The conger was a system common in bookselling in 18th- and early 19th-century England, for financing the printing of a book.
The term referred to a syndicate of booksellers, mostly in London, who bought shares to finance the book's printing.
[1] Their names all appeared on the title pages as co-publishers, though one of the major publishing houses usually took the lead in setting the deal up.
After the printing became common, publishers took the position that having purchased a work from an author, the right to control its publication continued permanently.
The Conger syndicate met regularly from the 1690s, holding private auctions at which books could be bought wholesale for resale either to the public or to regional booksellers.