View source for Ann Lea

{{Short description|British lithographer, map and globe seller and publisher}}
'''Ann Lea''', sometimes "Anne", (1661–1728) was a British [[Lithography|lithographer]], map and globe seller and publisher in London. She prepared maps for several works including [[Christopher Saxton|Christopher Saxton's]] The ''Traveller's Guide being the best map of the Kingdom of England and Principality of Wales'' (20 sheets) and [[Robert Morden|Robert Morden's]] ''A new mapp of the West-Indies, or the islands of America 1702''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Tooley's Dictionary of mapmakers|last=Tooley, R. V. (Ronald Vere), 1898-1986.|date=1999–2004|publisher=Map Collector Publications in association with Richard Arkway|others=French, Josephine., Scott, Valerie, 1942-, Lowenthal, Mary Alice.|isbn=0-906430-14-3|edition=Rev.|location=Tring, Herts, England|oclc=42456274}}</ref><ref name=":1" />
She was born Anne Fitz or Fitch in [[Southwark]] about 1661 to William Fitch.  In 1684 she married mapmaker, globemaker and bookseller [[Philip Lea]].  Ann took over the business from her husband upon his death in 1700. At that time and place it was illegal for married women to own businesses, but unmarried women (including widows) could.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Shepard|first=Alexandra|date=2015|journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society|language=en|volume=25|pages=53–74|doi=10.1017/S008044011500002X|issn=0080-4401|pmc=4602702|pmid=26633910|title=Minding Their Own Business: Married Women and Credit in Early Eighteenth-Century London}}</ref>
Lea operated her business at the Atlas & Hercules, Cheapside, near Friday Street from 1701 to 1716 and at the Atlas & Hercules, over against Salisbury Court, in Fleet Street 1720 to 1725.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=British Map Engravers: A Dictionary of Engravers, Lithographers and Their Principal Employers to 1850|last=Worms|first=Laurence|last2=Baynton-Williams|first2=Ashley|publisher=Rare Book Society|year=2011|isbn=9780956942203|location=London|pages=291–292}}</ref>  She died in 1728 around the age of 73. Her stock and plates were auctioned in 1730, with many acquired by John and Thomas Bowles and [[George Willdey]].
==See also==
* [[List of women printers and publishers before 1800]]
== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lea, Ann}}
[[Category:1661 births]]
[[Category:1728 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century British publishers (people)]]