{{Short description|English print seller}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person/Wikidata | fetchwikidata = ALL|birth_date=18 October 1750 }}'''Hannah Humphrey''' (18 October 1750 – 15 February 1818)<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Clayton |first=Tim |title=Female Printmakers, Printsellers, and Print Publishers in the Eighteenth Century: The Imprint of Women, c. 1700–1830 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2024 |isbn=9781108953535 |publication-date=March 2024}}</ref> was a leading London print seller of the 18th century, significant in particular for being the publisher of much of [[James Gillray]]'s output.<ref name="Gillorg">{{cite web| title=Gillray's works on James Gillray: Caricaturist| url=https://www.james-gillray.org/printsellers.html}}The site indicates Humphrey published nearly 650 prints by Gillray; some 270 were issued by other publishers</ref>

== Biography == The sister of [[William Humphrey (engraver)|William Humphrey]], Hannah Humphrey first started selling prints from her brother's premises.<ref name="maxted">{{cite book|last1=Maxted|first1=Ian|title=The London Book Trades1775-1780|date=1977|publisher=Dawson|location=Folkestone, England| page=116| isbn=0-7129-0696-7}}</ref> She struck out on her own in 1778 or 1779, when she first established a printshop in St Martin's Lane.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-14157|title=Timothy Cayton, "Humphrey, William (b. 1742?, d. in or before 1814), engraver and printseller"|last=|first=|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/14157|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-08-20}}</ref> Several woman print sellers ran successful businesses in 18th-century London—for example, [[Mary and Matthew Darly|Mary Darly]], Susan Vivares, and [[Elizabeth Jackson (publisher)|Elizabeth Jackson.]] Humphrey was preeminent among them and became one of the top two print sellers in London, the other one being [[Samuel William Fores|Samuel Fores]]. Her shop in St James was visited by a fashionable clientele and had a large stock of social and political caricature, including caricature portraits of leading society figures. Notable artists she published beside Gillray included [[Thomas Rowlandson]] and [[James Sayers (caricaturist)|James Sayers]].

[[File:A smuggling machine or a convenient Cos(au)way for a man in miniature.jpg|thumb|A satire published by Humphrey in 1782, of the relationship between Richard Cosway and his wife the painter [[Maria Hadfield]], who was intimate of [[Thomas Jefferson]] and [[Pasquale Paoli]].]] She moved premises a number of times:{{sfn|British Museum Biography|ps=. For dates taken from prints}} from 18 [[Old Bond Street]] (1778–83) to 51 [[New Bond Street]] (1783–89), to 18 [[Old Bond Street]] (1790–94), to 37 [[New Bond Street]] (1794–97) and finally settling in 27 [[St James's Street]] (1797–1817), depicted in the print ''Very Slippy-Weather''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Very Slippy-Weather |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1924-0712-132 |website=The British Museum |language=en}} BM Satires 11100</ref> James Gillray lodged with her for much of his working life, and she looked after him after his lapse into insanity around 1810 until his death in 1815. In ''Two-Penny Whist'',<ref>{{cite web|title=''Twopenny Whist''| url=http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1634060&partId=1}} BM Satires 8885</ref> the character shown second from the left, an ageing lady with eyeglasses and a bonnet, is widely believed to be a depiction of Humphrey. She was known as Mrs Humphrey although she remained a spinster for all her life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=120372|title=Hannah Humphrey (British Museum Biographical details)|website=The British Museum |ref={{sfnref|British Museum Biography}}}}</ref> She died on 15 February 1818.<ref name=":0" />

== References == {{Reflist|30em}}

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Gillray, James". ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 12 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp.&nbsp;23–24. {{Commons category}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Humphrey, Hannah}} [[Category:Publishers (people) from London]] [[Category:Year of death unknown]] [[Category:Year of birth unknown]] [[Category:18th-century British publishers (people)]] [[Category:19th-century English publishers (people)]] [[Category:18th-century English businesspeople]] [[Category:18th-century English businesswomen]] [[Category:19th-century English businesswomen]]