Publications of Elizabeth Adams

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 Elizabeth Adams

  • An alphabetical list of the names of all the freemen of the city of Chester, who polled (and for whom) at the general election for representatives in Parliament for the said city. ... July 1747. ... Chester: printed by Eliz. Adams, for John Page, [1747]. ESTC No. T77411. Grub Street ID 299538.
  • Linden, Diederick Wessel. A letter to William Hooson, a Derbyshire miner. Shewing the mistakes, and errors, committed in his lately publish'd Miners dictionary. With a preface setting forth the reasons for making the said publick. By Diederick Wessel Linden, M.D. Chester: printed by Eliz. Adams, and sold by J. Page; and by Joseph Gittins in Holywell, 1747. ESTC No. N19655. Grub Street ID 9075.
  • Cowper, William. A summary of the life of St. Werburgh. With an Historical Account of the Images upon Her Shrine, (now the Episcopal Throne) In the Choir of Chester. Collected from ancient Chronicles, and old Writers. By a Citizen of Chester. The Manuscript being given to the Blue-Coat-School, is published by the Treasurers for the Benefit of that Charity. Chester: printed by Eliz. Adams; and sold by the booksellers in that city, 1749. ESTC No. T65474. Grub Street ID 290390.
  • Miscellany poems, on moral subjects. Chester: printed by Eliz. Adams, for the author, MDCCL. [1750]. ESTC No. T222. Grub Street ID 245075.
  • A brief account of the martyrdom of K. Charles I. of blessed memory Containing, Some Particulars, Anecdotes, and Circumstances, relating to that unparallelled Deed. As Likewise, A Summary Account of those Regicides, who signed the Warrant for the Murder of their lawful Sovereign. Chester: printed by Eliz. Adams, in Fleshmongers-Lane, and may be had of the men who carry the Courant, [1752?]. ESTC No. T70190. Grub Street ID 293968.
  • Roberts, Hugh. Tair o gerddi newyddion. Yn gyntaf, Cerdd er dwyn ar gòf i ddynion ddyll y poennau y mae 'r enaid colledig yn i ddiodde yn uffern gida dysyfiad ar ddynion aniwiol ddychwelyd att Dduw iw chanu ar Grimson Velfett. Yn ail, Dechre cerdd ar loath y part y ffordd hwyaf o ymddiddan rhwng dynn ai gydwybod. ... Yn drydydd, Cerd iw channu ar Susan Lygad-ddy neu Black-Eye Susi,. [Chester]: Argraphwyd ynghaerlleon [sic] gan Elizabeth Adams, tros Petter Maurrice, Bala, [1760?]. ESTC No. T128759. Grub Street ID 178304.
  • The statutes of the General Infirmary at Chester. Thomas Crane, secretary. Chester: printed by Elizabeth Adams, 1763. ESTC No. N23435. Grub Street ID 12792.
  • A serious hint to the citizens and merchants of Chester. Chester: printed by Eliz. Adams, MDCCLXVIII. [1768]. ESTC No. T208080. Grub Street ID 237036.
  • Pennant, Thomas. British zoology. Illustrated by plates and brief explanations. Chester: printed by Eliz. Adams, 1770. ESTC No. T218336. Grub Street ID 242937.

Printed by and for, or by/for and sold by Elizabeth Adams

  • Deacon, Thomas. Manchester vindicated: being a compleat collection of the papers lately published in defence of that town, in the Chester Courant. ... Chester: printed by and for Eliz. Adams, 1749. ESTC No. T100756. Grub Street ID 154669.
  • The chester miscellany. Being a collection Of several Pieces, both in Prose and Verse, Which were in the Chester Courant From January 1745, to May 1750. Chester: printed by and for Eliz. Adams; and sold by S. Newton, Bookseller in Manchester; and M. Cooper, at the Globe in Pater-Noster-Row, London, MDCCL. [1750]. ESTC No. T166017. Grub Street ID 204258.