High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! John Boydell (19 January 1720 (New Style) – 12 December 1804) was an 18th-century British publisher noted for his reproductions of engravings. He helped alter the trade imbalance between Britain and France in engravings and initiated a British tradition in the art form. A former engraver himself, Boydell promoted the interests of artists as well as patrons and as a result his business prospered.