Colonial AmericaRare Woodblock Produced by the Printing Shop of Sarah Goddard, Revolutionary Era Female Publisher

c. 1767 Woodblock Printing Plates of Astronomical Images, Including a Crescent Moon & Rising Orbs by Sarah Goddard, Noted Female Publisher in Rhode Island, Lot of 3, Choice Very Fine.
This original woodblock printing plate was used by premier publisher and printmaker, Sarah Updike Goddard (1700-1770), and her partner, John Carter, during the late 1760s. Goddard established a printing press in Providence that produced the Providence Gazette, providing a public forum for the people and advocating the movement for American Independence. This woodblock printing plate would have been used for an almanac of the time, as it depicts a crescent moon surmounted by 11 small rising orbs, similar to the illustration reproduced on page 477 of Reilly's "Colonial American Printers' Ornaments & Illustrations" (1975). Reilly researched the origins, usage, and provenance of American colonial printers throughout this period, and has identified the libraries, museums, and collections where the original periodicals, pamphlets, and almanacs which printed these images are located. The original illustration for this woodblock image is located at the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester. This 1.5" x 1.5" x 3/4" thick wooden block is expertly carved in relief, and is colored black from usage. Also included in this lot are two period woodblock printing plates that depict a larger crescent moon bisected by crossing lines, produced in 1712 by Bartholomew Green of Boston, Mass. (identified as image #1898 on p. 471 of Reilly), and a partial eclipse, similar to an image produced by William Bradford or William Weyman of New York in 1738 or 1761 (#1922, p. 474, Reilly). All are excellent examples of the woodcut printing plates of the colonial period--and all the more significant because of the historic connection to Sarah Goddard and other pioneering American printers.
Ex-Sotheby's Sale 7683, June 26, 2001. (3 items)

Sarah Updike Goddard was born in 1700, married Dr. Giles Goddard in 1735, and raised two children, Mary Katherine Goddard, and William Goddard. After her husband died in 1757, Sarah provided her son William with the money he needed to set up the first printing shop in Providence. With the help of his mother and sister, William published a newspaper, an almanac, sold books, legal forms, paper, and writing materials, but he was never able to make a living at it. His mother and sister kept the printing shop going, which produced a special issue of the Gazette in August 1765, opposing Britain's Stamp Act. Sarah and daughter continued operating the printing press, before turning it over to a partner, John Carter, in 1768. The last two years of her life Sarah moved to Philadelphia to assist her son William with his new printing shop. After she died in 1770, her son helped start a postal system in Maryland to rival the colonial post controlled by Britain, and her daughter Mary Katherine became a noted publisher and postmaster of Baltimore!

John Carter (1745-1814) was an apprentice to Benjamin Franklin before he became Sarah Goddard's business partner in Providence. In 1768 Carter became sole owner of the printing shop. Later, he became the first Postmaster of Providence.

William Bradford (1663–1752) was a British pioneer printer in the American colonies who emigrated to Philadelphia and set up the first press in 1685. In 1690 he was a founder of the first paper mill in the colonies. Bradford moved to New York City (c. 1693) where he became royal printer and issued some 400 items over the next 50 years, including the first American Book of Common Prayer (1710), some of the earliest American almanacs and many pamphlets and political writings. In 1725 he founded the New York Gazette, the first New York newspaper. Many of his descendants, including Andrew Bradford and William Bradford, became printers.

William Weyman (??- 1768) was born in Philadelphia, and served his apprenticeship there under William Bradford, the grandson of New York's first printer.

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