Dr. Cait Coker presents a short history of women printers in Europe and America in this presentation for the Friends of the Library.
Women have been printing alongside men since invention of the printing press, but their stories have been comparatively neglected in narratives that focus on Gutenberg, Caxton, and Franklin. This presentation will look at books printed by women from the 15th through the 20th centuries: each volume tells a story of its era, while each of the women who created it is likewise illustrates the state of the trades during her time period. By examining the material conditions of the book’s creation as well as the social history of how that book came to be, we can recover alternate histories of economic, technological, and literary production.
RBML items shown:
1) Suetonius. C. Svetonii. Tranqvilli. De grammaticis. et rhetoribvs. claris. liber. incipit. Impressvm Florentiae: Apvd Sanctvm Iacobvm de Ripoli, 1478. Shelfmark Incunable Q. 871 S8V1478F.
2) Benoit, Jean, Charlotte Guillard, and Guillaume Desbois. Biblia Sacra iuxta vulgata[m] quam dicunt editionem: [...]. Manifestabit. Secunda editio. Parisiis: Prostant apud Carolam Guillard & Gulielmum Desboys, sub sole aureo, via ad diuum Iacobum, 1552. Shelfmark IUA01283.
3) James, Elinor. Sir, I Would Have the Distinction of Whigg and Tory Laid Aside, and Let None Condemn You for Your Loyalty, for You Have Done Nothing but What You Ought to Have Done, but Now Be as True to God as You Have Been Loyal to Your King, and Put All Evil Things Far from You ... London: s.n., 1685. Shelfmark Q. 241 J232P.
4) Freneau, Philip Morin et al. Poems Written and Published During the American Revolutionary War, and Now Republished from the Original Manuscripts : Interspersed with Translations from the Ancients, and Other Pieces Not Heretofore in Print . The third edition, in two volumes. Philadelphia: From the press of Lydia R. Bailey, no. 10, North-Alley, 1809. Shelfmark 811 F88p1809.
5) Craig, Isa, and Emily Faithfull. Poems, an Offering to Lancashire : Printed and Published for the Art Exhibition for the Relief of Distress in the Cotton Districts. London: Emily Faithfull, printer and publisher in ordinary to Her Majesty, 1863. Shelfmark 821 K772p.
6) Yeats, W. B. (William Butler), and Elizabeth Corbet Yeats. In the Seven Woods : Being Poems Chiefly of the Irish Heroic Age . Dundrum [Ire: The Dun Emer Press, 1903. Shelfmark 821 Y3in.
Bibliography for further information:
Coker, Cait & Kate Ozment, Women in Book History Bibliography, womensbookhistory.org.
Conway, Melissa. The Diario of the printing press of San Jacopo di Ripoli : 1476-1484. L.S. Olschki, 1999.
Jimenes, Rémi. Charlotte Guillard: Une femme imprimeur à la Renaissance. Rabelais, 2017.
McDowell, Paula. Elinor James: Printed Writings 1641–1700. Routledge, 2005.
Nipps, Karen. Lydia Bailey: A Checklist of Her Imprints. Pennsylvania State UP, 2013.
Ratcliffe, Eric. The Caxton of Her Age : The Career and Family Background of Emily Faithfull (1835-95). Images Publishing, 1993.
Hardwick, Joan. The Yeats Sisters : A Biography of Susan and Elizabeth Yeats. HarperCollins, 1996.
Women Scribes database:
Hudson, Alison. All She Wrote: Female Scribes Before 1500 AD. [ Ссылка ]. NB. This is a work-in-progress and you have to click the entry shown initially to pull up links to listings.
