Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson

EFG, an American poet writing in the later eighteenth century (who also ran the first American literary salon), was remarkable for the ambitious scope of her writing. As well as occasional verse and translation, she worked in such formal genres as pastoral, philosophical poetry, and metrical psalms. (A travel diary kept on a visit to England and Scotland is lost.) She published in magazines under pseudonyms, but also fitted up her longer, more esoteric works (not intended for publication) with the kind of notes, introduction, and paratextual material which are generally associated with print. This indicates a flourishing and critically informed manuscript culture in Philadelphia during her lifetime.