† 1. One who makes a book (as a material product); a printer and book-binder. Obs.
1515. in Glasscock, Rec. St. Michaels, Bp. Stortford, 34. Item pd. to th bokemaker and his servaunt … xxxiijs. iiijd.
1711. (title) J. Distaff, Character of Don Sacheverellio, Printed and Sold by Francis Higgins, Bookmaker.
2. One who composes or compiles a book; often disparagingly, one who makes a trade of this.
1533. More, Apol., l. Wks. 928/2. For of newe booke makers there are now moe then ynough.
1841. Emerson, Man the Reformer, Wks. 1875, II. 241. Better that the book should not be quite so good, and the bookmaker abler and better.
1849. Earl Lonsdale, in Croker Papers (1884), III. xxvi. 202. He [Arthur Young] was spoilt by the success of his early works, and became a bookmaker.
1878. Morley, Diderot, I. 218. Cases in which he reproduced, as any mere bookmaker might have done, the thought of his authority.
3. A professional betting man. Cf. BOOK sb. 10.
1862. Lond. Rev., 30 Aug., 188. Betting there seemed to be none … we could not perceive a single book or book-maker.
1880. W. Day, Racehorse in Train., xxiv. 245. Bookmakers pursue a legitimate and lucrative trade by laying against all horses as they appear in the market.
