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Ann Kemmish

Header: Ann Kemmish
Also known as: Ann Kemmish; primary name: Kemmish, Ann
Details: individual; printmaker; British; Female
Other dates: 1784-1821 (fl. c.)
Address: Borough, London
Biography: Printmaker, married in 1784 the printer William (qv) whose printing business she took over around 1800. Nigel Tattersfield (email in relation to Heal,124.16): Apparently engraved by William Kemmish, fl. 1790-1816, better known as a letterpress printer; several examples of his work appear in coll. BM. He was also a copperplate printer. auctioneer and appraiser. However, he was succeeded in the printing side of his business about 1800 by his wife Ann, whom he had married in 1784, and it is entirely possible she was responsible for engraving this trade card and for printing the others in the BM. From 1810 to 1821 she was joined in partnership by their son William as 'The Scientific and Commercial Press'. Her repertoire included publishing chapbooks, glee-books, tracts and pamphlets as well as bread- and-butter jobbing printing; see Franz J. Potter, Gothic Chapbooks, 1790-1830 (University of Wales Press, 2021), p.48, for a more comprehensive account