Elsa Fougt

Who was Elsa Fougt?

Elsa Fougt was a Swedish printer, publisher, book importer and newspaper editor and an important figure in the literary market in the second half of the 18th century Sweden. Between 1772 and 1811, she ran the Royal printing and was responsible for the country's official print.

Fougt was the daughter of Peter Momma, royal printer, and the publisher Anna Margareta von Bragner. In 1762 she married the official Henric Fougt Sr. When her parents died, both in 1772, Elsa and her husband took over their businesses, of which the most important was the Royal Printery, which they ran together until the death of her husband in 1782; as a widow, she ran the business herself and in her own name for nearly thirty years.

Elsa Fougt published French, German and Swedish drama and imported books from the Société typographique de Neuchâtel in Switzerland. She was also editor for the paper Stockholms Weckoblad. She was a member of the order Amarenterorden, in which she gave memorial speeches of the salonist Anna Charlotta von Stapelmohr and one of the co-founders of the order, Beata Elisabeth Théel.

In 1811, she retired and was succeeded by her son Henric Fougt Jr. in May, 1811. Henric Fougt Jr. laid down the business by the end of 1833. Norstedt & Söner acquired it in 1835. Henric Fougt Jr., like his parents, held the privilege to print all official publications in the Swedish Realm.