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Corvey 'Adopt an Author'
Mrs. Martin
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The Corvey Project at
Sheffield Hallam University |
Bibliography
Primary texts
Martin, Mrs, 1798, Melbourne, The Minerva Press
Martin, Mrs, 1801, The Enchantress or Where Shall I Find Her,
The Minerva Press
Secondary texts
Altick, Richard D, 1957, The English Common Reader: A Social History
of the Mass Reading Public 1800-1900, Chicago University Press
This text provided good background information about the reading
public in the period in which my author wrote her novels.
Baldick, Chris 1990, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms,
Oxford University Press
This dictionary was useful for exact definitions of the picaresque,
the novel and the tale.
Blakey, Dorothy, 1939 The Minerva Press, 1790-1820, Oxford University
Press
This text gave useful background information about The Minerva Press
and circulating libraries. It also gives information about William Lane
and Minerva favourites, which was of interest. The appendices section
listed my author’s publications, prices paid for them and the date they
were attributed to my author.
Colby, Vineta, 1974 Yesterday’s Woman: Domestic Realsim in the English
Novel, Princeton University Press
Copeland, Edward, 1995, Women Writing About Money: Women’s Fiction
in England 1790-1820, Chicago University Press
This text was fairly useful in providing information about the significance
of money, during the period in which Mrs Martin wrote. It also provided
some useful information about Mary Meeke.
Fielding, Henry, 1996, Tom Jones(1749), Ed. John Bender and Simon
Stern, Oxford University Press
Kelly, Gary, 1989, English Fiction of the Romantic Period 1789-1830,
Longman, London and New York
I found this book useful, especially the information defining and
discussing 'tales' and circulating library patrons.
Poovey, Mary, 1984, The Proper Lady and The Woman Writer: Ideology
as Style in the Works of Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley and Jane Austen,
Chicago University Press.
Poovey’s definition and analysis of the ‘Proper Lady’ was of significant
use in my research. She discusses ideologies of female propriety and
the female writer.
Todd, Janet, A Dictionary of British and American Women Writers 1660-1800,
Methuen & Co, London
The introduction of this biographical dictionary was useful in giving
a brief summary of various relevant aspects such as class, marriage
and themes within fiction of this period.
Tompkins, T.M.S, 1969, The Popular Novel in England 1770-1800,
Methuen & Co Ltd, London
This was one of the most useful texts I used in my research of the
period in which my author was writing. It provided comprehensive information
about the novel market and the female novelist.
Vickery, Amanda, 1998, The Gentleman’s Daughter: Woman’s lives in
Georgian England, Yale University Press.
Yeazell, Ruth.Bernard, 1984, Fictions of Modesty: Women and Courtship
in the English Novel, Chicago University Press
The preface and part one of this text provided useful background
information about women’s behaviour and modesty.
Biographical Dictionaries
Blain, Virginia, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy, 1990, The Feminist
Companion to Literature in English, Batsford.
This dictionary gives a brief account of Mrs Martin’s work. It
lists her novels and the date of publication. It also includes
some brief information about each text and a few comments about
the conditions under which she wrote them.
The following biographical dictionaries provided no mention of Mrs
Martin:
Allibone, Samuel Austin, 1885, A Critical Dictionary of English Literature
and British and American Authors Living and Deceased. From the Earliest
Accounts to the Latter Half of the Nineteenth Century, Lippencott,
London
Buck, Claire, 1992, Bloomsbury Guide to Women’s Literature, London,
Bloomsbury.
Crawford, Anne et al. 1983, The Europa Biographical Dictionary of
British Women: Over 1000 Notable Women from Britain's Past, Gale Research.
The Dictionary Of National Biography, 1922, Oxford University
Press.
Kunitz, Stanly J and Howard Haycraft 1952, British Authors of the
Nineteenth Century, Wilson.
Shattock, Joanne, 1993, Oxford Guide to British Women Writers,
Oxford University Press.
Todd, Janet, A Dictionary of British and American Women Writers 1660-1800
Bibliographies
Alston, R.C 1990, A checklist of Women Writers, 1801-1900: Fiction,
Verse, Drama, London, British Library.
This text contained no information on Mrs Martin.
Block Andrew. 1961, The English Novel, 1740-1850: A Catalogue Including
Prose Romances, Short Stories and Translations of Foreign Fiction,
London, Dawson.
This text listed Mrs Martin’s publications but gave no further
details.
The British Library General Catalogue of Printed Books to 1975, p451
This catalogue did refer to Mrs Martin, as ‘the author of Melbourne’.
It also suggested that she may have edited Family Sermons
by Samuel Martin.
Ward, William.S, 1972, Literary Reviews in British Periodicals 1798-1820:
A Bibliography, Garland Publishing, London and New York.
This bibliography listed several reviews for books by my author,
under the anonymous section. I was able to find most of these at
Brotherton Library in Leeds, except for a review on The Enchantress,
in the Monthly Mirror.
Wolff, Robert Lee, 1981, Nineteenth-Century Fiction: A Bibliographical
Catalogue Based on the Collection Formed by Robert Lee Wolff, Garland
Publishing, London and New York.
This catalogue contained no information on my author.
Other Institutions and Resources
British Museum 0171 6361555
www.british-museum.ac.uk
This institution could not give me any information over the phone
but referred me to their website. Unfortunately, the website was
under construction, therefore I was unable to access it. It may
be worth further investigation once construction has been completed,
although it is unlikely that they will hold any information on
Mrs Martin, due to her obscurity.
British Library 0207 412 7000/7676
Unfortunately, the British library held no information on Mrs
Martin. However, as her first name is unknown and the surname Martin
is fairly common, it was difficult for the library assistants to
search for Mrs Martin. However, they did refer me to their catalogue
of printed books (see bibliography section).
National Gallery, Picture Library Archive section: 0171 3060055
Assistants in the archive section were unable to trace any pictures
of Mrs Martin.
Public Records Office 0181 876 3444
www.PRO.GOV.UK/
This institution referred me their website, however unfortunately
I was unable to find any information about Mrs Martin.
Royal Literary Archive Fund
Unfortunately, there was no record of my author here.
The Society of Authors 0171 373 6642
As I did not have the first name of my author, this society was
unable to assist me.
The Writers Guild 0171 723 8074
Although they were very helpful here, there were unable to give
any useful information.
Periodicals
The following periodicals were found at Brotherton Library in Leeds.
This was a valuable and interesting part of my research as I not only
gathered reviews on my author’s novels, but also about contemporary attitudes
and opinions on novel writing and reading. It also gave me an overview
about the types of periodicals which were available to the reading public,
and also about how other female novelists were received.
The British Critic, April 1801, 435-6
This periodical included a fairly lengthy review of The Enchantress,
by Mrs Martin.
The Critical Review, September 1799, 115
This periodical contained a review on Melbourne by Mrs
Martin, speculating on the type of character she may have been.
The Monthly Magazine, supplement, v8, Jan 1800, 1053
This magazine provided a short review on Melbourne.
Other reviews on books by my author:
The Critical Review, v24, November 1798
This provides a review on Deloraine, the first novel
Mrs Martin wrote in 1798.
The Critical Review, March 1801
This provides a lengthy description of Jeannette, which
Mrs Martin wrote in 1800.
Periodicals also referred to:
The European Magazine, Novenber 1805, v48, 326-7
This magazine contains an interesting essay on ‘The Ill Effects
of Novel Reading’, which conveys contemporary attitudes.
Modern Spectator, March 1819, v20, 155
This periodical contains an article: ‘The Blessed Advantages
of Novel Reading’. It provides an interesting comparison to the
above essay.
Universal Magazine, June 1802, 431-2
This provides an interesting essay on ‘The Critical Rules of
Novel-Writing’. I found this useful for a better understanding
of what was expected from novel writers of this period.
Internet sites
The following web sites were interesting and useful for general background
reading:
A Celebration of Women Writers http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/mmbt/www/women/celebration.html
The new address for this site is http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/
Cardiff Corvey
http://www/english.upenn.edu/%7Emgamer/Romantic/imdex.html
Germanistik Innsbruck, University of Innsbruck Corvey Page
http://germ2.uibk.ac.at/edition_corvey/e/desc.html
Regency Page
http://locutus.ucr.edu/~cathy/reg.html
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