Biography of Catherine Cuthbertson by Beryl Chaudhuri

This biography of Catherine Cuthbertson is unfortunately extremely limited, due to the mostly negative results of all my researches. In The Feminist Companion to Literature in English there is an unattributed comment to the effect that she ‘has been called sister to Helen Craik’, ( Blain, 1990, 257 ) but doubt is then cast on this, as ‘the comedy Anna ( staged 1793, unpub.) is listed as by Miss Cuthbertson.’ ( ibid. 257 )

Summers states that ‘It is supposed that her sister helped her in the writing of her novels’ ( Summers, 1964, 328 ) but then offers no clue as to who suggests this, or who her sister may have been. Furthermore, the Historical Manuscripts Commission has no record on any documents pertaining to Cuthbertson, or to Helen Craik.

There is some internal evidence in The Forest of Montalbano that she had close acquaintance with a hypochondriac. Other than this, all I can say is that she had seven books published in the early part of the nineteenth century, as shown in the bibliography. At least one of these, Santo Sebastiano, was also published twice in penny issues, once as The Heiress of Montalvan, or First and Second Love, 1845-6, and again as Santo Sebastiano, or The Heiress of Montalvan, 1847-8. ( Summers, 1964, 494 )

Romance of the Pyrenees was serialized in the Lady’s Magazine starting in February 1804, because a warehouse fire had burnt most copies of the novel, and the booksellers did not wish to reprint it, ‘probably because the expected second sale did not warrant the cost.’ ( Mayo, 1962, 232 ) In order to do this the monthly instalments had to be doubled or tripled, and it still took three years. According to Mayo, ‘it is the longest novel ever published in an eighteenth-century miscellany, with the single exception of Pamela.’ (ibid., 233 )

This same work, Romance of the Pyrenees, was also translated into French, but was then attributed to Mrs Radcliffe.

Bibliography for Biography

Besson, Francoise, 1996, ‘Une Mathematique de l’eau etrange dans Romance of the Pyrenees’ in Caliban, 33 Imprint Toulouse : Service des Publications de l’Universite de Toulouse - Le Mirail

Translation arranged by Frances Dann, 2000

Blain, Virginia, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy, 1990, The Feminist Companion to Literature in English, Batsford.

Cuthbertson, Catherine

1810 Forest of Montalbano George Robinson, London

1812 Romance of the Pyrenees George Robinson, London

1813

Biography of Catherine Cuthbertson

This biography of Catherine Cuthbertson is unfortunately extremely limited, due to the mostly negative results of all my researches. In The Feminist Companion to Literature in English there is an unattributed comment to the effect that she ‘has been called sister to Helen Craik’, ( Blain, 1990, 257 ) but doubt is then cast on this, as ‘the comedy Anna ( staged 1793, unpub.) is listed as by Miss Cuthbertson.’ ( ibid. 257 )

Summers states that ‘It is supposed that her sister helped her in the writing of her novels’ ( Summers, 1964, 328 ) but then offers no clue as to who suggests this, or who her sister may have been.

The Historical Manuscripts Commission has no record on any documents pertaining to Cuthbertson, or to Helen Craik.

There is some internal evidence in The Forest of Montalbano that she had close acquaintance with a hypochondriac. Other than this, all I can say is that she had seven books published in the early part of the nineteenth century, as shown in the bibliography. At least one of these, Santo Sebastiano, was also published twice in penny issues, once as The Heiress of Montalvan, or First and Second Love, 1845-6, and again as Santo Sebastiano, or The Heiress of Montalvan, 1847-8. ( Summers, 1964, 494 )

Romance of the Pyrenees was serialized in the Lady’s Magazine starting in February 1804, because a warehouse fire had burnt most copies of the novel, and the booksellers did not wish to reprint it, ‘probably because the expected second sale did not warrant the cost.’ ( Mayo, 1962, 232 ) In order to do this the monthly instalments had to be doubled or tripled, and it still took three years. ‘it is the longest novel ever published in an eighteenth-century miscellany, with the single exception of Pamela.’ (ibid., 233 )

This same work, Romance of the Pyrenees, was also translated into French, but was then attributed to Mrs Radcliffe.

Bibliography for Biography

Besson, Francoise, 1996, ‘Une Mathematique de l’eau etrange dans Romance of the Pyrenees’ in Caliban, 33 Imprint Toulouse : Service des Publications de l’Universite de Toulouse - Le Mirail

Translation arranged by Frances Dann, 2000

Blain, Virginia, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy, 1990, The Feminist Companion to Literature in English, Batsford.

Cuthbertson, Catherine

1810 Forest of Montalbano George Robinson, London

1812 Romance of the Pyrenees George Robinson, London

1813 Adelaide, or, The Countercharm G and S Robinson and Cradock and Joy, London

1814 Santo Sebastiano, or, The Young Protector G and S Robinson; Longman, Hurst and Co., Cradock and Joy, and A.K.Newman and Co.

1817 Rosabella: or, A Mother's Marriage Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, London

1823 The Hut and the Castle Hurst, Robinson and Co., London, and Archibald Constable and Co., Edinburgh

1830 Sir Ethelbert; or, the Dissolution of Monasteries Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, London

Mayo, Robert D 1962 The English Novel in the Magazines, 1740 - 1815 The Women’s Press.

Summers, Montague, 1964 A Gothic Bibliography, New York, Russell & Russell

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