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Sarah Harding (''fl.'' 1721–9) was an Irish printer and publisher who suffered "inopportune imprisonments" for some of her publications. She is known for publishing
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 modest proposal'' in 1729 (A satirical idea that the poor could sell their children as food).


Biography

Sarah Harding was the wife and business partner of printer John Harding near
Fishamble Street Fishamble Street (; ) is a street in Dublin, Ireland within the old city walls. Location The street joins Wood Quay at the Fish Slip near Fyan's Castle. It originally ran from Castle Street to Essex Quay until the creation of Lord Edward S ...
, on the Blind Quay,
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
. Her mother was a well-known Dublin printer, Elizabeth Sadlier, and it is possible that it was this connection that drew John into the printing business. Following her husband's imprisonment for publishing an unauthorised version of the lord lieutenant's speech on the opening of the parliamentary session, Harding took over the printing business. Her first publication was a pamphlet, ''The present miserable state of Ireland'' (1721), that is occasionally attributed to
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 ...
. Her husband was released in 1721, and employed by Swift to publish a half-page protest against the proposed bank of Ireland. It was not for the Hardings' skill or refinement as printers that Swift chose them, but due to their willingness to "issue ephemeral, adventurous, even dangerous papers of controversy". The Hardings risked prosecution again after John's publishing of Swift's ''
Drapier's Letters ''Drapier's Letters'' is the collective name for a series of seven pamphlets written between 1724 and 1725 by the Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Jonathan Swift, to arouse public opinion in Ireland against the imposition of a priv ...
'', with the couple arrested and but on trial in November 1724, but were not convicted. John Harding died on 19 April 1725, with Harding giving birth to a son, provocatively named John Draper Harding, in May 1725. Harding continued the printing business after her husband's death, and retained Swift as a client. Under her mother's imprint, possibly to distance herself from the Drapier incident, she published a poem in 1726. She was imprisoned again briefly for publishing ''On wisdoms defeat in a learned debate'' (1725) which was deemed "an impudent and insolent paper", and is attributed at times to Swift. In 1728 she published Swift's ''A short view of the present state of Ireland'' and the periodical, ''The Intelligencer'', edited by Swift and Thomas Sheridan. It is thought they chose Harding due to her past service and poverty. Sheridan wrote in an edition of the periodical: "that the widow, the printer of these papers, who did likewise print the Drapier's letters, must be enabled by charitable encouragements to keep a merry Christmas, for she and her family were ruined by inopportune imprisonments and hardship for printing those papers, which were to the advantage of the kingdom in general". Her last major publication was in 1729, with Swift's '' A modest proposal''. After this, Swift used the printer George Faulkner. Harding remarried, marrying Nicholas Hussey, a fellow Dublin printer. Her date of death is unknown.


See also

*
List of women printers and publishers before 1800 This list of women printers and publishers before 1800 includes women active as printers or publishers prior to the 19th century. Before the printing press was invented, books were made from pages written by scribes, and it could take up to a ye ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, Sarah Date of birth unknown Date of death unknown 18th-century Irish publishers (people) 18th-century Irish businesswomen