Milking Sterne's Subscription Lists, and Extrapolations Therefrom.

This article focuses on the identification and significance of subscribers to eighteenth-century author Laurence Sterne’s works, particularly those listed in the Florida Edition of Sterne’s publications. It examines the challenges and methods involved in identifying subscribers such as Elizabeth Cutts, a female writer and social acquaintance of Sterne, and Samuel Wilson, a Quaker businessman from Hatton Garden, highlighting the social, cultural, and professional networks reflected in these subscription lists. The article argues that subscriber lists reveal not only individual identities but also broader social groups and connections, offering valuable insights for literary critics and social historians into Sterne’s social milieu and the reading culture of the period. It also discusses the complexities of eighteenth-century naming conventions and the interpretative potential of such data for understanding Sterne’s readership and eighteenth-century literary culture.