Introduction

Printing and the Mind of Woman is an annotated bibliography, showcasing 424 works created, translated or edited by women, and serving as a counterpart to the 1967 bibliography Printing and the Mind of Man, which included also included 424 works, only 7 of which were by women.

Printing and the Mind of Man (PMM) has become a go-to text for collectors and book dealers, and our hope is that Printing and the Mind of Woman will serve the same purpose but with an altogether more radical agenda. PMM was compiled in order to illustrate the ‘evolution of western civilization’, and in addition to its inverted gender bias, PMW will be global in outlook – though naturally the limitations of its editor’s knowledge will result in lacunae.

Crucially, the aim is not to create a single settled canon: suggestions, critiques and additions are welcome. We propose to retain the 424 selected here as a ‘first pass’ and add as many entries as possible hereafter, in the form 322b, 123c, and so on.