Publications of Isaiah Thomas

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 Isaiah Thomas

  • The Massachusetts magazine; or, Monthly museum of knowledge and rational entertainment. [Boston, Mass.]: Printed at Boston, by Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer T. Andrews. Sold at their bookstore, no. 45, Newbury Street, and by said Thomas at his bookstore in Worcester, by whom subscriptions for this work are still received, MDCCLXXXIX. [1789-. ESTC No. P2800. Grub Street ID 56358.

Printed for Isaiah Thomas

  • The History of little King Pippin, with an account of the melancholy death of four naughty boys. Who were devoured by wild beasts. Likewise the wonderful delivery of Master Harry Harmless. By a little white horse. Worcester [Mass.]: Printed by Isaiah Thomas, Jun. for Isaiah Thomas and Son, sold wholesale and retail at their respective bookstores, 1795. ESTC No. W12603. Grub Street ID 321886.

Author

  • Thomas, Isaiah. Just published, embellished with four plates, neatly engraved ... The Massachusetts calendar, or An almanack for the year of our Lord 1772 ... Boston: Printed and sold by Isaiah Thomas, in Union-Street, near the Market, [1771]. ESTC No. W11114. Grub Street ID 320286.
  • Thomas, Isaiah. This day was published, and to be sold by Isaiah Thomas, at his printing-office, in Worcester ... Thomas's Massachusetts, New-Hampshire, and Connecticut almanack, for ... 1780 ... [Worcester, Mass.: Printed by Isaiah Thomas, 1779]. ESTC No. W10706. Grub Street ID 319846.
  • Thomas, Isaiah. Worcester news-paper---free and uninfluenced. Proposals for circulating Thomas's Massachusetts spy in the town of Boston and its vicinity. [Worcester, Mass.: Printed by Isaiah Thomas, 1782]. ESTC No. W20835. Grub Street ID 330547.
  • Thomas, Isaiah. New American spelling book, or The child's easy introduction to spelling and reading the English tongue. To which is added, an entire new, plain and comprehensive English grammar. Also, the shorter catechism, by the Assembly of Divines. The whole adapted to the capacities of young children; rendering the use of a primer unnecessary. Printed at Worcester, Massachusetts: by Isaiah Thomas: sold at his book-store, and by E. Battelle in Boston, MDCCLXXXV. [1785]. ESTC No. W35995. Grub Street ID 346675.
  • Thomas, Isaiah. Books, a large assortment are kept up for sale by Isaiah Thomas, in Worcester. Among them are the following in divinity. [Worcester, Mass.: Printed by Isaiah Thomas, 1786?]. ESTC No. W283. Grub Street ID 338460.
  • Thomas, Isaiah. A specimen of Isaiah Thomas's printing types. Being as large and complete an assortment as is to be met with in any one printing-office in America. Chiefly manufactured by that great artist, William Caslon, Esq; of London. Printed at Worcester, Massachusetts: by Isaiah Thomas, MDCCLXXXV [i.e., 1787]. ESTC No. W29470. Grub Street ID 339736.
  • Thomas, Isaiah. Catalogue of books to be sold by Isaiah Thomas, at his book-store in Worcester, Massachusetts. Consisting of many celebrated authors in history, voyages, travels, geography, antiquities, philosophy, novels, miscellanies, divinity, physick, surgery, anatomy, arts, sciences, husbandry, architecture, navigation, mathematicks, law, periodical publications, poetry, plays, musick, &c. &c. MDCCLXXXVII. Printed at Worcester [Mass.]: by Isaiah Thomas, [1787]. ESTC No. W37691. Grub Street ID 348477.
  • Thomas, Isaiah. Large family Bible. Search the scriptures, for therein are contained the words of eternal life! ... Proposal of Isaiah Thomas, of Worcester, Massachusetts, for printing and publishing by subscription, an American edition, in large royal quarto ... of the Holy Bible. [Worcester, Mass.: Printed by Isaiah Thomas, 1789]. ESTC No. W13352. Grub Street ID 322678.
  • Thomas, Isaiah. Proposal for printing by subscription, Elements of general history. Translated from the French of the Abbe Millot. In five volumes, large octavo. Containing two volumes of ancient, and three volumes of modern history. A work universally admired for its conciseness and clearness, and composed with elegant impartiality and precision. [Worcester, Mass.: Printed by Isaiah Thomas, 1789?]. ESTC No. W236. Grub Street ID 333517.
  • Thomas, Isaiah. The friends of literature, who wish to encourage the art of printing in America are respectfully informed that American editions of the following books, (all of which were printed in the United States) are now selling by Isaiah Thomas, in Worcester, and by said Thomas & Company, in Boston, viz. ... [Worcester, Mass.: Printed by Isaiah Thomas, 1790?]. ESTC No. W9815. Grub Street ID 359004.
  • Thomas, Isaiah. To Christians of every denomination. The general state of our country must afford satisfaction to every benevolent mind. ... [Worcester, Mass.: Printed by Isaiah Thomas, 1791]. ESTC No. W5218. Grub Street ID 354172.
  • Thomas, Isaiah. Catalogue of books to be sold by Isaiah Thomas, at his bookstore in Worcester, Massachusetts. Consisting of history, voyages, travels, geography, antiquities, philosophy, novels, miscellanies, divinity, physick, surgery, anatomy, arts, sciences, husbandry, architecture, navigation, mathematicks, law, periodical publications, poetry, plays, musick, &c. &c. November, MDCCXCII. Printed at Worcester, Massachusetts: by Isaiah Thomas and Leonard Worcester, [1792]. ESTC No. W37692. Grub Street ID 348478.