Gender, Commerce, and the Restoration Book Trade: Mapping the Bookscape of Hannah Wolley's The Ladies Directory (1661)

Abstract:

This article provides the first account and analysis of the publication of Hannah Wolley (c.1622-c.in or after 1674), the prolific but understudied author of five different domestic manuals between 1661 and 1674. The publication of The Ladies Directory in 1661 and its reprinting in 1662 provide the context for an exploration of the opportunities and challenges facing a first-time female 'Authress' (as Wolley was described on the title page) being published. As a non-elite but educated working woman, Wolley did not fit the mould of her female published precursors, and nor did the format and contents of her texts. This study shows how Wolley and other stakeholders in the production of The Ladies Directory navigated a challenging period in English book production, through conceiving the book as the first instalment in a series of domestic texts that could be printed separately but bound together; and argues that she used print as but one strand of her commercial 'offer', alongside private tuition and selling readymade medications.