Bibliography of early American publishers and printers

A typical printing press of the 18th century. Religious enthusiasm and the great demand for bibles and other religious works is largely what promoted the first printing efforts in the American colonies. Before and during the American Revolution colonial printers were also actively publishing newspapers and pamphlets expressing the strong sentiment against British colonial policy and taxation.

Bibliography of early American publishers and printers is a selection of books, journals and other sigmass devoted to these topics covering their careers and other activities before, during and after the American Revolution. Various works that are not primarily devoted to those topics, but whose content devotes itself to them in significant measure, are sometimes included here also. Works about Benjamin Franklin, a famous printer and publisher, among other things, are too numerous to list in this bibliography, can be found at Bibliography of Benjamin Franklin, and are generally not included here unless they are intensely devoted to Franklin's printing career. Single accounts of printers and publishers that occur in encyclopedia articles are not included here.

Scholarly textbooks

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B

C

D

E

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G

H

I

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M

N

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P

R

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Historical journals

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A

  • Adelman, Joseph M. (December 2010). "A Constitutional Conveyance of Intelligence, Public and Private": The Post Office, the Business of Printing, and the American Revolution". Enterprise & Society. 11 (4). Cambridge University Press: 711–754. doi:10.1093/es/khq079. JSTOR 23701246.
  • —— (Fall 2013). "Trans-Atlantic Migration and the Printing Trade in Revolutionary America". Early American Studies. 11 (3). University of Pennsylvania Press: 516–544. doi:10.1353/eam.2013.0026. JSTOR 23547682. S2CID 144423922.

B

  • Baldwin, Ernest H. (1902). "Joseph Galloway, the Loyalist Politician (continued)". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 26 (3). University of Pennsylvania Press: 289–321. JSTOR 20086036.
  • Barosky, Todd (2012). "Legal and Illegal Moneymaking: Colonial American Counterfeiters and the Novelization of Eighteenth-Century Crime Literature". Early American Literature. 47 (3). University of North Carolina Press: 531–560. doi:10.1353/eal.2012.0052. JSTOR 41705690. S2CID 159641234.
  • Blosser, Jacob M. (2010). "Pursuing Happiness in Colonial Virginia: Sacred Words, Cheap Print, and Popular Religion in the Eighteenth Century". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 118 (3). Virginia Historical Society: 209–245. JSTOR 20788088.
  • Boardman, George Dana; Bradford, W. (April 1886). "Early Printing in the Middle Colonies. Address Delivered before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, December 11, 1885". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 10 (1). University of Pennsylvania Press: 15–32. JSTOR 20084740.
  • Brigham, Clarence Saunders (May 1936). "James Franklin and the Beginnings of Printing in Rhode Island". Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 65. Massachusetts Historical Society: 535–544. JSTOR 25080308.

C

  • Carlson, Patricia Ann (October 1978). "William Parks, Colonial Printer, to Dr. Charles Carroll". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 88 (4). Virginia Historical Society: 408–412. JSTOR 4248253.
  • Carroll, Hugh F. (1907). Printers and printing in Providence, 1762-1907. Providence Typographical Union. No. 33.
  • Caslon, H. Daniel (March 16, 1934). "Developments in typefounding since 1720". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 82 (4243). RSA The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce: 489–505. JSTOR 41360082.
  • Chopra, Ruma (Fall 2009). "Printer Hugh Gaine Crosses and Re-Crosses the Hudson". New York History. 90 (4). Cornell University Press: 271–285. JSTOR 23185129.
  • Clark, Charles E. (June 1991). "Boston and the Nurturing of Newspapers: Dimensions of the Cradle, 1690-1741". The New England Quarterly. 64 (2). The New England Quarterly, Inc.: 243–271. doi:10.2307/366123. JSTOR 366123.
  • Cogley, Richard W. (Summer 1991). "John Eliot and the Millennium". Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation. 1 (2). University of California Press on behalf of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture: 227–250. JSTOR 1123872.
  • Corbitt, D. L. (January 1925). "The North Carolina Gazette". The North Carolina Historical Review. 2 (1). North Carolina Office of Archives and History: 83–86. JSTOR 23514408.

D

E

  • Eldridge, Larry D. (July 1995). "Before Zenger: Truth and Seditious Speech in Colonial America, 1607–1700". The American Journal of Legal History. 39 (3). Oxford University Press: 337–358. doi:10.2307/845791. JSTOR 845791.
  • Eliason, Craig (August 2015). ""Transitional" Typefaces: The History of a Typefounding Classification". Design Issues. 31 (4). The MIT Press: 30–43. doi:10.1162/DESI_a_00349. JSTOR 43830429. S2CID 57569313.
  • Elliott, Robert N. Jr. (January 1965). "James Davis and the Beginning of the Newspaper in North Carolina". The North Carolina Historical Review. 42 (1). North Carolina Office of Archives and History: 1–20. JSTOR 23517809.

F

  • Fireoved, Joseph (Winter 1985). "Nathaniel Gardner and the "New-England Courant"". Early American Literature. 20 (3). University of North Carolina Press: 214–235. JSTOR 25055558.
  • Fleischer, Roland E. (1988). "Emblems and Colonial American Painting". The American Art Journal. 20 (3). Kennedy Galleries, Inc.: 2–35. doi:10.2307/1594512. JSTOR 1594512.
  • Frasca, Ralph (Autumn 2004). "Benjamin Franklin's Printing Network and the Stamp Act". Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies. 71 (4). Penn State University Press: 403–419. JSTOR 27778636.
  • Frasca (May 2006). "The Emergence of the American Colonial Press". Pennsylvania Legacies. 6 (1). University of Pennsylvania Press: 11–15. JSTOR 27765021.
  • French, Hannah D. (1961). "The Amazing Career of Andrew Barclay, Scottish Bookbinder, of Boston". Studies in Bibliography. 14. Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia: 145–162. JSTOR 40371302.

G

  • Gaskell, Philip (1952). "Type Sizes in the Eighteenth Century". Studies in Bibliography. 5. Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia: 147–151. JSTOR 40345194.
  • Granger, Bruce Ingham (Winter 1956). "The Stamp Act in Satire". American Quarterly. 8 (4). The Johns Hopkins University Press: 368–384. doi:10.2307/2710447. JSTOR 2710447.

H

  • Harlan, Robert D. (1974). "David Hall and the Townshend Acts". The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. 68 (1). The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Bibliographical Society of America: 19–38. doi:10.1086/pbsa.68.1.24302418. JSTOR 24302418. S2CID 163738868.
  • Haynes, Williams (February 1956). "Oldest Material: Newest uses". American Association for the Advancement of Science. 76 (2): 71–76. JSTOR 20630.
  • Hoffman, Edwin D. (January 1949). "The Bookshops of New York City, 1743-1948". New York History. 30 (1): 53–65. JSTOR 23149646.
  • Huebner, Francis C. (1906). "Our Postal System". Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C. 9. Historical Society of Washington, D.C.: 126–174. JSTOR 40066939.
  • Humphrey, Carol Sue (2013). The American Revolution and the Press: The Promise of Independence. Northwestern University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv47wcc8. ISBN 978-0-8101-26503. JSTOR j.ctv47wcc8.

I

  • Ingersoll, Ernest (September 1919). "Our Earliest Printing-Press". Art & Life. 11 (3): 147–150. doi:10.2307/20543070. JSTOR 20543070.
  • Irvin, Benjamin H. (June 2003). "Tar, Feathers, and the Enemies of American Liberties, 1768–1776". The New England Quarterly. 76 (2). The New England Quarterly, Inc.: 197–238. doi:10.2307/1559903. JSTOR 1559903.

J

  • Johannesen, Stanley K. (1975). "John Dickinson and the American Revolution". Historical Reflections. 2 (1): 29–49. JSTOR 41298658.
  • Kidd, Thomas S. (2017). Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-3002-17490.
  • Jones, Horatio Gates; Rÿttinghousen, Claus; Bradford, Will (1896). "Historical Sketch of the Rittenhouse Papermill; The First Erected in America, A.D. 1690". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 20 (3). University of Pennsylvania Press: 315–333. JSTOR 20085701.

K

  • Korty, Margaret Barton (October 1967). "Franklin's World of Books". The Journal of Library History. 2 (4). University of Texas Press: 271–328. JSTOR 25540067.

L

  • Lacey, Barbara E. (2014). "The Illustrated Imprints of Isaiah Thomas". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. New Series. 104 (2): i–73. JSTOR 24398210.
  • Leonard, Eugenie Andruss (October 1950). "Paper as a Critical Commodity during the American Revolution". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 74 (4). University of Pennsylvania Press: 488–499. JSTOR 20088183.
  • Levy, Leonard W. (January 1960). "Did the Zenger Case Really Matter? Freedom of the Press in Colonial New York". The William and Mary Quarterly. 17 (1). Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture: 35–60. doi:10.2307/1943478. JSTOR 1943478.
  • Lincoln, Charles Henry (1909). "Manuscript Collection of the American Antiquarian Society". Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. 4. The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Bibliographical Society of America: 59–72. doi:10.1086/PAPERSBIBSOCAMERv4n1ms24306221. JSTOR 24306221.

M

  • Martin, Robert W.T. (Winter 1994). "From the 'Free and Open' Press to the 'Press of Freedon': Liberalism, Republicanism and early American Press Liberty". History of Political Thought. 15 (4). Imprint Academic Ltd.: 505–534. JSTOR 26215846.
  • Martin, Robert W. T. (Winter 1994). "From the Free and Open Press to the Press of Freedom, Liberalism Republicanism, and Early American Press Liberty". History of Political Thought. 15 (4). Imprint Academic Ltd.: 505–534. JSTOR 26215846.
  • Martin, Thomas S. (January 1986). "The Long and the Short of It: A Newspaper Exchange on the Massachusetts Charters, 1772". The William and Mary Quarterly. 43 (1). Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture: 99–110. doi:10.2307/1919358. JSTOR 1919358.
  • Maxson, John W. Jr. (April 1968). "Papermaking in America From Art to Industry, 1690 to 1860". The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress. 25 (2). Library of Congress: 116–129. JSTOR 29781303.
  • Maynell, Francis (July 11, 1952). "John Baskerville: Printer and Designer". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 100 (4877). RSA The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce: 573–591. JSTOR 41368151.
  • McMurtrie, Douglas C. (March 1934). "The Printing Press Moves Westward". Minnesota History. 15 (1). Minnesota Historical Society Press: 1–25.
  • Merritt, Richard L. (Autumn 1963). "Public Opinion in Colonial America: Content-Analyzing the Colonial Press". The Public Opinion Quarterly. 27 (3). Oxford University Press, on behalf of the American Association for Public Opinion Research: 356–371. doi:10.1086/267181. JSTOR 2747114.
  • Miller, C. William (1958). "Benjamin Franklin's Philadelphia Type". Studies in Bibliography. 11. Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia: 179–206. JSTOR 40371238.
  • Miller, C. William (December 15, 1955). "Franklin's Type: Its Study past and Present". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 99 (6). American Philosophical Society: 418–432. JSTOR 3143924.
  • Miller, C. William (1961). "Franklin's "Poor Richard Almanacs": Their Printing and Publication". Studies in Bibliography. 14. Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia: 97–115. JSTOR 40371300.
  • Mitchell, Edward Page (1916). "Colonial Journalism in New York". Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association. 16. Cornell University Press: 120–136. JSTOR 42889558.
  • Moran, James C. (April 1971). "The Development of the Printing Press". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 119 (5177). The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce: 281–293. JSTOR 41370709.
  • Morehouse, Clifford P. (September 1942). "Origins of the Episcopal Church Press From Colonial Days to 1840". Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church. 11 (3). Historical Society of the Episcopal Church: 201–318. JSTOR 42969658.
  • Mulford, Carla (December 2008). "Benjamin Franklin's Savage Eloquence: Hoaxes from the Press at Passy, 1782". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 152 (4). American Philosophical Society: 490–530. JSTOR 40541605.

N

  • Nelson, Harold L. (April 1959). "Seditious Libel in Colonial America". The American Journal of Legal History. 3 (2). Oxford University Press: 160–172. doi:10.2307/844283. JSTOR 844283.

P

  • Parker, Peter J. (Spring 1966). "The Philadelphia Printer: A Study of an Eighteenth-Century Businessman". The Business History Review. 40 (1). The President and Fellows of Harvard College: 24–46. doi:10.2307/3112300. JSTOR 3112300. S2CID 156852880.
  • Paulus, Michael J. Jr. (Winter 2011). "Archibald Alexander and the Use of Books: Theological Education and Print Culture in the Early Republic". Journal of the Early Republic. 31 (4). University of Pennsylvania Press: 639–669. doi:10.1353/jer.2011.0059. JSTOR 41261654. S2CID 145555725.
  • Pollak, Michael (April 1972). "The Performance of the Wooden Printing Press". The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy. 42 (2). The University of Chicago Press: 218–264. doi:10.1086/620028. JSTOR 4306163. S2CID 144726990.

R

  • Reese, William (Winter 1978). "Works of George Keith Printed in America: A Chronological Bibliography". The Princeton University Library Chronicle. 39 (2). Princeton University Library: 98–124. doi:10.2307/26402182. JSTOR 26402182. Contains numerous references to colonial printers and printing in the later 17th century
  • Roach, Hannah Benner (April 1960). "Benjamin Franklin Slept Here". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 84 (2). University of Pennsylvania Press: 127–174. JSTOR 20089285.
  • Rollins, Carl Purington (January 1937). "John Baskerville (printer, type designer)". The Yale University Library Gazette. 11 (3). Yale University, acting through the Yale University Library: 53–61. JSTOR 40856963.
  • Rollins, Carl Purington (1947). American Type Designers and Their Work. Chicago: R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company.

S

T

  • Thornton, Mary Lindsay (July 1944). "Public Printing in North Carolina". The North Carolina Historical Review. 21 (3). North Carolina Office of Archives and History: 181–202. JSTOR 23515081.
  • Torsella, Joseph M. (April 1988). "American National Identity, 1750-1790: Samples from the Popular Press". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 112 (2). University of Pennsylvania Press: 167–187. JSTOR 20092199.

V

  • Valentine, Patrick M. (July 2005). "Libraries and Print Culture in Early North Carolina". The North Carolina Historical Review. 82 (3). North Carolina Office of Archives and History: 293–325. JSTOR 23523028.

W

Z

  • Zimmerman, John L. (October 1954). "Benjamin Franklin and the Pennsylvania Chronicle". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 81 (4). University of Pennsylvania Press: 351–364. JSTOR 20089013.

Primary sources

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See also

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