer to this book; and Mr. Brooke's reply. ... Now first published from an original manuscript in the library of John Anstis ... London: printed for James Woodman and David Lyon, 1724. ESTC No. N60736. Grub Street ID 43733.
  • Boisguillebert, Pierre Le Pesant. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots: being the secret history of her life, and the real causes of all her misfortunes. Containing a relation of many particular transactions in her reign; never yet published in any collection. Translated from the French, by Mrs. Eliza Haywood. London: printed for D. Browne junior, at the Black-Swan without Temple-Bar; S. Chapman, at the Angel in Pall-Mall; and J. Woodman and D. Lyon, in Russel-Street, Covent-Garden, M.DCC.XXV. [1725]. ESTC No. T39014. Grub Street ID 268382.
  • Philips, Erasmus. The state of the nation, in respect to her commerce, debts, and money. London: printed for J. Woodman and D. Lyon, in Russel-Street Covent-Garden, MDCCXXV. [1725]. ESTC No. T26225. Grub Street ID 258406.
  • Charleton, Walter. Chorea Gigantum: or, the most famous antiquity of Great Britain, vulgarly called Stone-Heng, standing on Salisbury-Plain, restored to the Danes. By Walter Charleton, M.D. and Physician in Ordinary to His Majesty. London: printed [by James Bettenham?] for D. Browne junior, at the Black-Swan without Temple-Bar, and J. Woodman and D. Lyon, in Russel-Street, Covent-Garden, M.DCC.XXV. [1725]. ESTC No. T30634. Grub Street ID 261485.
  • The voiage and travaile of Sir John Maundevile, Kt. which treateth of the way to Hierusalem; and of marvayles of Inde, with other ilands and countryes. ... London: printed for J. Woodman, and D. Lyon, and C. Davis, 1725. ESTC No. T100822. Grub Street ID 154734.
  • Boisguillebert, Pierre Le Pesant; Haywood, Eliza. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots: being the secret history of her life, and the real causes of all her misfortunes. Containing a relation of many particular transactions in her reign; never yet published in any collection. Translated from the French. London: printed for D. Browne junior, at the Black-Swan without Temple-Bar; S. Chapman, at the Angel in Pall-Mall; and J. Woodman and D. Lyon, in Russel-Street, Covent-Garden, M.DCC.XXVI. [1726]. ESTC No. T95188. Grub Street ID 314713.

Printed by and for, or by/for and sold by James Woodman

  • Henley, John. An introduction to an English grammar; Containing I. A compendious way to master any Language in the World. II. A particular Account of those Eastern and Northern Tongues, Grammars of which are not publish'd in the Collection to which this Attempt belongs, viz. the Ethlopic, Coptic, Persic, Samaritan, Armenian, Turkish, Chinese, Damulian or Malabaric, Malayan, Indian: And the Selavonic, Teutonic, Hibernian, British, Gothic, Runic, Islandic Tongues. III. A Dissertation on the Saxon. IV. A Grammar of it. Being number X. of the Complete linguist; or universal grammar. By J. Henley, M.A. London: printed, and sold by J. Roberts, at the Oxford Arms in Warwick Lane; J. Woodman, in Russel-Street, Covent-Garden; J. Stone, near Bedford-Row, Gray's-Inn; and R. King, at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard, MDCCXXVI. [1726]. ESTC No. T114955. Grub Street ID 166730.