Enfilade

From Cambridge UP, with an online book launch, together with a speed-pitching workshop, scheduled for Monday (see below) . . .

Adam James Smith, Rachel Stenner, and Kaley Kramer, eds., The People of Print: Eighteenth-Century England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025), 124 pages, ISBN: 978-1009629454, $18.

This collection profiles understudied figures in the book and print trades of the eighteenth century. With an explicit focus on intervening in the critical history of the trades, this volume profiles seven women and three men, emphasising the broad range of material, cultural, and ideological work these people undertook. It offers a biographical introduction to each figure, placing them in their social, professional, and institutional settings. The collection considers varied print trade roles including that of the printer, publisher, business-owner, and bookseller, as well as several specific trade networks and numerous textual forms. The biographies draw on extensive new archival research, with details of key sources for further study on each figure. Chronologically organised, this Element offers a primer both on individual figures and on the tribulations and innovations of the print trade in the century of national and print expansion.

c o n t e n t s

Preface
1  Introduction — Adam James Smith, Rachel Stenner, and Kaley Kramer
2  Elizabeth Nutt: Print Trade Matriarch (1666–1746) — Helen Williams
3  John Nicholson and the Auctioning of Copyright (d.1717) — Jacob Baxter
4  Catherine Sanger: Publisher in Bartholomew Close (1687–1716) — Kate Ozment
5  John White Junior: Printer in the North (1689–1769) — Sarah Griffin
6  Selling the Enlightenment: Mary Cooper and Print Culture (1707–1761) — Lisa Maruca
7  The ‘Indefatigable’ Ann Ward: Printer in York (1715/6–1789) — Kaley Kramer
8  Anne Fisher (1719–1778): Not Simply a Printer’s Wife — Barbara Crosbie
9  Sold at the Vestry: John Rippon (1751–1836) and the Hymnbook Trade — Dominic Bridge
10  Diversity in the Book Trades: Ann Ireland (1751–1843) of Leicester — John Hinks
11  ‘Laugh when you must, be candid when you can’: The Concealed Resistance of the Radical Printer Winifred Gales (1761–1839) — Adam James Smith

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From Eventbrite:

The People of Print: Eighteenth-Century England

Book Launch and Early Career Researcher Speed-pitching Workshop

Online, Monday, 3 November, 6.30pm GMT

All welcome! Please register by 2 November.

Join the Centre for Print Culture at the University of Sussex to celebrate the publication of this volume, the follow-on to The People of Print: Seventeenth-Century England, with an evening of lively talks and discussion. The People of Print: Eighteenth-Century England profiles understudied figures in the book and print trades, featuring new research and critical perspectives on this fascinating and rich cultural field. We will be joined by Dr Barbara Crosbie (Durham University), Dr Jacob Baxter (St Andrews), and Dr Lisa Maruca (Wayne State, Professor Emerita), who will discuss their research for the latest collection.

Following the launch, there will be a Speed-pitching workshop (7.30–8.15pm GMT) for early career researchers studying topics in the histories of the book, print, and publishing trades. Come with an idea you can explain in 3 minutes, and we will pair you with one of our publishing panel of journal, series, and book editors for feedback:
• Dr Helen Williams, The Printing Historical Society
• Dr Kaley Kramer and Dr Adam James Smith, editors The People of Print
• Professor Samantha Rayner, Commissioning Editor of Cambridge Elements, Publishing and Book Culture
• Dr Rachel Stenner, editor of Publishing History journal and The People of Print series