Subjects
Conduct Literature for Women, Part V, 1830–1900
Editors: Jacky Eden and Roy Vickers
Consulting Editor: Pam Morris
Conduct Literature for Women
978 1 85196 805 3: 234x156mm: £495.00/$875.00
This set of six volumes is the culmination of a highly successful series. With material arranged thematically, this facsimile edition covers the whole of the Victorian period, bringing together a wide range of texts reflecting the rapidly changing role of women in an era when their cultural influence broadened as science, religious doubt, and the idea of the nation all evolved as systems of cultural representation.
The emergence of a national movement led by women to improve their legal, educational, political, marital and economic status was instrumental in transforming the ways that women dealt with the obstacles to their place in the public sphere. While much popular conduct literature sought to counter the potentially disorderly conduct of women, other progressive works did challenge accepted notions of womanly duty. At the same time, the range of legitimate duties that women could fulfill was also often tied to wider concerns about the maintenance of the nation. Consequently, the immediate condition, requirements and duties of women as subjects and participants in the perpetuation of the nation state were often debated.
Economic growth in emerging new labour markets began to offer women more opportunities for employment, while the increasing study of the social sciences led to a greater scrutiny of the role of women and what was ‘natural’, while there was a shift away from older sentimentalised representation of female conduct.
This body of previously unpublished material draws from prose fiction, books, pamphlets and tracts, showing the importance of conduct literature to the shifting debates around gender, religion, class and the role of women in the formation of the nation. It will be of particular interest within the fields of nineteenth-century British literature and history, women’s studies and the Victorian era.
- Brings together a wide range of rare and significant texts covering the whole of the Victorian period
- Discusses the key themes of education, childhood, motherhood, health and work
- Introduction to each volume by the general editor
- Digitally enhanced facsimile texts accompany a comprehensive general introduction, headnotes, endnotes and a consolidated index
Sample pages
- Volume 5: A B P, About to Marry: a Chat With an Old Friend (185?)
- Volume 6: Anna G Reid, Women Workers in the Liberal Cause (1887)
Contents
Volume 1: Education
Esther Copley, The Young Woman’s Own Book and Female Instructor: a Compendium of Practical Instruction, Designed to Form the Character for the Various and Important Duties of Daughter, Sister, Wife, Mother, Friend (1840); Catherine Napier, Woman’s Rights and Duties Considered with Relation to Their Influence on Society and on Her Own Condition: by a Woman (1840); Mrs Phelps, The Female Student, or, Lectures to Young Ladies on Female Education: for the Use of Mothers, Teachers, and Pupils (1844); A J Scott, Suggestions on Female Education: Two Introductory Lectures on English Literature and Moral Philosophy, Delivered in the Ladies’ College, Bedford Square (1849); Maria G Grey and Emily Shirreff, Thoughts on Self-Culture, Addressed to Women (1850); Mrs William Grey, Last Words to Girls on Life in School and After School (1888)
Volume 2: Childhood/Adolescence
Anon, Sarah and her Cousins, or, Goodness Better than Knowledge (1833); Anon, My Daughter’s Book: Containing a Selection of Approved Readings in Literature, Science, and Art, Adapted to the Formation of the Character of Woman (1834); Anon, Female Excellence; or, Hints t o Daughters: Designed for Their Use from the Time of Leaving School till Their Settlement in Life: by a Mother (1838); A B Muzzey, The English Maiden:Her Moral and Domestic Duties (1841); Marianne Farningham, Girlhood (1869); Phebe Lankster, Domestic Economy for Young Girls (1875); Edward John Hardy, The Five Talents of Woman: A Book for Girls and Women (1889)
Volume 3: Motherhood
Louis Aimee Martin, The Education of Mothers of Families; or the Civilisation of the Human Race by Women (1842); Sarah Stickney Ellis, The Mothers of England: Their Influence and Responsibility (1843); Augusta Johnstone, A Woman’s Preachings for Woman’s Practice. In Various Phases of Feminine Life (1861); Anon, Little Children: a Few Words to Mothers, by a District Visitor (1872); Florence Dressler, Feminology: A Guide for Womankind, Giving in Detail Instructions as to Motherhood, Maidenhood, and the Nursery (1900)
Volume 4: Religion: including papers from the SPCK
Anon, Advice to Young Women on Going to Service (1835); H Newcomb, The Young Lady’s Guide to the Harmonious Development of Christian Character (1850); Maria Hutchins Callcott, A Few Household Hints, and Lessons of Conduct for Female Servants: in the Form of Narrative Letters (1856); Anon, Rules [of Conduct] for Young Women [Placed in Domestic Service]. By A. C. W., Etc. (1873); Allan Becher Webb, Woman’s Work for Foreign Missions of the Church of England: Two Papers Read by the Right Rev. Allan Becher Webb at the Missionary Conference of 1875 (1875); Ellice Hopkins, Village Morality: a Letter Addressed to Clergymen’s Wives and Christian Workers (1882); Dorothea Beale, Address to Church Sunday School Teachers (1888); Anon, Paper of Self-Examination for Young Women: Questions to Ask Myself (1888); Rev. J Hiles Hitchens, A Ministering Angel: and How to Become One (1890)
Volume 5: Health
Arthur Freeling, The Young Bride’s Book; Being Hints for Regulating the Conduct of Married Women. With a Few Medical Axioms (1839); A B P, About to Marry: a Chat With an Old Friend (185?)*; Ladies’ Sanitary Association, The Sick Child’s Cry, and Other Household Verses on Health and Happiness (185?); George Henry Napheys, Physical Life of Women. Advice to the Maiden, Wife, and Mother (1871); Dyce Duckworth, Sick-nursing Essentially a Woman’s Mission: Being an Inaugural Lecture on the Qualifications for and the Conduct of Sick-nurses (1885); Haydn Brown, Advice to Single Women Regarding Their Health: With Hints Concerning Marriage (1899)
Volume 6: Women and Work
Anon, My Station and its Duties: a Narrative for Girls Going into Service (1834); Mrs S A Sewell, Woman and the Times We Live In (1869); William Henry Davenport Adams, Woman’s Work and Worth in Girlhood, Maidenhood, and Wifehood (1880); Mrs H G Reid, Women Workers in the Liberal Cause (1887); Eva Gore Booth, Women’s Right to Work (1890); Margaret Eleanor Scott, Woman’s Work in Promoting the Cause of Hygiene (1891)