After departing from Virginia, William Nuthead set up the first
Maryland press at St. Mary's City sometime before August 31, 1685.
This press continued in operation until a few years after Nuthead's
widow removed it to Annapolis about 1695; yet nothing more survives
from it than a single broadside and some printed blank forms.
In 1700 Thomas Reading began to operate a second press at Annapolis,
and his output in that year included a collection of laws which is the
earliest Maryland imprint now represented in the Library of Congress.
Since the Library's is the only extant copy, it is particularly
regrettable that its title page and considerable portions of the text
are lacking. Catalogers have supplied it with the title: _A Complete
Body of the Laws of Maryland_.[5]
The copy was formerly in the possession of the lawyer and diplomat
John Bozman Kerr (1809-78). It might not have survived to this day
were it not for his awareness of its importance, as shown in his
flyleaf inscription:
? would this have been printed in M^d at so early a
period as 1700--in M^d or elsewhere in the Colonies--It
is dedicated to Mr Wm Bladen father, it is presumed, of
Gov^r Tho^s Bladen, of whom _Pope_, the Poet, speaks so
harshly--Having given much attention to M^d History I know
no book--calculated to throw more light upon _manners_ &
_customs_ than this printed copy of the body of M^d Law
in 1700--The language of the early acts of assembly was
much modified in 1715 & 1722--_Here_ the Exact words are
preserved as in the original acts--Unless in some old
collection in England, five thousand dollars would not
procure a like copy--Many years ago there was Extant, in
MS, in Charles Co Court records, as I have been told, a
similar collection--This _printed_ copy is "the schedule
annexed to 1699. c 46 & the act of 1700. c 8--