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Index
Introduction
William Parks
Printing in Colonial Maryland
John Peter Zenger
The Green Family of Printers
Printing in Baltimore
Baltimore Publishing
Credits and Maintenance
Marylandia and Rare Books Home Page
UMCP Libraries Home Page
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The Green Family of Printers
When Jonas Green moved to Maryland in 1738 to become the official printer for the Province, he continued a family tradition first started in Massachusetts by his great-grandfather, Samuel Green. Green was the successor to the first printers in the colonies, the Dayes of Cambridge. He began printing in 1649 and produced many landmark works, including Elliot's New Testament in Indian dialect.
Jonas Green served as Maryland's public printer for twenty-four years (1739-1767). He is best known for his printing of Bacon's Laws of Maryland and for reviving Parks' newspaper, the Maryland Gazette. After his death his widow, Anne Catherine Green, continued his work with the assistance of her sons, William, Frederick, and Samuel. Anne Catherine Green is one of the extraordinary figures in American printing history. At the age of 45, and after giving birth to fourteen children (of which only six survived), she successfully took over her husband's profession, serving as provincial printer as well as continuing the Maryland Gazette. She worked in partnership with her sons until her death in 1775.
Frederick and Samuel Green continued the family business after their mother's death (William died in 1770). The grandson of Jonas and Anne Catharine Green, named Jonas after his grandfather, carried on the printing operation until 1839. His death ended the family's century of printing and publishing in Annapolis.
Displayed are three works printed by the Green family of landmark historical importance.
Dulaney, Daniel. Considerations on the Propriety of Imposing Taxes in the British Colonies..(Annapolis: Jonas Green, 1765). This attack on the Stamp Act was originally published anonymously, with imprint: "North-America: Printed by a North-American." This imprint was later credited to Green.
Vallette, Elie, The Deputy Commissary's Guide (Annapolis: Printed by Anne Catharine Green and Son, 1774). Thomas Sparrow, Maryland's first engraver, did the title page of this Green imprint. It is the only engraved title page from a Maryland colonial press.
Carroll, John. An Address to the Roman Catholics of the United States of America (Annapolis: Frederick Green, 1784). This important tract by the first Archbishop of Baltimore describes Carroll's attempt to reorganize the Catholic Church in America after the Revolutionary War.
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