Two signed receipts to the Honourable Coast Committee of Northumberland: the first for printing and paper from John Catnach ('Jno. Catnach') of Alnwick, and the second on John's behalf by his wife Mary ('Mary Catnach'), for stationery.

Author: 
John Catnach (1769-1813), Alnwick and Newcastle printer, his wife Mary Catnach (née Hutchinson), parents of the London broadsheet publisher James Catnach (1792-1841) [Thomas Bewick; Northumberland]
Publication details: 
John Catnach's bill/receipt, 12 April/29 June 1795. Mary Catnach's bill and receipt, 10 March 1795.
£350.00
SKU: 9504

Both items in good condition on lightly-aged paper. Both 1 p, on 12mo landscape slips. John Catnach's bill and receipt: 'The Honb. Coast Comit. | April 12 1795. | To J. Catnach | Printing 200 Signal for the Coast 7s .. 0 | 5 qrs. Best Wove foolscap for Do. 1s..2d Per qr 5 .. 10 | £0 .. 12 .. 10 | Recd the above from Thos. Adams Esqr. | [signed] Jno. Catnach | June 29th. 1796.' Docketed on reverse with calculation. Mary Catnach's bill and receipt: 'The Honble Coast Committee | 1795 To J Catnach Dr. | March 10th. 3 Quarto Copy Books at 1/6 - 0 . 4 . 6 | Same time recd. Paymt of Jas. Russell [signed] Mary Catnach'. Docketed on reverse. According to his son's entry in the Oxford DNB, John Catnach 'was ahead of his time in publishing cheap attractively illustrated books, including children's books, but was a poor businessman. Working in Newcastle, he was imprisoned for debt, and in an attempt to mend his fortunes by moving to London with his family in 1808 he only sank deeper into poverty. In 1813 he died, broken in spirit, of an infected leg.' He was associated with Thomas Bewick, who was one of the creditors named at his first bankruptcy, and printed 'The Beauties of Natural History, selected from Buffon's History of Quadrupeds', 'Poems by Percival Stockdale' and 'Poetical Works of Robert Burns' all with Bewick woodcuts. BBTI has him trading in Berwick , 1790-1791; Alnwick, 1790-1808; Newcastle, 1808-1812; and London, 1812-1813. The Honourable Coast Committee of Northumberland was an organisation, founded on subscriptions, for the foundation and maintenance of a series of beacons along the Northumberland coast, as a defence against French invasion.