Elizabeth Nutt, Print Trade Matriarch (1666–1746)

Being extremely well connected, a study of Nutt sheds light on the depth and intricacies of book trade networks in the early eighteenth century, the degree to which women were key to the success of family businesses, and how the expertise of the mercury was a distinct advantage in early eighteenth-century publishing. This chapter deals with her involvement in an often-cited moment in book trade history – the Persian Libel crisis of 1728. A closer look at the manuscripts comprising the documentary record of the crisis helps to contextualise Nutt’s role as a matriarch of the early eighteenth-century book trade in a manner extending beyond her own immediate family business.