Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Edith Somerville
-
Standard Name: Somerville, Edith
Birth Name: Edith Anne Œnone Somerville
Pseudonym: Geilles Herring
Pseudonym: Viva Graham
Pseudonym: E. Œ. Somerville
Pseudonym: Somerville and Ross
ES
, who published from 1885, is known from the Somerville and Ross partnership which produced at least one important novel and a collection of classic comic stories (set in the west of Ireland and centred on fox-hunting), as well as other endearing Irish sketches and travel writings. She continued to write in these genres, mostly story and memoir, after Ross's death (which she saw as interrupting but not ending their collaboration). The later works (the last appeared in 1949) are suffused with nostalgia, and very largely dominated by the need to make money, to keep going an estate which was no longer financially viable. The massive archive of ES
's diary and letters is still almost unexamined.
Edith Somerville
and MR
published the book for which they were and are most famous: Some Experiences of an Irish R. M., illustrated by Somerville herself.
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
253-4
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
126
Wealth and Poverty
Martin Ross
MR
made her will: she left all her worldly possessions (including her literary copyrights) to Edith Somerville
.
Collis
connects this action with her ill health; but it seems more likely to have stemmed from...
Textual Production
Martin Ross
Edith Somerville
and MR
published a sequel to their most successful book: Further Experiences of an Irish R. M.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
146
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
257
Textual Production
Martin Ross
Violet Martin (later MR
) made her first diary mention of her recently-met cousin and later collaborator, Edith Somerville
, who was painting her portrait.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
28
Textual Production
Martin Ross
Edith Somerville
and MR
published the third and last in the Irish R. M. series: In Mr. Knox's Country (where country signifies the area hunted over by a particular pack of hounds).
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
166
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
158-9
Publishing
Martin Ross
In MR
's first collaboration with her cousin Edith Somerville
(an article on palmistry published in the Graphic) the writing was by Ross, the illustrations by Somerville.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
38
Textual Production
Martin Ross
Edith Somerville
and MR
published another novel, The Silver Fox: the title page said 1898.
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
253
Publishing
Martin Ross
MR
and Edith Somerville
first attempted full-scale literary collaboration; that month Oscar Wilde
, editor-elect of The Woman's World, accepted an article by them.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
44-5, 48
Textual Production
Martin Ross
Edith Somerville
and MR
published another book, A Patrick's Day Hunt: the first edition consisted of 5,000 copies.
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
254
Textual Production
Martin Ross
Edith Somerville
and MR
worked at their first novel, An Irish Cousin, which began as the Shockerawn,
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
45
a penny thriller or shocker.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
45, 49
Publishing
Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR
published All on the Irish Shore, a collection of hunting stories they had previously printed in magazines, with Somerville
's illustrations.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
135
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
255
Textual Production
Martin Ross
An Irish Cousin, the first collaborative novel by Edith Somerville
(here calling herself Geilles Herring) and MR
, appeared.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
71
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
247-8
Publishing
Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR
published another collection of their magazine stories, Some Irish Yesterdays, with Somerville
's illustrations.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
141
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
256
Publishing
Martin Ross
The novel Naboth's Vineyard appeared from Spencer Blackett
, expanded and re-written by MR
and Edith Somerville
at the request of a friend, from a short story they had published in The Lady's Pictorial.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
63, 73
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
248-9
Timeline
No timeline events available.
Texts
Somerville, Edith. The Big House of Inver. William Heinemann, 1925.
Somerville, Edith, editor. The Mark Twain Birthday Book. Remington and Company, 1885.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. The Real Charlotte. Ward and Downey, 1894.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. The Real Charlotte. Chatto and Windus, 1972.
Ross, Martin, and Edith Somerville. The Silver Fox. Lawrence and Bullen, 1897.
Somerville, Edith. The Smile and the Tear. Methuen, 1933.
Somerville, Edith. The States through Irish Eyes. Houghton Mifflin, 1930.
Somerville, Edith. The Story of the Discontented Little Elephant. Longmans, Green, 1912.
Somerville, Edith. The Sweet Cry of Hounds. Methuen, 1936.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. Through Connemara in a Governess Cart. W. H. Allen, 1892.