Jane Taylor

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Standard Name: Taylor, Jane
Birth Name: Jane Taylor
Nickname: Jenny
Pseudonym: Q. Q.
JT , a writer of poems for children when she was little more than a child herself, saw herself in adulthood as first and foremost a Christian writer, seeking to change the lives of her readers, adults as well as the young. Her poems and fictions are vividly inventive: she creates animal characters which comically mirror and illuminate human characteristics, as well as thumb-nail sketches of ordinary people whose moral and psychological quirks (not only failings) are vividly realised. Her skill in dialogue and scenes of everyday social interaction matches that in character-study. In a family where all were writers, her siblings recognised that she was the outstanding talent. In most generations since her death one or two serious critical voices have been heard in her praise, while the general or popular idea of her has been that of merely a pious writer for children.
The heading supplied for Sylvia Bowerbank 's fine entry on her in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is children's writer.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
In the recent re-evaluation of women's writing, JT has her champions, notably critic Stuart Curran .
Photograph of the painting of Jane Taylor and her older sister (later Ann Taylor Gilbert) by their father, Isaac, May 1792. The girls wear matching white dresses with puffed sleeves, lace edged necklines, and pink ribbons round the waist, tied in a bow at the back. Both have wavy blonde hair, and Jane clasps a bunch of pink flowers. Behind are trees, grass, and in the distance the rest of the family clustered around a gazebo. National Portrait Gallery.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Textual Features Mary Ann Cavendish Bradshaw
There follows a fighting critical Dissertation Respecting Patrons and Dedications, which covers the issues of male disrespect for female authors, the tyranny of critics, and over-insistence on moral instruction (with Hannah More 's Coelebs...
Education Frances Power Cobbe
FPC received lessons from her nurse Martha Jones and from her mother . Her reading included Sarah Trimmer 's History of the Robins, Anna Barbauld 's Lessons for Children, and poetry by Jane Taylor
Theme or Topic Treated in Text Anne Katharine Elwood
Some of the British women writers discussed in the text remain well-known, but others have slipped into obscurity. Memoirs includes: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu , Griselda Murray , Frances Seymour, Lady Hertford , Hester Lynch Piozzi
Family and Intimate relationships Edward FitzGerald
After remaining single until he was approaching fifty, EFG married Lucy Barton , a woman of his own age who had been born and lived most of her life in Suffolk. Lucy had published...
Education Mary Gawthorpe
One of the poems MG had to learn for recitation was Meddlesome Matty by Ann Taylor (later Gilbert) .
Gawthorpe, Mary. Up Hill to Holloway. Traversity Press.
47
(MG thought it was by the other sister, and later regretted that she never...
Textual Features Ann Taylor Gilbert
The poems include a pair entitled To a Sister, written by Ann and Jane . (Ann wrote first.)
Armitage, Doris Mary. The Taylors of Ongar. W. Heffer and Sons.
234
Friends, Associates Ann Taylor Gilbert
The Taylor family (including Ann and Jane ) met the family of John Constable the landscape painter.
Gilbert, Ann Taylor. Autobiography and Other Memorials of Mrs. Gilbert. Editor Gilbert, Josiah, H. S. King, http://U of A, HSS Ruth N .
1: 126
Residence Ann Taylor Gilbert
The Taylor family (including Ann and Jane ) left Colchester for Ongar in Essex (a place lastingly associated with their name).
Armitage, Doris Mary. The Taylors of Ongar. W. Heffer and Sons.
53-4
Gilbert, Ann Taylor. Autobiography and Other Memorials of Mrs. Gilbert. Editor Gilbert, Josiah, H. S. King, http://U of A, HSS Ruth N .
1: 192
Family and Intimate relationships Ann Taylor Gilbert
A month before her sister Jane died of cancer, ATG expected her to survive: she had previously called Jane's illness the Lord's doing,
Gilbert, Ann Taylor. Autobiography and Other Memorials of Mrs. Gilbert. Editor Gilbert, Josiah, H. S. King, http://U of A, HSS Ruth N .
2: 42
implying that it must therefore be good.
Gilbert, Ann Taylor. Autobiography and Other Memorials of Mrs. Gilbert. Editor Gilbert, Josiah, H. S. King, http://U of A, HSS Ruth N .
2: 45
Intertextuality and Influence Ann Taylor Gilbert
The young Ann and Jane Taylor , with several of their friends, formed the Umbelliferous Society (a name meaning many flowers on a stem), which met monthly to read out their own and others' writing.
Gilbert, Ann Taylor. Autobiography and Other Memorials of Mrs. Gilbert. Editor Gilbert, Josiah, H. S. King, http://U of A, HSS Ruth N .
1: 117
Publishing Ann Taylor Gilbert
Darton and Harvey , replying to an enquiry about printing what became Original Poems for Infant Minds, offered the Taylorfamilya suitable return in cash or in books.
Gilbert, Ann Taylor. Autobiography and Other Memorials of Mrs. Gilbert. Editor Gilbert, Josiah, H. S. King, http://U of A, HSS Ruth N .
1: 164
The response: Books...
Textual Production Ann Taylor Gilbert
Jane and Ann Taylor , with Adelaide O'Keeffe and others, as Several Young Persons, published their phenomenally successful collection, Original Poems for Infant Minds.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall.
3d ser. 6 (1805): 333
Textual Production Ann Taylor Gilbert
Ann and Jane Taylor revised for publication Rural Scenes; or, A Peep into the Country, for Good Children, originally written by William Darton .
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall.
3d ser. 6 (1805): 108
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.
Textual Production Ann Taylor Gilbert
Darton and Harvey published City Scenes; or, A Peep into London, for Children, also written by William Darton and revised by Ann and Jane Taylor .
It is often ascribed to the Taylors alone.
OCLC WorldCat. http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.
Textual Production Ann Taylor Gilbert
Ann and Jane Taylor 's Rhymes for the Nursery was published, as by the Authors of Original Poems.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall.
3d ser. 8 (1806): 440

Timeline

2 July 1798: The conservative Lady's Monthly Museum: or...

Writing climate item

2 July 1798

The conservative Lady's Monthly Museum: or polite repository of amusement and instruction published its first number. Sometimes called The Ladies' Monthly Museum . . . it ran until the 1830s.

By Christmas 1869: Francis Galton, mathematician, scientist,...

Writing climate item

By Christmas 1869

Francis Galton , mathematician, scientist, and eugenicist, published Hereditary Genius: An Enquiry into its Laws and Consequences,

By 18 August 1888: Lucy Walford published Four Biographies from...

Women writers item

By 18 August 1888

Lucy Walford published Four Biographies from Blackwood's.

Texts

Darton, William et al. City Scenes. Darton and Harvey, 1806.
Taylor, Ann Martin, and Jane Taylor. Correspondence between a Mother and her Daughter at School. Taylor and Hessey, 1817.
Taylor, Jane. Display. Taylor and Hessey, and J. Conder, 1815.
Taylor, Jane. Essays in Rhyme. Taylor and Hessey, and Josiah Conder, 1816.
Gilbert, Ann Taylor, and Jane Taylor. Hymns for Infant Minds. Thomas Conder, 1810.
Gilbert, Ann Taylor, and Jane Taylor. Limed Twigs, to Catch Young Birds. Darton and Harvey, 1808.
Gilbert, Ann Taylor et al. Little Ann and Other Poems. George Routledge and Sons, 1883.
Taylor, Jane. Memoirs and Poetical Remains of the Late Jane Taylor. Editor Taylor, Isaac, B. J. Holdsworth, 1825.
Taylor, Jane et al. Original Poems for Infant Minds. Darton and Harvey, 1805.
Taylor, Jane, and Mrs E. Whitty. “Preface”. A Mother’s Journal during the Last Illness of her Daughter, S. Chisman, B. J. Holdsworth, 1820.
Taylor, Jane. Rachel. Taylor and Hessey, 1817.
Gilbert, Ann Taylor, and Jane Taylor. Rhymes for the Nursery. Darton and Harvey, 1806.
Darton, William et al. Rural Scenes. Darton and Harvey, 1805.
Gilbert, Ann Taylor et al. Signor Topsy-Turvy’s Wonderful Magic Lantern; or, The World Turned Upside Down. Tabart, 1810.
Conder, Josiah et al. The Associate Minstrels. Thomas Conder, 1810.
Taylor, Jane. The Authoress. A Tale. Taylor and Hessey, 1819.
Taylor, Jane. “The Beggar Boy”. The Minor’s Pocket Book, Darton and Harvey.
Taylor, Jane. The Contributions of Q. Q. to a Periodical Work. B. J. Holdsworth, 1824.
Gilbert, Ann Taylor et al. The Linnet’s Life. G. and W. B. Whittaker, 1822.
Gilbert, Ann Taylor, and Jane Taylor. The Poetical Works of Ann and Jane Taylor. Ward, Lock, 1877.