5. Anthony Soulby, Chapbook Printer of Penrith (1740–1816)

The chapbooks printed in Penrith, a small market town in northern England, may be regarded as somewhat underwhelming when compared to those of London and Newcastle, but in terms of those known from other English provincial chapbook printing towns they are worthy of note. The number of chapbooks printed in Penrith is largely the work of two printers, Ann Bell and Anthony Soulby, and it is the work of the latter that this essay seeks to record. In seeking to trace Soulby’s career, his trading as a bookseller, publisher, and circulating library proprietor is discussed, before he added the role of printing to his portfolio of book trades. Thereafter, his output of chapbooks is noted in some detail and an attempt is made subjectively to date much of his undated output by reference to the ‘advertisements’ that follow his name on the imprints.