Abigail Baldwin or Abigail Mulford ( – 1713) was an early

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

publisher. She worked with her husband Richard Baldwin who was summoned frequently to answers charges relating to their publishing business. After her husband died she continued to run the business and she was involved in publishing notable works.

Life

Abigail Mulford was baptised in 1658. She married Richard Baldwin who worked as a bookbinder on 7 December 1676 at St Botolph's church in Aldersgate. They had a child named Mary. He had become one of the many book sellers but they became one of the first

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

s. They published short lived newspapers for members of the Whig party.Beth Lynch, ‘Baldwin, Richard (c.1653–1698)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 5 May 2017
/ref> The Privy Council summoned Richard in 1681 to answer a charge of publishing seditious pamphlets. The next year he/they were accused of publishing libels and his premises near the Old Bailey were searched. The search was by the

Stationers Company The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (until 1937 the Worshipful Company of Stationers), usually known as the Stationers' Company, is one of the livery company, livery companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company ...

and they later fined Richard for not co-operating with them. Richard was summoned to answer a case that he/they had published libels against the prosecution in a case involving the

earl of Shaftesbury Earl of Shaftesbury is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1672 for Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Baron Ashley, a prominent politician in the Cabal then dominating the policies of King Charles II. He had already succeeded his fa ...

. Richard was found guilty by the

Lord Chief Justice The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English a ...

but he was released within a week after promising to behave better. They did not and the Baldwins were frequently in trouble. In 1690 Richard found himself in

Newgate Prison Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey, just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, the pr ...

for High Treason. Unusually he obtained bail. When her husband died in 1698 the business was still thriving with Abigail Baldwin as the "A.Baldwin" that appeared on their publications. Their work had never been wholly political and Baldwin published works including the ''British Merchant of Commerce Preserved'' and the Female Tatler. The ''Female Tatler'' was originally printed by B.Bragge by the author moved it to A.Baldwin. Mary Baldwin married Robert Roberts in 1705. Abigail published

Bernard Mandeville Bernard Mandeville, or Bernard de Mandeville (; 15 November 1670 – 21 January 1733), was an Anglo-Dutch philosopher, political economist, satirist, writer and physician. Born in Rotterdam, he lived most of his life in England and used English ...

's philosophical work The Grumbling Hive in 1705. She was the publisher of the British Merchant of Commerce Preserved. Abigail is said to have published 240 different works. She died in 1713.

Death and legacy

Her daughter Mary died the year before she did so her son-in-law, Robert Roberts, who was also a successful publisher merged the two businesses. The combined business continued to operate under the name '' James Roberts''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin, Abigail 1650s births 1713 deaths English publishers (people)