Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720–1840

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General Editor: Timothy Whelan
Volume Editors: Julia B Griffin (Volumes 1 and 2) and Timothy Whelan (Volumes 3–8)

This is a scholarly edition of the public and private works of a remarkable circle of eighteen nonconformist women and two Anglicans, including Anne Steele (1717–78), Mary Steele (1753–1813), Mary Scott (1751–93), Elizabeth Coltman (1761–1838) and Maria Grace Saffery (1772–1858). It combines new editions of their previously published works with their unpublished hymns, poems and letters, all transcribed from manuscripts held at the Angus Library, Oxford and the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The volumes include nearly 1,000 poems, 650 letters, sixty prose pieces and seven diaries.

Though isolated geographically and culturally, their writings reveal a group of women who were keenly aware of current events, widely read, assertive in their opinions, highly imaginative, inspired at times by romantic sensibilities far ahead of the Romantic movement, at times all too aware of the limitations placed upon them by the circumstances of their place and time, yet still managing to document their lives and times and to pass that legacy on from generation to generation. The edition will be of interest to students of eighteenth century studies, women’s studies and dissenting religious history.

Sample pages

• Sample pages: Unpublished Poetry of Mary Steele + notes

Contents

PART I

Volume 1
General Introduction
Anne Steele, Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional (1780)

Volume 2
Anne Steele, Miscellaneous Pieces in Verse and Prose (1780)
Anne Steele, Verses for Children (1788)
Unpublished Poetry, Prose and Correspondence of Anne Steele

Volume 3
Poetry, Prose and Correspondence of Mary Steele

Volume 4
Poetry and Correspondence of Mary Scott
Poetry of Hannah Towgood Wakeford
Poetry of Mary Steele Wakeford
Poetry of Marianna Attwater
Poetry of Jane Attwater
Poetry and Periodical Prose of Elizabeth Coltman

PART II

Volume 5
Poetry of Maria Grace Saffery

Volume 6
Correspondence of Maria Grace Saffery

Volume 7
Maria Grace Saffery, The Noble Enthusiast: A Modern Romance (1792)
Mary Egerton Scott, The Path to Happiness (1797)
Mary Egerton Soctt, The History of Mrs Wilkins (1797)
Mary Egerton Scott, Plain Truth for Plain People. In Three Dialogues, between Joseph Chisel and Thomas Wood (1807)
Elizabeth Coltman, Plain Tales: Chiefly intended for the Use of Charity Schools (1799)
Elizabeth Coltman, The Warning (1807)
Elizabeth Coltman, Instructive Hints, in Easy Lessons, for Children (1810)
Elizabeth Coltman, The Schoolmistress; or, The True History of Jenny Hickling (1825)
Jane Adams Houseman, Religion without Learning: or, The History of Susan War (1817)

Volume 8
Diary and Meditations of Mrs John Walrond
Poetry, Prose, Letters and Selections from the Diary of Anne Cator Steele
Letters, Prose and Poetry of Hannah Towgood Wakeford
Prose Writings of Jane Attwater
Diary of Frances Barrett Ryland
Diary of Elizabeth Saffery
Fragment of the Diary of Caroline Attwater Whitaker
Diary of Anne Andrews Whitaker
Index

Reviews

'Scholars of eighteenth- and nineteenth literature, as well as cultural historians and historians of women and religion will find here an extraordinary new source of materials, carefully edited, thoroughly annotated, and elegantly presented'
– Christine L Krueger, New Books Online 19 (read the full review here)

Related titles

• Bluestocking Feminism : Writings of the Bluestocking Circle, 1738–1790
• English Nonconformist Poetry, 1660–1700

Leaflets

• Nonconformist Women Writers: colour leaflet

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