Publications of James Dodsley

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 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 James Dodsley

  • Chandler, Richard. Travels in Asia Minor: or an account of a tour made at the expense of the Society of Dilettanti. By Richard Chandler, D.D. Fellow of Magdalen College, and of the society of Antiquaries. Oxford: printed at the Clarendon press. M.DCC.LXX.V. Sold by J. Dodsley, J. Robson, T. Cadell, P. Elmsly, and G. Robinson, London, and by D. Prince, Oxford, [1775]. ESTC No. T51597. Grub Street ID 278817.
  • Burke, Edmund. The history of American taxation, from the year 1763, to the end of last session. In which is introduced, an account of the official abilities of the following ministers, ... Charles Townshend; ... Mr. Grenville; Lord Rockingham; and Lord Chatham. ... By Edmund Burke, ... [Dublin]: London: printed by J. Dodsley: and, Dublin: re-printed for John Exshaw, and E. Lynch, 1775. ESTC No. N17528. Grub Street ID 6997.
  • Thomas, M. An account of the character, the manners, and the understanding of women, in different ages, and different parts of the world. Translated from the French of Mons. Thomas, by Mrs. Kindersley. London: printed by J. Dodsley, 1800. ESTC No. N43403. Grub Street ID 29184.

Sold by James Dodsley

  • Lowth, Robert. A letter to the Right Reverend author of The divine legation of Moses demonstrated; in answer to the appendix to the fifth volume of that work. With an appendix, containing a former literary correspondence. By a late professor in the University of Oxford. Oxford: printed, at the Clarendon Printing-House; and sold by A. Millar and J. Dodsley, in London, MDCCLXV. [1765]. ESTC No. T38438. Grub Street ID 267914.

Printed for James Dodsley

  • Lockman, John. An ode on the birth-day of His Royal Highness George, Prince of Wales. 4th June, 1760. By John Lockman. Secretary to the Society of the Free British Fishery. Presented to His Royal Highness at Savile-House. London: Printed for Mess. Dodsley, at Tully's Head, in Pallmall; and sold by M. Cooper, in Pater-Noster Row, [1760]. ESTC No. N10528. Grub Street ID 538.
  • Pliny, the Younger. The letters of Pliny the Consul: with occasional remarks. By William Melmoth, Esq. London: printed for R. and J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall, MDCCLXIII. [1763]. ESTC No. T121644. Grub Street ID 172402.
  • Lowth, Robert. A letter to the right reverend author of The divine legation of Moses demonstrated; in answer to the appendix to the fifth volume of that work: with an appendix, containing a former literary correspondence: by a late professor in the University of Oxford. The fourth edition. To which is added, a letter to the Reverend Doctor Brown. London: printed for A. Millar, and J. Dodsley, MDCCLXVI. [1766]. ESTC No. N20398. Grub Street ID 9796.
  • Lowth, Robert. A letter to the Right Reverend author of The divine legation of Moses demonstrated; in answer to the appendix to the fifth volume of that work: with an appendix, containing a former literary correspondence: by a late professor in the University of Oxford. London: printed for A. Millar, and J. Dodsley, 1766. ESTC No. N68327. Grub Street ID 49752.
  • Lowth, Robert. A letter to the Right Reverend author of The divine legation of Moses demonstrated; in answer to the appendix to the fifth volume of that work: with an appendix, containing a former literary correspondence: by a late professor in the University of Oxford. London: printed for A. Millar, and J. Dodsley, MDCCLXVI. [1766]. ESTC No. T38431. Grub Street ID 267907.
  • Lowth, Robert. A letter to the Right Reverend author of The divine legation of Moses demonstrated; in answer to the appendix to the fifth volume of that work: with an appendix, containing a former literary correspondence: by a late professor in the University of Oxford. London: printed for A. Millar, and J. Dodsley, MDCCLXVI. [1766]. ESTC No. T38440. Grub Street ID 267915.
  • Lowth, Robert. A letter to the Right Reverend author of The divine legation of Moses demonstrated; in answer to the appendix to the fifth volume of that work: with an appendix, containing a former literary correspondence: by a late professor in the University of Oxford. London: printed for A. Millar, and J. Dodsley, 1766. ESTC No. T38441. Grub Street ID 267916.
  • Percy, Thomas. Four essays, as improved and enlarged in the second edition of The reliques of ancient English poetry. ... [London: printed for J. Dodsley], 1767. ESTC No. T83746. Grub Street ID 304159.
  • Priestley, Joseph. Additions to The history and present state of electricity, with original experiments. By Joseph Priestley, ... London: printed for J. Dodsley; J. Johnson and J. Payne; and T. Cadell, 1769. ESTC No. N16054. Grub Street ID 5752.
  • Coventry, Francis. The history of Pompey the little, or the life and adventures of a lap-dog. London: printed for I. Dodsley, 1773. ESTC No. T231007. Grub Street ID 250408.
  • Coventry, Francis. The history of Pompey the little, or the life and adventures of a lap-dog. London: printed for I. Dodsley in Pallmall, MDCCLXXIII. [1773]. ESTC No. T73530. Grub Street ID 296790.
  • Lyttelton, Baron Lyttelton George. Observations on the conversion and apostleship of St. Paul. In a letter to Gilbert West, Esq;. London: printed for J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall, M.DCC.LXXVII. [1777]. ESTC No. N10126. Grub Street ID 137.
  • Pindar. The pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian odes of Pindar, translated into English verse; with critical and explanatory remarks: to which are prefix'd Observations on his life and writings; Conjectures on the æra wherein the Grecian games concluded; and an Ode to the genius of Pindar. London: printed for James Dodsley, Pall-Mall, by T. Spilsbury, Snow-Hill, MDCCLXXVIII. [1778]. ESTC No. T148777. Grub Street ID 194912.
  • Lowth, Robert. Isaiah. A new translation; with a preliminary dissertation, and notes critical, philological, and explanatory. By Robert Lowth, D. D. F. R. SS. Lond. And Goetting. Lord Bishop of London. London: printed by J. Nichols; for J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, and T. Cadell in the Strand, MDCCLXXVIII. [1778]. ESTC No. T144005. Grub Street ID 359293.
  • Le Dran, Henri-François. The operations in surgery of Mons. Le Dran, Senior Surgeon of the Hospital of La Charite, Consultant Surgeon to the Army, Member of the Academy of Surgery at Paris, and Fellow of the Royal Society at London. Translated by Mr. Gataker, surgeon. With remarks, plates of the operations, and a sett of instruments, by Mr. Cheselden, Surgeon to the Royal Hospital at Chelsea, and Member of the Academy of Surgery at Paris. London: printed for J. Dodsley and B. Law, M.DCC.LXXXI. [1781]. ESTC No. N10666. Grub Street ID 673.
  • Smith, Charlotte. Elegiac sonnets, and other essays. By Charlotte Smith, ... London: printed for J Dodsley, 1784. ESTC No. T32495. Grub Street ID 263194.
  • Milton, John. Poems upon several occasions, English, Italian, and Latin, with translations, by John Milton. Viz. Lycidas, l'allegro, il penseroso, arcades, comus, odes, sonnets, miscellanies, english psalms, elegiarum liber, epigrammatum liber, sylvarum liber. With notes critical and explanatory, and other illustrations, by Thomas Warton, Fellow Of Trinity College And Late Professor Of Poetry At Oxford. London: printed for James Dodsley in Pall Mall, MDCCLXXXV. [1785]. ESTC No. T134607. Grub Street ID 183230.
  • Pliny, the Younger. The letters of Pliny the Consul: with occasional remarks. By William Melmoth, Esq ;. London: printed for J. Dodsley, 1786. ESTC No. T121640. Grub Street ID 172399.
  • Cheselden, William. The anatomy of the human body. By W. Cheselden, ... London: printed for J. Dodsley. T. Cadell. R. Baldwin. T. Lowndes. S. Hayes. J. Anderson. J. Deighton, 1792. ESTC No. T127312. Grub Street ID 177045.
  • Pliny, the Younger. The letters of Pliny the Consul: with occasional remarks. By William Melmoth, Esq;. London: printed for J. Dodsley, 1796. ESTC No. T121641. Grub Street ID 172400.