Tace Sowle, later Tace Sowle Raylton (1666–1749) was a London-based printer and a major publisher of early

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

writings.

Biography

Sowle's parents,

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

and Jane Sowle, both worked as printers, and she took over her father's business in 1691 aged 25. She managed the press for fifty-eight years, and at her death was the oldest printer in London. Following her marriage to Thomas Raylton in 1706, she remained the head of the business and, unusually for the times, continued to use her original surname, being known as Tace Sowle Raylton. Sowle published a bibliography of her press's work, which is also one of the first bibliographies of Quaker writings. A fund named after Sowle (using a variant spelling of her name), set up by Quakers United in Publishing, supports Quaker authors.

References

Quakers English printers 1666 births 1749 deaths {{England-bio-stub