Sarah Harding

Sarah Harding (fl. 1721–9) was an Irish printer and publisher who suffered "inopportune imprisonments" for some of her publications. She is known for publishing Jonathan Swift's A modest proposal in 1729 (A satirical idea that the poor could sell their children as food).

Biography

Sarah Harding was the wife and business partner of printer John Harding near Fishamble Street, on the Blind Quay, Dublin. Her mother was a well-known Dublin printer, Elizabeth Sadlier, and it is possible that it was this connection that drew John into the printing business. Following her husband's imprisonment for publishing an unauthorised version of the lord lieutenant's speech on the opening of the parliamentary session, Harding took over the printing business. Her first publication was a pamphlet, The present miserable state of Ireland (1721), that is occasionally attributed to Jonathan Swift.

Her last major publication was in 1729, with Swift's A modest proposal. After this, Swift used the printer George Faulkner. Harding remarried, marrying Nicholas Hussey, a fellow Dublin printer. Her date of death is unknown.