Publications of William Boreham

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 William Boreham

  • The director, num. I, II, III, IV. Edinburgh: Lnodon [sic], printed by William Boreham, Edinburgh, reprinted by William Adams, [1720?]. ESTC No. T119570. Grub Street ID 170958.
  • A letter of advice to a young poet: together with a proposal for the encouragement of poetry in this Kingdom. By J. Swift. [London]: Printed at Dublin, re-printed at London, and sold by W. Boreham, 1721. ESTC No. T70429. Grub Street ID 294170.

Sold by William Boreham

  • Du Pin, Louis Ellies. Monsieur Du Pin's motives and reasons, in defence of Cardinal de Noailles (the Archbishop of Paris) his appeal to a general council; in a letter to his correspondent at Rome: with Cardinal Gualtieri's answer to every article. To which is added a key to the history of the constitution, Unigenitus. Being an exact account of the Jansenists ... The second edition. Done from the Italian by a friend abroad. London: printed by S. Redmayne, for R. King, and sold by W. Boreham, 1718. ESTC No. N64254. Grub Street ID 46279.
  • Du Pin, Louis Ellies. Monsieur Du Pin's motives and reasons, in defence of Cardinal de Noailles (the Archbishop of Paris) his appeal to a general council; in a letter to his correspondent at Rome. With Cardinal Gualtieri's answer to every article. To which is added a key to the history of the constitution, Unigenitus. Being an exact account of the Jansenists ... Done from the Italian by a friend abroad. London: Printed by S. Redmayne, for R. King at the Queen’s-Head in Pater-noster-Row, and sold by W. Boreham, 1718. ESTC No. T170094. Grub Street ID 207838.
  • The Advocate. Or a vindication of the Christian religion. London [England]: printed by John Applebee, for Richard King, at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard; and sold by W. Boreham, at the Angel, in Pater-Noster-Row, [1720]-. ESTC No. P2997. Grub Street ID 56441.

Printed for William Boreham

  • Two arguments never brought yet; which are a full answer to some speeches, said to be made in the House of Commons, against continuing the present establishment of the Army. First, That This is no Time of Peace; and therefore an Army is absolutely Necessary. Wherein it is plainly Prov'd, Secondly, That the Army now Establish'd, is not more in Number, comparing the Present Circumstances of the Nation with those after the Peace of Ryswick, than were then granted to King William. London: printed for William Boreham, at the Angel in Pater-Noster-Row. 1718, 1718. ESTC No. N27718. Grub Street ID 16957.
  • Ramkins, Alexander. The memoirs of Majr. Alexander Ramkins, a Highland-Officer, now in prison at Avingnon. Being an account of several remarkable adventures during about twenty eight years service in Scotland, Germany, Italy, Flanders and Ireland; exhibiting a very agreeable and instructive Lesson of Human Life, both in a Publick and Private Capacity, in several pleasant Instances of his Amours, Gallantry, Oeconomy, &c. London: printed for R. King at the Queen's-Head, and W. Boreham at the Angel in Pater-Noster-Row, [1719] [1718]. ESTC No. T69373. Grub Street ID 293382.
  • Defoe, Daniel. A brief state of the question between the printed and painted callicoes, and the woollen and silk manufacture, as far as it relates to the wearing and using of printed and painted callicoes in Great-Britain. London: printed for W. Boreham, at the Angel in Pater-Noster-Row, 1719. ESTC No. N15350. Grub Street ID 5080.
  • Defoe, Daniel. A brief state of the question between the printed and painted callicoes and the woollen and silk manufacture, as far as it relates to the wearing and using of printed and painted callicoes in Great Britain. London: printed for W. Boreham at the Angel in Pater-Noster Row, 1720. ESTC No. N15352. Grub Street ID 5081.

Printed by and for, or by/for and sold by William Boreham

  • Old Mother-Money's farewell: in a country dialogue between Dick and Tom. London: printed and sold by W. Boreham at the Angel in Pater-Noster-Row, 1719. ESTC No. N10714. Grub Street ID 721.
  • The Exchange evening-post. London [England]: printed and sold by W. Boreham, at the Angel in Pater-noster-row, and A. Dodd at the Peacock without Temple-bar, [1721]. ESTC No. P3437. Grub Street ID 56775.