Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Mary Lamb
-
Standard Name: Lamb, Mary,, 1764 - 1847
Birth Name: Mary Anne Lamb
Nickname: Polly
Pseudonym: Sempronia
Used Form: Mary Anne Lamb
ML
is still known primarily as the sister of the essayist Charles Lamb
, and as the central character in a painful and sensational story. She was, however, the lead author in her three collaborations with Charles (Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare, 1807, Mrs Leicester's School, 1808, and a book of verses for children) and sole author of a strongly feminist essay.
Mary Lamb
's mention, in a context of her own money troubles, of a recent, memorable visit from EF
probably relates to this event. Nearly two years later, on 12 November 1807, Mary Hays
sent...
Travel
Mary Cowden Clarke
During her engagement the future MCC
travelled to Somerset and other western counties to meet her fiancé's relations.
Clarke, Mary Cowden. My Long Life. Dodd, Mead.
49
The couple spent their honeymoon at Enfield, Charles Cowden Clarke's birthplace and the scene of...
In 1856, CR
published an historical short story, The Lost Titian, in The Crayon, a small magazine published in New York.
Smulders, Sharon. Christina Rossetti Revisited. Twayne.
100
Marsh, Jan. Christina Rossetti: A Writer’s Life. Viking.
176-9
. She also wrote some non-fiction on Italian writers (including...
Textual Production
Gladys Henrietta Schütze
Again she used the pen-name of Henrietta Leslie. She dedicated the book For Peter and it appeared with Galsworthy's foreword, which welcomes its unusual presentation of the war as it was or seemed to...
Textual Production
Mary Matilda Betham
In March 1799 MMB
was apparently working both at some translation (which she suspected would not sell) and a novel. Neither has been identified or is known to have been printed.
Betham, Ernest, editor. A House of Letters. Jarrold and Sons.
This by no means exhausts the list of EN
's writings for children. The first number of The Enchanted Castle (which is less episodic, perhaps less brilliant, and more socially critical than the Phoenix or...
Textual Features
Charlotte Yonge
CM's preface (dated March 1870) says that as a child she preferred the inherited books of the former generation to any moderns except Maria Edgeworth
.
Yonge, Charlotte, editor. A Storehouse of Stories. Macmillan.
Early in the play the heroine, Miss Beaufort, makes a splendidly flowing and imaginative speech about the endurance necessary to wives; nevertheless she achieves marriage to Fitzaubin, the sceptical and philosophic hero. She also mentions...
Residence
Eliza Fenwick
Presumably during the course of this move, the Fenwick family (including the dog) arrived to stay for a week at the home of Charles
and Mary Lamb
, being apparently homeless.
Burton, Sarah. A Double Life: A Biography of Charles and Mary Lamb. Viking.
265
Mary Lamb, who...
Occupation
Mary Matilda Betham
MMB
wrote later that many people thought her a singular, and perhaps imprudent person, because I rhymed, and ventured into the world as an artist; but I belonged to a large family, and dreaded dependence...
Occupation
William Godwin
The imprint M. J. Godwin and Company was launched the following year. The business flourished, becoming almost a literary salon like that of Joseph Johnson
: visitors included Germaine de Staël
. It remained, however...
Literary responses
Evelyn Sharp
Beverly Lyon Clark
, who wrote an introduction to this book and thought extremely highly of it, argued that the neglect of it stemmed from its belonging not just to one but to several under-appreciated...
Instructor
Mary Cowden Clarke
While her brother Alfred
had a year at school in France, she was taught Latin and poetical reading by Mary Lamb
, whose voice years later remain[ed] on my mind's ear.
Clarke, Mary Cowden. My Long Life. Dodd, Mead.
22
Health
Priscilla Wakefield
A report into abuses at a private madhouse at Hoxton, John Mitford
's Description of the Crimes and Horrors, 1825, describes the fate of a Mrs. Wakefield, the authoress of many good books...
Timeline
By June 1796: Samuel Taylor Coleridge compiled a booklet...
13 December 1800: William Godwin's five-act verse tragedy Antonio...
Writing climate item
13 December 1800
William Godwin
's five-act versetragedyAntonio was performed for the first and last time at Drury Lane
. It was rejected by the audience, not with hissing but with coughing.
10 December 1806: Charles Lamb's farce Mr H— opened at Drury...
Writing climate item
10 December 1806
Charles Lamb
's farceMr H— opened at Drury Lane
. Its dashing coxcomb protagonist cuts a swathe through the ladies at Bath until it comes out that his name is Hogsflesh, when they drop him hurriedly.
1823: John Mitford published A Description of the...
Building item
1823
John Mitford
published A Description of the Crimes and Horrors in the Interior of Warburton
's Private Mad-House at Hoxton, Commonly Called Whitmore House: in one of these the writer Mary Lamb
had been confined.
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 26 October 1972: Helen Gardner edited The New Oxford Book...
Writing climate item
By 26 October 1972
Helen Gardner
edited The New Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1950, designed to update and replace Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch
's Oxford Book of English Verse, 1900.
Texts
Lamb, Mary, and Charles Lamb. Mrs Leicester’s School. M. J. Godwin, 1808.
Lamb, Mary. “On Needle-Work”. British Lady’s Magazine.
Lamb, Mary, and Charles Lamb. Poetry for Children. M. J. Godwin, 1809.
Lamb, Mary, and Charles Lamb. Tales from Shakespear. M. J. Godwin, 1807.
Lamb, Charles, and Mary Lamb. The Letters of Charles and Mary Anne Lamb. Editor Marrs, Edwin J., Cornell University Press, 1975.
Lamb, Charles, and Mary Lamb. The Letters of Charles Lamb. Editor Lucas, Edward Verrall, J. M. Dent, 1935.
Lamb, Charles, and Mary Lamb. The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb. Editor Lucas, Edward Verrall, Methuen, 1905.