Fisher

ANN FISHER ( 1719 - 1778)

Ann kept her maiden name even after marrying the Newcastle publisher and bookseller Thomas Slack. She became a partner in his business, had nine daughters (eight survived) and opened a school in 1745. When Gilbert Gray, the bookbinder arrived in Newcastle from Edinburgh, he joined Slack's office. Thomas Bewick writes: 'Mrs Slack, who was a woman of uncommon abilities and great goodness of heart did not overlook Gilbert and he was her right-hand man as long as she lived'.

Early copies of her extremely popular works are rare. These include A New Grammar: Being the Most Easy Guide to Speaking and Writing the English Language Properly and Correctly (1745). No woman had written such a book before. It went through 30 editions before 1800. Remarkably, the book does not downgrade English in relation to classical tongues. It influenced language reformers like Thomas Sheridan and Thomas Spence (q.v.).

Ann Fisher's The Pleasing Instructor or Entertaining Moralist (1756) is an anthology of short pieces, and was also much reprinted. It had a preface entitled 'New Thoughts on Education'. Her New English Tutor came out in 1763; The Young Scholar's delight and New English Exercise Book appeared in 1770, and Fisher's Spelling Dictionary in 1774.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
ANN FISHER ( 1719 - 1778) Ann kept her maiden name even after marrying the Newcastle publisher and bookseller Thomas Slack. She became a partner in his business, had nine daughters (eight survived) and opened a school in 1745. When Gilbert Gray, the bookbinder arrived in Newcastle from Edinburgh, he joined Slack's office. Thomas Bewick writes: 'Mrs Slack, who was a woman of uncommon abilities and great goodness of heart did not overlook Gilbert and he was her right-hand man as long as she lived'. Early copies of her extremely popular works are rare. These include A New Grammar: Being the Most Easy Guide to Speaking and Writing the English Language Properly and Correctly (1745). No woman had written such a book before. It went through 30 editions before 1800. Remarkably, the book does not downgrade English in relation to classical tongues. It influenced language reformers like Thomas Sheridan and Thomas Spence (q.v.). Ann Fisher's The Pleasing Instructor or Entertaining Moralist (1756) is an anthology of short pieces, and was also much reprinted. It had a preface entitled 'New Thoughts on Education'. Her New English Tutor came out in 1763; The Young Scholar's delight and New English Exercise Book appeared in 1770, and Fisher's Spelling Dictionary in 1774.
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