An early Quaker woman printer

Trish Carn remembers an unusual late sixteenth century printer

by Trish Carn 4th February 2011

Printing was a dangerous occupation in 1643: Parliament’s Licensing Order of 1643 instituted pre-publication censorship; registration of all printing materials with the names of author, printer and publisher in the Register at Stationers’ Hall; search, seizure and destruction of any books offensive to the government; and arrest and imprisonment of any offensive writers, printers and publishers. If unlicensed, your printing press and any printed materials could be destroyed. Why is this important? Well, Quaker printers could not be licensed as they were printing ‘seditious material’. And print was the way Quakers spread the word.