Uncovering the Works by Early Modern Women Printers
An Experiment with Generative AI
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5860/ital.v44i3.17525Keywords:
Women printers, Book history, Generative AIAbstract
The contributions of women to the printing trade during the hand press era have long been under- documented, leaving significant historical gaps in our understanding of early print culture. This article presents a project that uses ChatGPT-4o, a generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, to help bridge those gaps by identifying, analyzing, and contextualizing the work of women printers represented in the University of Notre Dame’s rare book collections.
References
Amy Torbert, “A Changing Industry: Women Publishing and Selling Prints in London, 1740–1800,” in Female Printmakers, Printsellers, and Print Publishers in the Eighteenth Century: The Imprint of Women, c. 1700–1830, ed. Cristina S. Martinez and Cynthia E. Roman (Cambridge University Press, 2024), 174–88, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108953535.015.
Brian Richardson, “Making and Selling Books,” in Women and the Circulation of Texts in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge University Press, 2020), 83–148, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108774482.003.
Daniela Rovida and Tang (Cindy) Tian, “Documenting Women Printers of the 18th Century: Evidence from Notre Dame’s Collections,” University of Notre Dame, accessed July 30, 2025, https://digital-exhibits.library.nd.edu/women-printers-of-the-18th-century.
Daniela Rovida and Tang (Cindy) Tian, “Resurfacing Women Printers’ Names and Contribution to the Printing Industry During the Hand Press Era,” American Association of Law Libraries Legal History & Rare Books Special Interest Section Newsletter 30, no. 1 (2023): 17–21, available at https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/1553.
Deborah Parker, “Women in the Book Trade in Italy, 1475–1620,” Renaissance Quarterly 49, no. 3 (1996): 509–41, https://doi.org/10.2307/2863365.
Dominique Godineau, “Women at Work,” in The Women of Paris and Their French Revolution, trans. Katherine Streip (University of California Press, 1998), 53–93.
Geraldine Sheridan, “Women in the Booktrade in Eighteenth-Century France,” Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 15 (1992): 51–70, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-0208.1992.tb00137.x.
Jonathan Kemper, “AI Chatbots Become Dramatically Less Reliable in Longer Conversations, New Study Finds,” The Decoder, accessed July 29, 2025, https://the-decoder.com/ai-chatbots-become-dramatically-less-reliable-in-longer-conversationsnew-study-finds/.
Jonathan Yehuda Engel, Dan Tam Do, Brenda Salem, and Tyler Anthony Cunningham, “Artificial Intelligence in Library Cataloging: A Review of Literature,” Journal of Library Metadata, July (2025): 1–16, https://doi:10.1080/19386389.2025.2526913.
Laurel Davis and Mary Sarah Bilder, “Female Imprimatur: Women in the Lawbook Trade,” Boston College Law Library, accessed July 29, 2025, https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/bc1/schools/law/top-bar/current-students/library/special-collections/rare-book-room/exhibits/women/Catalog-web-A1b.pdf.
Laurent Guillo, “Women in the Ballard Dynasty of Music Printers (1550–1825): A Tale of Five Widows,” USTC Conference: Gender and the Book Trades (University of Saint-Andrews, 2021), https://hal.science/hal-04263949/document.
Paula McDowell, “Women and the Business of Print,” in Women and Literature in Britain, 1700–1800, ed. Vivien Jones (Cambridge University Press, 2000), 135–54.
Sarah Werner, “Early Modern Women Printers: An Ada Lovelace Post,” Wynken de Worde, accessed July 29, 2025, https://sarahwerner.net/blog/2011/10/early-modern-women-printers-an-ada-lovelace-post.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Tang (Cindy) Tian, Daniela Rovida
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors that submit to Information Technology and Libraries agree to the Copyright Notice.
