Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Geraldine Jewsbury
-
Standard Name: Jewsbury, Geraldine
Birth Name: Geraldine Endsor Jewsbury
During her life, Geraldine Jewsbury
wrote six novels and two books for children. Widely published in Victorian periodicals, she was a respected reviewer, editor, and translator. Her periodical publications ranged from theatre reviews, short fiction, and children's literature to articles on social issues and religion. GJ
greatly influenced the Victorian publishing industry and public taste through her position as reviewer for the Athenæum and her role as reader for publishers Richard Bentley and Son
and Hurst and Blackett
.
This was priced at only a penny halfpenny, to attract popular readership.
Gleadle, Kathryn. The Early Feminists. Macmillan.
91
It enjoyed circulation figures of 50,000 to 60,000—slightly higher than those of Dickens's Household Words—even though that was only a fraction...
Reception
Georgiana Craik
Geraldine Jewsbury
's Athenæum review found the book somewhat stilted and almost too carefully written. The author is throughout too self-conscious, and the circumspection, excellent virtue as it is, destroys the freedom of motion.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
1573 (1857): 1586
Reception
Georgiana Craik
Jewsbury
only had to wait two years for GC
's next novel, and when it came out she found it on the whole, an improvement on Miss Craik's first work.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
1637 (1859): 354
Literary responses
Georgiana Craik
Jewsbury
found Hildred (whom she refers to as Hilda throughout her review) a well conceived character: The stately, accomplished, high-spirited, poor relative, with her Bohemian instincts and undisciplined character, her genius, waywardness, and wild, good...
Reception
Georgiana Craik
Geraldine Jewsbury
was quite scathing in her review of the novel for the Athenæum, published early the next year. She wrote that Miss Craik has talent, but she is . . . destitute of...
Literary responses
Georgiana Craik
Geraldine Jewsbury
's review of My First Journal was damning. This, she stated, was by no means a book for the young, such as we should wish any young people of our own to take...
Friends, Associates
Camilla Crosland
CC
's friends and acquaintances were varying and numerous. In her youth the radical politician John Cartwright
was a neighbour. Her literary work as an adult led to the formation of a number of lasting...
Literary responses
Camilla Crosland
Geraldine Jewsbury
gave Mrs. Blake a positive review in the Athenæum. She suggested that Mrs. Crosland's mind seems to have matured within the last year or two, and there is a repose and simplicity...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text
Camilla Crosland
Since she was well-connected in London literary circles, she was able to include in her memoir recollections of time spent working with the annuals and of literary figures such as Grace Aguilar
, Lady Blessington
Geraldine Jewsbury
, reviewing this novel for the Athenæum, welcomed a new writer onto the literary scene and expressed the hope of seeing more of her. Her short notice praised Edwards for writing of...
Literary responses
Amelia B. Edwards
Again the Athenæum reviewer was Geraldine Jewsbury
. She liked the novel, but her description gives an impression of mediocrity. It was, she said, slight, but very readable and interesting . . . . good...
Literary responses
George Eliot
Lewes
, who wrote that if the book was not a hit I will never more trust my judgement in such matters,
Eliot, George. The George Eliot Letters. Editor Haight, Gordon S., Yale University Press.
3: 10
was vindicated when printing after printing was called for (15,000 copies...
Publishing
George Eliot
The first number of the Westminster Review to appear under her anonymous (and unpaid) editorship was that of January 1852, which was also the first under John Chapman
's ownership. One of her own contributions...
