Life

He operated in a house in Bartholomew Close, London, later occupied by the two Jameses the typefounders. In 1725 Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin

Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...

 found work there, staying for a year, and was employed on the second edition of William Wollaston

William Wollaston

William Wollaston was an English philosophical writer. He is remembered today for one book, which he completed only two years before his death: ....

's Religion of Nature; during this period Franklin wrote A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain

A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain

A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain is a philosophical pamphlet by Benjamin Franklin, published in London in 1725.It argues that an omnipotent, benevolent God is incompatible with notions of human free will and morality....

.

On 15 February 1731 a printing-press was set up at St. James's House for the Duke of York and some of the princesses to work under Palmer's supervision. Although his business was large and successful, Palmer ultimately became bankrupt. He was ailing two years before his death, which took place on 9 May 1732.

Works

In March 1729 Palmer circulated a prospectus of ‘The Practical Part of Printing, in which the Materials are fully described and all the Manual Operations explained’. But those in the trade were concerned that secrets would be disclosed, and the Earls of Pembroke and Oxford, Richard Mead

Richard Mead

Richard Mead was an English physician. His work, A Short Discourse concerning Pestilential Contagion, and the Method to be used to prevent it , was of historic importance in the understanding of transmissible diseases.-Life:The eleventh child of Matthew Mead , Independent divine, Richard was born...

, and others, persuaded him to change his plan, and write a history of printing. Several parts were actually published—about two-thirds of the book—when Palmer died.

Palmer's ‘History of Printing’ was completed after his death by George Psalmanazar

George Psalmanazar

George Psalmanazar claimed to be the first Formosan to visit Europe. For some years he convinced many in Britain, but was later revealed to be an impostor...

 who in his ‘Memoirs’ claimed to have written the whole book. It appeared as The General History of Printing, from its first invention in the City of Mentz to its first progress and propagation thro' the most celebrated cities in Europe, particularly its introduction, rise, and progress here in England, London, 1732. A ‘remainder’ edition was issued by A. Bettesworth and other booksellers with a new title in black and red, A General History of Printing from the first Invention of it in the City of Mentz, &c., 1733. Joseph Ames

Joseph Ames (author)

Joseph Ames was an English bibliographer and antiquary. He wrote an account of printing in England from 1471 to 1600, entitled Typographical Antiquities...

's copy of the History, with manuscript notes, was purchased by James Bindley in 1786. The second part, containing the practical part, ready for printing, was also in the possession of Ames, the author of a more successful history of English printing; it was, however, entirely derivative, being a translation of a French work by Martin-Dominique Fertel.