Rachel Potter

Little is known of Rachel Potter (fl. 1775-88), who sold from her bookshop (and probably her place of residence) at 52 Cannon Street opposite Crooked Lane.  The “M. Potter” for the Nicholson imprint in 1788 is probably a mistake and should have been “Mrs. Potter.” Potter obviously moved within dissenting circles, selling a title in 1775 with Martha Gurney and Elizabeth Dodd (another rare instance of a work sold by a group of dissenting women book sellers) and in 1788 with Henry Trapp and Thomas Scollick. Potter only appeared on four titles, yet all four were works associated with or composed by members of the evangelical community, both among dissenters and those within the Anglican Church. Potter does not appear in either McKenzie or Plomer, but she does appear in Maxted. Rachel Potter does appear in the 1791 Universal British Directory, vol. 1, part 2, p. 257.