 Osborne, along with Mary Cooper, Ralph Griffiths, and John Baldwin, was one of the major publishers of works by the prolific writer and botanist John Hill.In an era when royalties for authors were virtually unknown, Hill's contracts with Osborne entitled him to periodic payments if the books whose copyright he assigned to Osborne sold unexpectedly well.Osborne also took part in the Battle of the Booksellers, a prolonged effort by London publishers to win perpetual copyright protections.