Elizabeth Gay – Her Name in Print, 1806
Cover of Elizabeth Gay’s 1806 Almanack. The imprint at the bottom reads: Printed and sold by E.Gay at her Printing-Office, Sackville Street, near the Halifax Grammar School.
Widowed, determined, and in print — Elizabeth Gay kept a newspaper alive under her own imprint
Women are rarely recognized in the historical records of early printers, making Elizabeth Gay a remarkable exception. While women often worked in printing, their contributions were seldom acknowledged, and it is uncommon to see their names featured in an imprint.
Early print shops were often a combination of print shop and family residence with apprentices frequently living with the family. Skilled women naturally contributed to these operations. Printing was also often a family craft passed from one generation to the next and through marriage between printing families. Daughters of printers would also have been taught to take on many of the tasks in the shop. Because they were not eligible for entry to the craft through regular apprenticeship, their contributions rarely appeared in imprints, contracts, payroll records, or other public records.
Very little is known about Elizabeth, but she is typical of women printers at that time. She married Archibald Gay (1761 – 1805), February 9, 1785. After his death in 1805, she was left to care for four young children. Despite these challenges, she successfully managed to keep The Nova Scotia Gazette and Weekly Advertiser running under her own imprint until July 22, 1806, when she sold the publication.
The actual press and types were sold a couple of times and eventually ended up in the hands of John Howe.
Archibald Hinshelwood Gay
Archibald Gay (1761–1805) apprenticed under Anthony Henry, eventually assuming control of The Nova Scotia Gazette and Weekly Advertiser after Henry's death in 1801. In addition to publishing the Gazette, Gay also printed religious works and four almanacs before his untimely death in 1805 at the age of 44.
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Cover
Fleming, P.L. (1991). Atlantic Canadian Imprints: A Bibliography. University of Toronto Press, 74.
Woodcut
Archibald Hinchelwood Gay (1761 – 1805). (n.d). In Wikitree. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gay-5196
References
Fleming, P. (1991). Atlantic Canadian Imprints: A Bibliography, 1801-1820. University of Toronto Press.
Archibald Hinchelwood Gay (1761 – 1805). In Wikitree.
Imprint from the Halifax Gazette. This imprint is on the bottom of page 2.
A rare imprint
An imprint – the line naming the printer and place of publication – served as the public signature of a printing office. It established responsibility for what was printed and acted as a form of advertisement.
In the early nineteenth century, these lines almost always carried a man’s name. Elizabeth Gay’s imprint is unusual not because women were absent from printing, but because they were rarely acknowledged in this way.
Imprints did not always appear on the front page. In some cases, like the Halifax Gazette, they were placed on an inside or final page.
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