The History of the Catnach Press

Charles Hindley (d.1893) wrote several books on British popular literature including Curiosities of Street Literature and a history of the cries of London. This book, first published in a limited edition in 1869 but here reprinted from the 1886 edition, tells the colourful story of John (1769-1813) and James (1792-1842) Catnach, the father-and-son printers who were leaders in the expanding market for cheap publications for the masses. John's contribution was to start using real paper and printer's ink instead of the cheap substitutes current at the time. He was also noted for embellishing his work with great technical skill. James later developed a successful business printing cheap song-sheets, ballads and sensationalist accounts of crimes, conspiracies and scandals, and was able to support his widowed mother and his sisters on the proceeds. This lively biography is illustrated with numerous woodcuts, many from Catnach's publications.