Women, Authorship and Literary Culture 1690–1740

245 Pages·2003·1.224 MB·English

by  Sarah Prescott (auth.)

Women, Authorship
and Literary Culture,
1690–1740
Sarah Prescott
Women, Authorship and Literary Culture, 1690–1740
Other books by Sarah Prescott
WOMEN AND POETRY, 1660–1750
Women, Authorship
and Literary Culture,
1690–1740
Sarah Prescott
University of Wales
Aberystwyth
© Sarah Prescott 2003
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2003 978-1-4039-0323-5
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First published 2003 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-50864-8 ISBN 978-0-230-59708-2 (eBook)
DOI10.1057/9780230597082
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Prescott,Sarah,1968–
Women,authorship,and literary culture,1690–1740 / Sarah Prescott.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index.
1. English literature – Women authors – History and
criticism. 2. Women and literature – Great Britain – History – 18th
century. 3. Women and literature – Great Britain – History – 17th
century. 4. English literature – 18th century – History and
criticism. 5. Great Britain – Intellectual life – 18th century. 6. Great
Britain – Intellectual life – 17th century. 7. Authorship – Economic
aspects – Great Britain. 8. Women authors,English – Economic
conditions. 9. Authorship – Social aspects – Great
Britain. 10. Women authors,English – Social conditions.
11. Authorship – Sex differences. I. Title.
PR113.P74 2003
820.9¢9287¢09033 – dc21
2002044815
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03
I Idloes Roberts, gyda chariad a diolch
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Contents
List of Figures viii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction: Relocating Women’s Literary History 1
Part I: Women and Authorship
1 Authorship for Women: Careers and Contexts 15
2 Negotiating Authorship: Women’s Self-Representations 39
Part II: Authorship and Economics
3 Marketing the Woman Writer: Commercial Strategies 69
4 Making a Living: Booksellers, Patronage and Subscription 103
Part III: The Literary Career of Elizabeth Singer Rowe
5 Gender, Authorship and Whig Poetics 141
6 Provincial Networks, Dissenting Connections and
Noble Friends 167
Notes 187
Bibliography 211
Index 225
vii
List of Figures
1. Frontispiece portrait of Eliza Haywood, from Secret Histories,
Novels and Poems (1725). By permission of the British
Library (shelfmark 1261.ee.8). 75
2. Frontispiece portrait of Elizabeth Singer Rowe, from The
Miscellaneous Works in Prose and Verse (1739). By permission
of the British Library (shelfmark 991.k.20.21). 88
viii
Acknowledgements
Some material on Penelope Aubin in Chapters 1, 2 and 3 appeared as
‘Penelope Aubin and The Doctrine of Morality: a Reassessment of the
Pious Woman Novelist’, Women’s Writing, 1.1 (1994): 99–112. I am grate-
ful to Triangle Journals for permission to use this. Part of Chapter 6 is
a revised version of my ‘Provincial Networks, Dissenting Connections,
and Noble Friends: Elizabeth Singer Rowe and Female Authorship in
Early Eighteenth-Century England’, Eighteenth-Century Life, 25 (2001):
29–42. I am grateful to the editor for allowing me to reproduce that
material.
In the course of writing this book I have received enormous help from
a variety of sources and individuals. My colleagues at Aberystwyth have
supported me in many ways. The first debt of gratitude is to Diane Watt,
whose support, guidance, intellect and friendship have proved invalu-
able throughout. I would also like especially to thank Claire Jowitt for
her constant encouragement, and David Shuttleton for his invaluable
comments on drafts of various chapters of this book. I have also bene-
fited from the advice and support of Jane Aaron, Peter Barry, June
Baxter, Damian Walford Davies, Helena Grice, Andrew Hadfield and
Paulina Kewes. I thank Patricia Duncker for her optimism and belief in
me. The Departmental Research Committee at Aberystwyth granted me
study leave which enabled me to work on the book in earnest. I am
grateful to the College Research Fund for financial assistance. The staff
at The British Library, the Bodleian Library, and the National Library of
Wales have all been especially helpful.
I would also like to express my appreciation of the community of
scholars working in the area of women’s writing and eighteenth-century
studies. Jane Spencer deserves special mention for her inspiring super-
vision while I was a doctoral student at the University of Exeter, and for
her continuing friendship and interest in my work. Ros Ballaster, Brean
Hammond, Jacqueline Pearson, Marie Mulvey Roberts, Valerie Rumbold,
Ashley Tauchert and Janet Todd have all been generous with their time
and expertise at different stages in the book’s evolution.
I owe many debts of gratitude to my family. Elizabeth Moon has, as
ever, been a constant inspiration as well as a source of practical and
emotional support. Cliff Moon and Jane Hudson have provided a
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