The Parker Family: Architectural and Scientific Printers?

Abstract

IN the eighteenth century it was relatively rare for printers to specialize in a particular genre or class of publication, with a few notable exceptions. This is the received wisdom on printing practice, and it is probably broadly correct, but it is complicated by the fact that many eighteenth-century books and pamphlets were printed anonymously. Anonymous printing makes it difficult to assess printers’ outputs, and specialist printing may be missed. Specialist printing is interesting because it shows printers cultivating a niche audience, or building relationships with particular authors or bookseller–publishers. Specialist printing may also tell us what kinds of printing equipment different offices owned, in the absence of other documentary evidence. Thomas Parker ( fl . 1740–72) was the grandson of the printer George Parker (1654–1743), and the son of the printers Henry ( fl . 1711–32) and Anne Parker (d. 1743). Anne left the family’s press, types, and stock of printing ornaments to Thomas at her death in 1743. 1 The ESTC lists 112 publications printed by Thomas Parker, 97 of which are issues of almanacs. His other known output includes sermons, instructions for mending china, and books of shipping laws. Other than almanacs, which were the common trade of many printers, no theme runs through the Thomas Parker items listed in the ESTC . However, new evidence from Parker’s use of woodcut ornaments suggests that he and his parents printed a number of architectural treatises, a fact which should modify our understanding of the Parkers’ careers and printing equipment.