Sarah Popping

Sarah Popping operated as a printer and bookseller in London, on Paternoster Row from 1710 to 1723. During this time, she printed pamphlets, books such as The History of the Most Noble Order of the Garter which is included in this exhibition, and the periodical The Observer. Her work brought her into connection with author Daniel Defoe and bookseller John Dunton both of whom she would come to print for.

Popping worked as a trade printer which meant that she allowed her name to be printed on works and took responsibility for their distribution. This practice was common for texts that would put authors or copyright holders at political risk. Popping was imprisoned and tried several times over the course of her career for publishing scandalous and seditious libel particularly Alexander Pope’s satire on fellow publisher Edmund Curll. She was able to claim that, as a trade printer, she had not been aware of the subject matter of the specific edition that her shop had published, and she was allowed to continue printing. She left her shop in 1725 three years before her death in 1728.