Elizabeth Nutt (''c.'' 1666 – November 1746) and John Nutt (? – 1716) were

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James Printer (1640 ...

s and booksellers and distributors in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in the early 18th century. John Nutt's most famous publication was the first three editions of

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer, essayist, satirist, and Anglican cleric. In 1713, he became the Dean (Christianity), dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and was given the sobriquet "Dean Swi ...

's ''

A Tale of a Tub ''A Tale of a Tub'' was the first major work written by Jonathan Swift, composed between 1694 and 1697 and published in 1704. The ''Tale'' is a prose parody divided into sections of "digression" and a "tale" of three brothers, each representin ...

'', but he and Elizabeth were important both as publishers and sellers of many works of English

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

Biographies

John Nutt remains an obscure individual, with only his death well attested in 1716. Elizabeth Carr married John Nutt in 1692, and she was at that time already a practicing " mercury," or seller of newspapers and pamphlets. Independent of her husband, she is referred to as a significant and honest seller by John Dunton in 1705. She therefore brought a retailing business to the marriage, and John brought a printing house. The couple lived in the

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

off of the Strand in London for nearly all of their adult lives, and they sold books, pamphlets, and news sheets by the Royal Exchange. John Nutt had a shop in the Savoy at least by 1705, when he published Swift's first major satire the year before (1703/4 and 1704). That same year, he obtained an exclusive patent to print law books. When John Nutt died in 1716, Elizabeth took over the printing business and had her son, Richard, manage the presses, and Richard took over the publication of legal writings in 1722. Elizabeth also worked with Anne Dodd, the most famous distributor of books of the day. She would print books and sell them to Dodd for retail sale, as well as sell them in her own stalls. The Nutts were allied with

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

, Radical Whig and general opposition causes during the

Hanoverian The adjective Hanoverian is used to describe: * British monarchs or supporters of the House of Hanover, the dynasty which ruled the United Kingdom from 1714 to 1901 * things relating to; ** Electorate of Hanover ** Kingdom of Hanover ** Province of ...

period, and she and her family were arrested for selling '' London Evening Post'', which Richard Nutt published, '' The Craftsman,'' and ''

Mist's Weekly Journal Nathaniel Mist (died 30 September 1737) was an 18th-century British people, British Printer (publisher), printer and journalist whose ''Mist's Weekly Journal'' was the central, most visible, and most explicit opposition newspaper to the British ...

''. Nevertheless, Elizabeth and her family prospered and extended their ownership of news shops, stalls, and book sellers. Her name continued to appear as a printer on imprints to 1741, and she is listed as a book seller until her death in 1746. Between 1693 and 1711, The couple had 13 children, including the printers Richard Nutt and Alice Nutt.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nutt, John 1660s births 1716 deaths English printers English booksellers

Biographies

See also

References