Women involved in printing and the press business can be researched in multiple collections in Smith College Special Collections. This list is intended to help you start your research, but is not comprehensive.

Collections and books are briefly described below. For more extensive information for archival collections, read the "Scope and Contents" and the "Biographical / Historical" notes in the finding aid. For books, read the "Notes" section in the catalog record.

(Search for SU "Women printers" in catalog for more)
 

Elizabeth Alsop

c. 1647–1664, "At her house in Grub Street near the Upper Pump", London.

The jewel house of art and nature : containing divers rare and profitable inventions, together with sundry new experiments in the art of husbandry : with divers chymical conclusions concerning the art of distillation, and the rare practises and uses thereof...
Call number:     609 P696j 1653
London : Printed by Elizabeth Alsop, and are to be sold at her house in Grubstreet, near the Upper Pump, 1653. Bound in Contemporary (?) sheep (rebacked); leather bookplate of Rudolph August Witthaus inside front cover. Elisabeth Alsop was the widow of Bernard Alsop, printer. In 1657 he took on an apprentice (George Eland), but her last book entry was for April 1656. 

Lydia Bailey

1779 –1869, Philadelphia.

The search after happiness : a pastoral drama. To which is added, Joseph made known to his brethren, a sacred drama.
Call number:   PR3605.M6 A77 1811
Printed in Philadelphia for Johnson and Warner, 1811. Dedication dated May 10, 1773, and signed Hannah More. Frontispiece engraved by B. Tanner after Stothard. Both copies bound in contemporary yellow stiffened paper wrappers. In addition to publishing for poets and government agencies, Bailey was Philadelphia's official city printer from 1813–mid-1850s. She was the widow of Robert Bailey, but the business struggled during his lifetime. She is considered to be the last of the "widow printers".

Charlotte Guillard

c. 1485–1557, Soleil d'Or printing house, Paris.

Opus epistolarum diui Hieronymi Stridonensis...
call number:     Oversize BR65 .H4 1546

Parisiis : Apud Carolam Guillard, sub Sole aureo, via ad diuum Iacobum, Anno domini 1546. (At Charles Guillard's, under the golden sun, the way to St. James, in the year of our Lord 1546.) Guillard's large woodcut device on each title page (Renouard no. 177: Guillard has substituted her name, inset in type, in her late husband Claude Chevallon's device); woodcut initials. "Parisiis: excudebat Carola Guillard anno domini millesimo quingentesimo quadragesimo sexto." (printed by Charlotte Guillard in the year of our Lord one thousand five hundred and forty-six.) --Colophon, volume 3.

There are 4 other books printed by Charlotte Guillard in the collection (Flat BS75 1552, KJA452.2 1550, Oversize BS75 1549, BX1935 .G73 1550)

Anne Maxwell

Active 1657–1675, London.

Grounds of natural philosophy : divided into thirteen parts: with an appendix containing five parts / written by the thrice noble, illustrious, and excellent princess, the Duchess of Newcastle.

Manufacture: London : Printed by A. Maxwell, In the year 1668. Bound in modern quarter calf and dark brown cloth. Work written by a woman and printed by a woman. Anne first printed under  "A. Maxey., A.M." after inheriting the printshop  at Paul's Wharf in from her first husband, Thomas Maxey, in 1657. She later published under "Anne Maxwell" after the death of her second husband, David Maxwell (former apprentice of T. Maxey) in 1664.

Rosa Maria Teresa de Poveda

c.1710–1755, Mexico

Arte novissima de lengua mexicana...
Call number:     PM4063 .T2 1753

Printed in 1753 in Mexico by Teresa de Poveda, Rosa María (1741-1755, printer) who printed under the name "La Viuda de don Joseph Bernardo de Hogal", or "Widow of don Joseph Bernardo de Hogal". Spanish-Nahuatl dictionary.

Elisabetta Rusconi

Active 1524–1527, Venice.

Tricassi Cerasariensis Mantvani Super chyromantiam Coclytis dillucidationes præclarissimae...
Call number:     133.6 T731 1525
Printed in Venice by Elisabetta Rusconi (Dñam Helisabeth de Ruschonibus, active 1526-1527, printer) in 1525. Publisher active in Venice, widow of Giorgio Rusconi. Work on Palmistry and Physiognomy.

Alice Warren

Active 1660–1664, 

Mr. William Shakespear's comedies, histories, and tragedies : published according to the true original copies. (Third Folio)

London : Printed for P.C., 1664.
Signatures: [superscript pi]A⁴ b⁶ A-2A⁶ 2B⁸ 2C-4D⁶ 4E⁴ a⁶ b⁴ *-4*⁴ [par.]A-[par.]B⁶ [par.]C-[par.]F⁴ [par.]G⁶.
"Roger Daniel printed quires A-E, I-Z, Gg-Aaa, and Ppp-Eeee; another printed quires F-H, Aa-Ff, and Iii-Ooo; while Alice Warren printed quires Bbb-Hhh."--(Pforzheimer). A reissued edition with imprint "London, printed for Philip Chetwinde, 1663". The text was printed by three different printers, assumed to be Roger Daniel, Alice Warren, and John Hayes or Thomas Ratcliffe, according to the printers ornaments. Alice Warren was the widow of Thomas Warren. Alice Warren ran the printing business until her son Francis finished his apprenticeship.

Elizabeth C. Yeats

1868 – 1940, Cuala Press, Ireland.

Herbert Hitchen Irish collection 
MRBC-MS-00010

The Herbert Hitchen Irish collection consists of broadsides, correspondence, photographs, catalogs, clippings, prospectuses, and publications concerned with modern Irish literature, mainly from the period known as the Irish Renaissance. Hitchen formed his collection around publications from the Cuala Press, a small press in Dublin owned by Elizabeth C. Yeats (known as "Lolly". Sister to W.B. Yeats). There are additional books printed by Cuala Press in the library catalog.

Helaine Victoria Press records

SSC-MS-00209
Non-profit organization begun 1973 for purpose of publishing and distributing postcards on women's history. Maintained a retail outlet and mail-order base in Bloomington, Indiana, and products carried by bookstores nationwide.

Moon Journal Press records

SSC-MS-00764

Moon Journal, formerly Prarie Moon ReadOut!, grew out of monthly poetry readings at the Prarie Moon Feminist Books and Women Friendly Space in Arlington Heights, Illinois. This collection is comprised of periodicals and chapbooks published by Moon Journal Press, as well as "herstorical" material, ephemera, and photographs.

Valerie Harms papers

SSC-MS-00288

The Valerie Harms Papers include personal and professional correspondence; articles; proposals; unpublished manuscripts, journals, notes, and research files for writings, including Voices From Within: Women Prisoner's Poetry, as well as unpublished novels; copies of her books. Of particular interest is the Magic Circle Press material. Harms co-founded Magic Circle Press, a publication company for books by women.

Secrets of a Girl Printer by Carol J. Blinn.

Call number:     Z232.W26 B58 2018
Easthampton, Massachusetts : Warwick Press, 2018.

The Printer's Relict: An Example to Her Sex by Eleanor P. Spencer.

Call number:     Z244.6.U6 M3
Baltimore, Md. : Amphora Press, 1937.

Chapbook printed at Amphora Press, founded by Elizabeth Mann in 1933. Features information about American printers Anne Catherine Green and Mary Katherine Goddard. Offprint from Bookmaking on the distaff side, 1937. Printed slip inserted in front "This offprint from Bookmaking on the Distaff Side is sent to you by the Amphora Press with the Season's Greetings, Elizabeth Mann & Mary T. Williams.

St. Distaff's Day : an address / by Henry W. Kent ; on the occasion of a dinner given by the women engaged in the making of books.

Call number:     Z243.A2 K39
White Plains, N.Y. : Froben Press, 1938. "Printed by Elizabeth Mann and Margaret Evans for private distribution; decorations by Janet Doe. 750 copies."

Bertha M. Goudy : recollections by one who knew her best. by Frederic W. Goudy

Call number:     Z232.G67 G7
Marlboro, N.Y. : The Village Press, 1939.

Bertha M. Goudy founded Village Press in 1903 with her husband Frederic W. Goudy (designer of over 100 typefaces). She was the principle typesetter at Village Press from its founding to her death ins death in 1935. Set in Bertham type, designed by the author and named for Bertha M. Goudy. "Reprinted with an introduction & some additional matter from Bookmaking on the distaff side, published in the spring of 1937."--p. 33.