The Catnach Press

James Catnach took over the famous publishing house of street ballads, folk books, cuts and stray images having arrived in London from Alnwick and Newcastle in the North of England where his father John had started a printing business. On his father's death James Catnach set up a business in Seven Dials in London. He worked hard and capitalised upon the growing market for very cheap books for children. He retired in 1838 letting his sister continue the business. He specialised in broadsheets and cuts reporting the most violent crimes of the day, the most scurrilous scandals and controversies. Here are a few examples of his rich, broad work.
 
 
 
 
Plates above from

From The Life and Times of James Catnach
(Late of Seven Dials) Balled Monger
Reeves and Turner London 1878