'Women in the eighteenth century book trades' in O M Brack (ed), Writers, Books and Trade. An eighteenth century English miscellany for William B Todd

Notes:

Explores the role of women in the 18th century book trades in an essay 'not grounded in a statistical study' but 'based nevertheless on a wide survey of the data presently available on book trades personnel. It deals with 1] what proportion of the trades' personnel were female and 2] what they did. Women are then discussed as 3] daughters (and/or heiresses), 4] wives and 5] spinsters and widows. To categorise women by their links with men is unfortunate, but in business a woman's choices and chances were largely governed by that relationship. Finally women are considered 6] in their trade relationships and 7] as women