Printers of the Philosophical Transactions

Throughout its long history, the Philosophical Transactions have been printed by many printers. These different collaborations and business-agreements can tell us a lot about the culture of communication, scholarly commercialisation and circulation from the seventeenth century till the millenium. We will be exploring this further in our book, but below you can find an easy overview and some key information.

 

From the beginning, the Royal Society relied on others to print its publications. As is often the case in late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century publishing, the appellation of ‘printer’ in a book’s imprint does not reliably indicate that the person named actually printed the book him- or herself.  The Royal Society was empowered under the terms of its charter to license books for printing under its own authority and to officially appoint printers for this purpose. Although the first officially designated printers to the Society, John Martyn and James Allestry, appear on most of the early imprints of books associated with the Royal Society, there are a number of early issues of Philosophical Transactions to whom Martyn and Allestry, mainly Martyn, have outsourced the actual printing work.(Volume VII, for instance, for 1672, is printed by T.R. – possibly Thomas Roycroft, possibly Thomas Ratcliffe – for John Martyn).  David Kronick has done valuable work in detecting variant imprints for a number of early issues which for convenience have not been listed here; however, his list of Philosophical Transactions printers and publishers is marred by reliance on earlier bibliographical scholarship, which has allowed a number of important errors to slip through.  Booksellers mentioned in the imprints have not been mentioned unless they appear as publishers.

1665: John Martyn [1 Vol, issues 1-6]

1683: By [Unknown London Printer] for Henry Hunt [1 issue, Vol. XIV No. 143], J. Rogers in Westminster Hall, and J. Smith in St. Pauls’ Churchyard.

1683: By Leonard Lichfield at Oxford [Printer to the University.  Vol XIII, issues 144-150]

1683-5: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater, Oxford. [Vols. XIII-XV, issues 151-178]

1686-91: Printed by Joseph Streater at London (Vol. XVI, Issues 179-191); Printed by Samuel Smith at the Prince’s Arms in St Paul’s Churchyard (Issue 194).  Issues 192-3 and 195: no imprint

1691-1694: Printed for and sold by Samuel Smith (Vol. XVII, Issues 196-7); Printed for and sold by Samuel Smith and Benjamin Walford (Vol. XVII-XVIII, Issues 198-214)

1695-1706: Printed for Samuel Smith and Benjamin Walford (Vols. XIX-XXV, Issues 215-310); Benjamin Walford (Vol. XXV, Issues 311-312)

1706-1713: Printed for Henry Clements at the Half Moon in St Paul’s Churchyard (Vols. XXVI-XXVII, Issues 313-336); Printed for D Brown at Exeter Exchange, H. Clements, and W. Innys at the Prince’s Arms in Paul’s Churchyard (Vol. XXVIII, Issue 337 – note that this Volume consists of a single, much longer issue.)

1714-1719: Printed for W Innys (Vols. XXIX-XXX, Issues 338-363)

1720-1727: Printed for W & J Innys, at the West End of St Paul’s Churchyard (Vols. XXXI-XXXIV, Issues 364-398)

1727-30: Printed for W Innys (Vol. XXXV-XXXVI, Issues 399-416)

1730-36: Printed for W Innys & R Manby (Vols. XXXVII-XXXIX, Issues 417-442)

1736-43: Printed for T Woodward & C Davis (Vols XXXIX-XLII, Issues 443-471)

1743-50 Printed for C Davis, over against Gray’s Inn Gate in Holbourn (Vols XLIII-XLVI, Issues 472-496)

1751-54: Printed for C Davis (Vols XLVII-XLIX.  Note: at this point there are no longer individual issues but biennial volumes, published in two parts, one per year.)

1755-1768: Printed for L[ockyer] Davis and C[harles] Reymers, over against Gray’s Inn Gate in Holbourn (Vols. L-LVIII)

1769-1774: Printed for L. Davis in Holbourn (Vols. LIX-LXIV)

1775-1777: Printed by W. Bowyer & J Nichols for Lockyer Davis in Holbourn (Vols. LXV-LXVII Part I)

1778-1779: Printed by J Nichols Successor to Mr Bowyer for Lockyer Davis in Holbourn (Vols. LXVII Part II-LXIX)

1780-1791: Sold by Lockyer Davis & Peter Elmsly, Printers to the Royal Society; from the Press of J Nichols [colophon] (Vols. LXX-LXXXI)

1792-1802: Sold by Peter Elmsly, Printer to the Royal Society; from the Press of W Bulmer & Co, Cleveland Row, St James’s (Vols LXXXI-XCII)

1803-1819: Printed by W Bulmer & Co, Cleveland Row, St James’s; Sold by G & W Nicol, Pall Mall (Vols. XCIII-CIX)

1820-1821: Printed by W Bulmer & W Nicol, Cleveland Row, St James’s; Sold by G & W Nicol, Pall Mall (Vol. CX-CXI)

1822-1827: Printed by W. Nicol, successor to W Bulmer & Co., Cleveland Row, St James’s; Sold by G & W Nicol, Pall Mall (Vol. CXII-CXVII)

1828-1829: Printed by Richard Taylor, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street; Sold by G & W Nicol, Pall Mall, Booksellers to the Royal Society (Vol. CXVIII-CXIX)

1830-1836: Printed by Richard Taylor, Red Lion Court Fleet Street

1837–51: Richard and John E. Taylor, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, London

1852–77: Richard Taylor and William Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, London

1878–1918: Harrisons & Sons, St. Martin’s Lane, W. C., Printers in Ordinary to Her Majesty

1919–37: Printed and Published by Harrisons & Sons, St. Martin’s Lane, W. C. Printers in Ordinary to Her Majesty

1938–54: Printed and Published by Cambridge University Press, Bentley House, Cambridge

Philosophical Transactions A

1955–2006: Printed at University Press, Cambridge; Published by the Royal Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly (from 1967: 6 Carlton House, London)

2007–2008 Printed by Alden Group, Oxfordshire; Published by the Royal Society

2009–- Printed by Cambrian Printers, Aberystwyth; Published by the Royal Society

Philosophical Transactions B

1955–2003 Printed at University Press, Cambridge; Published by the Royal Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly (from 1967, 6 Carlton House, London)

1991: Printed by Alden Press, Oxford; Published by the Royal Society

2004–- Printed by Latimer Trend & Co., Ltd., Plymouth; Published by the Royal Society