Women and the Printed Paratext

Although women were not encouraged to leave their marks on texts (as either readers or authors) in the same ways that men were, they nonetheless left indelible marks in both text and paratext. This entry examines the ways in which women featured in the prefaces, dedications, and frontispieces of printed texts as authors, dedicatees, as well as printers and publishers. Women’s rhetorical moves in these “textual thresholds” demonstrate their editorial savvy, their clever manipulation of clichés around propriety and piety, and their active participation in all aspects of book circulation. The second section of this entry suggests that more attention needs to be paid in digital spaces to the crucial role printed paratexts played in how women writers, readers, and stationers engaged with textual production and circulation.