Historiography, regionality, and print trade life writing: the case of Mr Thomas Gent, printer, of York

This chapter focuses on the historical and autobiographical writings of Thomas Gent (1693–1778), a prominent printer in eighteenth-century York. It considers several of his major works: his History of the Famous City of York (1730) and History of the Magnificent Great Eastern Window (1762), in dialogue with his autobiography, Life of Mr Thomas Gent, Printer, Of York (1746), and a pamphlet, The Contingencies, Vicissitudes or Changes of This Transitory Life (1761). In his historiography, Gent celebrates the grandeur and honour of his region: the historical city of York and the county of Yorkshire. His life writing, on the other hand, presents an acrimonious picture of his life in the city and his rivalries in the print trade. Where these may appear to be separate genres, the historiography is inescapably infused with the life writing. Gent’s works have barely been studied but this chapter positions him as a print trade author among other print trade professionals whose own writings typically intertwine the articulation of their professional identity with their cultural output.