Agnes Campbell 1637-1716

H.15.36. The exact account and solemn manner of assembling the Parliament of Scotland (1681) 

Another woman who entered the book trade through marriage, Agnes Campbell rose to become the wealthiest early modern printer and paper wholesaler in Britain, male or female, and took the title of Lady Roseburn. Her first husband was named King’s Printer in Scotland and on his death she petitioned the Scottish Parliament to retain this position and control of the business which he had left substantially in debt; on the title page of this work she records herself as 'Printress to his most Scared majesty'. Her output included pamphlets, chapbooks, and English religious works, and she became Daniel Defoe’s Scottish printer, although her Bibles were notoriously error riddled. Alongside raising a large family Agnes achieved extraordinary female emancipation as an entrepreneur by establishing the largest print business in Edinburgh with sixteen apprentices and a trade which extended to cover Scotland, parts of Ireland and London.