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The great Charter called i[n] Latyn Magna Carta : with diuers olde statutes whose titles appere in the next leafe Newly correctyd ... London: Elizabeth Pickering (Redman), 1541.
Beale S11; STC 9272

This edition was produced by Elizabeth (Pickering) Redman (1510-1562), the first female printer in London whose works survive. The colophon reads in part: "Imprynted at London in / Fletestrete by Elisabeth / wydow of Robert Redma[n]." The publication date is conjectural, based on the short period during which Pickering was widowed and able to print in her own name. It is also the second edition of Magna Carta printed in English.

Elizabeth Pickering was the widow of Robert Redman, who took over her husband's printing press upon his death in October 1540. At least two women are known to have printed earlier works, but these have not survived, while Elizabeth Pickering produced as many as thirteen titles. Ten can be attributed to her, and three others may be hers as well. Her first book, A Lytle Treatyse Composed by John Sta[n]dysshe, was printed at her shop "at the sign of the George" in Fleet Street and has a colophon dated December 13, 1540. She continued publishing under her own name for about ten months before she transferred her press to William Middleton on her remarriage to William Cholmeley in 1541. Pickering employed Robert Redman's monogram, signaling a continuity in the work produced.(1)

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Title Page Colophon Printer's Device Coat of Arms

1. For more on Elizabeth (Pickering) Redman, see Barbara Kreps, "Elizabeth Pickering: The First Woman to Print Law Books in England and Relations within the Community of Tudor London's Printers and Lawyers," Renaissance Quarterly 56:4 (2003), 1053-1088.