Selected Works of Eliza Haywood

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General Editor: Alex Pettit
Consulting Editor: Patrick Spedding
Editors: Margo Collins, Jerry Beasley, Christine Blouch and Kathryn King

Eliza Haywood (1693?–1756) was the most prolific female writer of the eighteenth century, author of more than seventy-five volumes of conduct and advice literature, criticism, journalism, fiction, drama, pseudo-memoirs and literary parody. Her enormous popularity in her own day is a matter of record: one scholar has demonstrated that her first novel “share[s] with Gulliver’s Travels the distinction of being the most popular English fiction of the eighteenth century before Pamela [1741]”.

The series reprints selected non-fictional works by Haywood, with particular attention to the journalism, criticism, and "conduct and advice" material. The editorial matter includes a general introduction, headnotes and index. All volumes are reset. In addition to textual introductions to each work, the edition will also include a substantial biographical introduction by Christine Blouch. This will be by far the most complete treatment of Haywood’s life to date and will stand as the definitive account for years to come.

This edition will be essential for scholars researching Eighteenth-Century Studies, Women's Writing and the History of the Book.

Contents

Part I

Volume 1

The Tea-Table (1725); The Tea-Table ... Part the Second (1726); Reflections on the Various Effects of Love (1726); Love-Letters on All Occasions (1730); A Present for a Servant-Maid (1743)

Volume 2

Epistles for the Ladies, Volume 1 (1749); Epistles for the Ladies, Volume 2 (1750)

Volume 3

The Wife (1755); The Husband (1756); The Young Lady (1756)

Volume 1

The Dramatic Historiographer (The Companion to the Theatre, Volume 1) (1735); The Parrot (1746); Preface to A Companion to the Theatre (1747)

Volume 2

The Female Spectator, Volumes 1 and 2 (1747)

Volume 3

The Female Spectator, Volumes 3 and 4 (1747)

Reviews

‘ Before this publication, scholars had to spend countless uncomfortable hours frozen in front of microfilm machines in over air-conditioned libraries or travelling across the country or the Atlantic ocean to read hard-to-get Haywood texts ... this edition offers a wealth of information [and is] head and shoulders above other modern Haywood editions.’
– Margaret Croskery, 1650–1850: Ideas Aesthetics and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era

'This splendid edition is cause for celebration'
– David Oakleaf, The Scriblerian

Related titles

• A Bibliography of Eliza Haywood
• Eighteenth-Century Women Playwrights

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