[1] 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.
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, and others, persuaded him to change his plan, and write a history of printing.
Palmer's ‘History of Printing’ was completed after his death by George Psalmanazar, who in his Memoirs claimed to have written the whole book.
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.