Welcome to this website on early modern female book ownership! Early modern women interacted with printed materials in a variety of ways. Importantly, they inscribed their names and signatures in books they owned, often followed by the phrase “her book.” Such inscriptions can tell us about what women read, how they saw books, and how they presented themselves. We have collected examples of female signatures on early modern books below, usually featured in the form of two pictures, one of the title page and one of the inscription itself. We have also added a resources section with links and citations for further research. If you find any more examples, we’d like to include them! Current examples are mostly English, but we’d love to show examples from other countries as well. Please send us a direct message via Twitter.
Early Modern Female Book Ownership 