Call Number:

C1132

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 1 box
• 0.2 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Citations should be as follows: Anna Eliza Bray Collection, Box #, Folder #, Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1823-1852 (inclusive)

Creator:

Bray, Anna Eliza, 1790-1883

Form:

Correspondence -- 19th century

Abstract:

Consists of selected letters by Anna Eliza Bray, a nineteenth-century English novelist best known for fictionalizing the histories of prominent British families.

Anna Eliza Bray was an English novelist. In 1818 she married artist Charles Alfred Stothard, who died in 1821. Two years later she married Rev. Edward Atkyns Bray, the vicar of Tavistock. She then started writing, and from 1826 to 1874 she published several works of fiction. However, her most popular novels were those based on the history of the principal families of the counties of Devon and Cornwall where she lived, such as The Borders of the Tamar and Tavy (1836), which were written in the form of letters to her good friend, the poet Robert Southey. Among her other works are Branded, Fritz and Fritz-Ford: a Historical Romance, Good St. Louis and His Times, Trelawney, and The White Hoods: a Historical Romance.

The collection consists of fifteen letters of Anna Eliza Bray. There is one letter to "Mr. Planche" where she discusses her book Fritz and Fritz-Ford, and five letters to Edward Blore discussing her bad health, poor eyesight, and problems she was having with the illustrator for her novel. There are six letters to "Mr. Cunningham" (1846-1851), possibly her publisher, where she discusses additions or revisions to the text of her manuscripts. Included is a lengthy letter sent August 5, 1852, from Tavistock, to "Mr. Balmanno" expressing worries over her own health and that of Mr. Bray, and discussing logistical details for the delivery of a package of engravings by Bray's father-in-law, the English artist Thomas Stothard. Also included is a letter to the post office reformer Sir Francis Freeling, also from Tavistock, dated March 25, 1833, about the difficulties of sending her manuscripts to poet Robert Southey for her book about the history of the area. Southey was in Cumberland and Bray was in Devon, and postage between the two was not only expensive but also very time consuming. She asks Freeling if he would send her manuscripts with his personal mail for free using his "powerful frank."

Arranged by accession number.