Elizabeth Sewell

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Standard Name: Sewell, Elizabeth
Birth Name: Elizabeth Missing Sewell
Pseudonym: A Lady
Pseudonym: The Author of Amy Herbert
ES was well-known during the mid nineteenth century as a novelist, travel writer, historian, author of devotional and educational works, and children's writer. Her novels challenged the idea that romance leading to marriage was the sole purpose of Victorian women's lives, and realistically portrayed the active and meaningful lives of single women. In her educational works she argued for improvements to women's education. Although her novels were widely read during her lifetime, especially by young women, they are now mostly forgotten.
Black and white oval photograph of Elizabeth Sewell, seated at a desk, wearing a dark high-necked dress with a white collar, and a white cap. Her signature is reproduced below.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Education Mary Louisa Molesworth
Educated privately at home, MLM could not remember a time before she could read, nor any time when reading stories was not my greatest delight.
qtd. in
Green, Roger Lancelyn. Mrs. Molesworth. Bodley Head, 1961.
21
She began formal learning with her mother. She read...
Friends, Associates Matilda Betham-Edwards
An early literary acquaintance of MBE was the playwright Joseph Stirling Coyne (known as Sterling Coyne), whom she met through her cousin Amelia B. Edwards .
Betham-Edwards, Matilda. Reminiscences. G. Redway, 1898, p. vi, 354 pp.
130
MBE pursued a lasting friendship with Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon
Friends, Associates Algernon Charles Swinburne
The twelve-year-old Swinburne met Wordsworth in September 1849 while he was on holiday with his family. The writer Elizabeth Sewell was among the family party travelling that year.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Intertextuality and Influence Charlotte Yonge
CY 's early novels, says E. M. Delafield, were influenced by Elizabeth Sewell .
Delafield, E. M., and Georgina Battiscombe. “Introduction”. Charlotte Mary Yonge: The Story of an Uneventful Life, Constable and Company, 1943, pp. 9-15.
13
Literary responses Emma Marshall
Miss Eden (eldest daughter of a Bishop of Bath and Wells) liked Helen's Diary the best of EM 's books so far. She thought it quite as good as some of Miss Sewell 's, and...
Textual Production Emma Jane Worboise
EJW also wrote novels which respond in similar manner to Charlotte Yonge 's Heartsease; or, The Brother's Wife and Elizabeth Sewell 's Amy Herbert. In each of these (titled respectively Hearts-ease in the Family...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text E. M. Delafield
The study looks at Victorian social mores as seen by women writers such as Rhoda Broughton , Elizabeth Sewell , Grace Aguilar , Elizabeth Wetherell , and EMD 's particular favourite, Charlotte Mary Yonge ...

Timeline

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Texts

Sewell, Elizabeth. A Journal Kept During a Summer Tour. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1852, 3 vols.
Sewell, Elizabeth. Amy Herbert. Editor Sewell, Rev. William, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1844, 2 vols.
Sewell, Elizabeth. Cleve Hall. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855, 2 vols.
Sewell, Elizabeth, and Charlotte Yonge. Historical Selections. Macmillan, 1868.
Sewell, Elizabeth. Ivors. Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, 1856, 2 vols.
Sewell, Elizabeth. Katharine Ashton. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1854, 2 vols.
Sewell, Elizabeth. Laneton Parsonage. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1846.
Sewell, Elizabeth. Margaret Percival. Editor Sewell, Rev. William, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1847, 2 vols.
Sewell, Elizabeth. Note-Book of an Elderly Lady. W. Smith, 1881.
Sewell, Elizabeth. Principles of Education. D. Appleton, 1866, 2 vols.
Sewell, Elizabeth. Principles of Education, Drawn from Nature and Revelation, and Applied to Female Education in the Upper Classes. Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1865, 2 vols.
Sewell, Elizabeth. The Autobiography of Elizabeth M. Sewell. Editor Sewell, Eleanor L., Longmans, Green, 1907.
Sewell, Elizabeth. The Child’s First History of Rome. Appleton, 1849.
Sewell, Elizabeth. The Earl’s Daughter. Editor Sewell, Rev. William, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1850, 2 vols.
Sewell, Elizabeth. The Experience of Life. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1853.
Sewell, Elizabeth. Ursula. Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, 1858, 2 vols.