Women in print and design through history – part 2

This year for International Women’s Day, we want to continue celebrating some amazing women in print and design throughout history whose significant contributions and achievements are not as widely known as they deserve to be!

If you want to read our fist blog on this topic, you can find it here.

Margaret Calvert (1936 – Present)

Margaret Calvert is a British graphic designer and typographer who is known for her work on the design of road signs in the UK. Along with her collaborator Jock Kinneir, she developed a new signage system for UK roads that were easier to read and understand.  The signs they developed are still used today and have been replicated all over the world.

She also designed several commercial fonts, including Rail Alphabet 2, a collaboration with Henrik Kubel, which is now used as the official font of the UK rail system.

Anna Atkins (1799 –1871)

Anna Atkins was an English botanist and photographer. She is considered to be the very first person to publish a book illustrated with photographic images: Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions. Atkins used a process called cyanotype, which involves exposing coated paper to sunlight to produce a blue-and-white image. Her work helped to establish photography as a legitimate art form and paved the way for future innovations in the field.

Mary Katherine Goddard (1738 -1816)

Mary was the postmaster of Baltimore and the printer of the first newspaper in Maryland, but she is best known for producing the 2^nd printed version of the Declaration of Independence, which was also the first copy of the Declaration that included the signers’ names. During the Revolutionary War, she printed pro-revolutionary material and was known for her patriotic support.

Elizabeth Timothy (c. 1700 – April 1757)

A Dutch immigrant to the United States in the 1730s, Elizabeth Timothy took over the running and printing of the South Caroline Gazette after the early death of her husband in 1938. She is considered as America’s first female newspaper editor and publisher, and one of the very first female journalists worldwide. The publications, however, were inscribed with “Peter Timothy”, her underage son, as the publisher had to be male. Elizabeth ran the newspaper for over 30 years, during which time she also printed official documents for the colony of South Carolina, books and pamphlets and other materials.

Charlotte Guillard (ca. 1480 – 1557)

One of the first female Parisian printers and booksellers, Charlotte became the sole manager of the prestigious Soleil d’Or print shop after outliving two husbands. Her work is notable for the commitment to intellectual works, with over 150 titles published that were directed at professional and student readership.  She was also among the first female publishers of common and civil law.

Together with Yolande Bonhomme, another famous publisher of the time, she brought a case forward against the poor-quality paper sold by the papermakers’ guild.