Bowyer Ledgers, 1710-1778
RLIN ID No.
NYGG02-A155
Bowyer, William, 1663-1737.
Title
The Bowyer ledgers: the printing accounts of William Bowyer, father and son: [manuscript], 1710-1781.
Physical Description
7v. ; 36 cm. and smaller
Arrangement and Organization
I. Customer Accounts, 1710-1738 (“Ledger A”); II. Customer Accounts, 1738 (July)-1781 (“Ledger B”); III. Receipt Book, 1738-1778; IV. Wages Check-book, 1730-1739 (“Ledger C”); V. Accounts of Joseph Iliffe; VI. Account of Quire Stock and Printed Catalogs for J. B. Nichols et al.: VII. Loose Sheets (“Ledger S); VIII. Paper Stock Book (“Ledger P”).
Historical/Biographical Note
William Bowyer the elder set up as a master printer in 1699 and his son, William Bowyer the younger formally joined the business in 1722. After serving for many years as master printer, he succeeded to the ownership and control of the business on his father’s death and ran it until his own death in 1777. From 1759 on John Nicholas served as his apprentice and from 1766 as his partner, inheriting the business on Bowyer’s death. Nichols appears to have closed out the Bowyer accounts in 1778. Joseph Iliffe, a hosier, was a friend of Bowyer the younger who closed out his accounts in the years succeeding his death
Scope and Contents
The collection provides information about more than 5,000 individual books or jobs printed by the Bowyers between 1710 and 1778, with information for some on paper used as well as a record of William Bowyer the younger’s payment for goods and services. The wages check-book records wages earned by the compositors and pressmen and provides a record of production, type usage and operation of the presses for the period 1730-1739. The “loose sheets” consist mainly of bills that should have been written up in the ledgers.
General Note
Title devised by cataloger.
Provenance Note
Originally preserved by John Nichols and handed down from eldest son to eldest son; sold at the John Gough Nichols’s sale at Sotheby’s (London), 1929 November 18.
Ledgers A, B, C, P and S (Loose Sheets) published as The Bowyer Ledgers [microform]: the Printing Accounts of William Bowyer, and son, Reproduced on Microfiche with a Checklist of Bowyer Printings, 1699-1777, a Commentary, indexes, and Appendixes/ edited by Keith Maslen and John Lancaster (New York: The Bibliographical Society of America, 1991). Maslen assigned the letter identifications to the ledgers and used them in the commentary.
Ledger P (Paper Stock Ledger): Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts Bodleian Library; Broad Street, Oxford, England. .
Reproduction Note
Ledger P (Paper Stock Ledger): Photocopy from microfiche, Bodleian Library, Oxford .
Publication about Described Materials
“18th Century Printing House Ledgers,” Fleeman, J. R. The Times Literary Supplement, 19 December 1963, p. 1056.
Publications about Described Materials
An Early London Printing House at Work: Studies in the Bowyer Ledgers..., by Keith Maslen. New York: Bibliographical Society of America, 1993.
Exhibitions Note
Exhibited: “Of Making Many Books: The Bowyers of London,” Grolier Club (New York, N.Y.), 1993.
Names
Bowyer, William, 1663-1737.
Bowyer, William, 1699-1777,
Fleeman, J. R.
Iliffe, Joseph.
Lancaster, John, 1943-
Maslen, K. I. D.
Maslen, K. I. D. An early London printing house at work: studies in the Bowyer ledgers.
Nichols, John, 1745-1826.
Grolier Club.
Subjects
Printer. England. London. 18th century.
Printing. England. London. History. 18th century. Sources.
Account books. England. London. 18th century.
Ledgers. England. London. 18th century.
Receipts. England. London. 18th century.
Occupation (as reflected in collection)
Printers. England. London. 18th century.
Location
Grolier Club, 47 East 60th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022-1098.
Two folders of correspondence between various Grolier Club librarians and the Bodleian Library, K. I. D. Maslen, J. Fleeman and others regarding reproduction and conservation of the Bowyer Ledgers.
N.B.
This correspondence is restricted and requires permission of the Librarian
(Director) or his/her Designee until at least 2020.