Call Number:

C1664

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 2.0 linear feet
• 4 boxes

Language:

English

Date:

1799-1852 (inclusive)

Creator:

Edgeworth, Maria, 1768-1849

Form:

Letters. and Notebooks.

Abstract:

Consists primarily of Maria Edgeworth's notebooks and sketchbooks for various literary projects. There is also correspondence between Edgeworth and others, including letters to various publishers concerning the printing of her work, as well as a small amount of miscellaneous material including rent slips, a copy of her poem "Jacob," a copy of a will of a publisher at Baldwin & Craddock, an advertisement for an octavo edition of her work, and a leather carrying case.

Maria Edgeworth was an Anglo-Irish author of adults' and children's literature. Born in Oxfordshire, Maria spent most of her childhood in England. After her mother, Anna Maria Edgeworth (née Elers)'s death, she went to live with her father, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, at his estate in County Longford, Ireland. The time she spent in Ireland was impactful, and this was reflected in her writing celebrating Irish culture and its rejection of English steretypes of Ireland. She is considered one of the first realists in children's literature, and her writing played a significant role in the evolution of the novel in Europe at the time. She also wrote about her views on various topics including economis, politics, estate management, and education, and was well regarded in English literary society. She died in 1849 at Edgeworthstown in Ireland.

This collection is comprised of literary sketchbooks and notebooks used by Maria Edgeworth, many of which she titled. There is also correspondence between Edgeworth and several others regarding her work, including literary publishers Richard Bentley and R. Hunter, as well as other miscellanous materials such as rent slips, a copy of her poem "Jacob," a copy of a will, an advertisement for an octavo edition, and a small leather carrying case.

As no original order was discernible, materials were arranged by type/genre.